BOE honors McKenzie employees, leaders
Pictured is the reception held for the Town of McKenzie. (Bruce Branum | The Standard)
Special to The Standard
The Butler County Board of Education held their regular Board meeting for November Thursday night in the McKenzie High School Media Center. Prior to the meeting, the Board and the McKenzie staff held a reception recognizing the employees of the Town of McKenzie and Mayor Lester Odom.
“I have a great appreciation for small towns. Being from a small town, I respect the values and love that exist within a small community,” said Superintendent John Strycker.
“I also appreciate my relationship working with Mayor Odom. He is a man of integrity who without question cares deeply for his community and our children.”
The first order of business for the Board was to elect a new Board President and Vice-President. Brandon Sellers was elected as the new President and Lois Robinson was elected as Vice-President.
All Board members expressed gratitude for Michael Nimmer and his service as Board President over the past year.
During the Board meeting, updates regarding the overall district direction, curriculum & instruction, budget status and facilities were presented.
“We continue to work hard on our primary objective of student discipline and increasing student activity. While our progress has been steady, we still have our work cut out of us. We need more activities for our students and our students should not have to pay to be involved in school activities,” said Strycker.
Part of Strycker’s plan to get the students more active and involved is to teach the K-6 students leadership skills at an early age. To accomplish this, the school system plans to implement the nationally recognized program, The Leader in Me. The program teaches elementary students The Seven Habits to Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.
“If our students leave elementary school with sound leadership skills and then we require each of them to participate in at least one extra-curricular activity as a graduation requirement…we will in turn have outstanding student achievement results as our standard,” concluded Strycker.
The Board heard an update from, Lisa Adair, Curriculum and Instructional Leader, concerning the system literacy plan, library & media plan and the dyslexia plan. She also reviewed the virtual products (example: software programs) used in the system and how the system has streamlined the use of virtual tools in the classroom saving the school system an estimated $100,000 in the process. She finished her update by reviewing the recent transcript audit, assessment update and an instructional update.
“Our record keeping processes are very important to us. We will address our issues and put procedures in place to ensure we don’t have more issues in the future,” said Adair regarding the transcript audit.
The Board then received a Fiscal Year 2017 Financial Report from Brandi Mosley, Chief School Financial Officer reporting the System Financial Statement, Schedule of Debt, Summary of Fund Balances, and the History of General Fund Balance. She also reviewed the one cent sales tax comparison, and General Fund Expense Percentage Analysis.
The last update was regarding school system facilities. Administrative Assistant, Joseph West updated the Board on the construction at W.O. Parmer Elementary School and Technology Director Matthew Shell updated the Board on the playground/park area behind Greenville Elementary School.
Other Board actions included the approval of the financial report, personnel report, permission to file for e-rate discounts and to set the date for a December Board Work Session to discuss system policy at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13 in the Board room.
Regarding any questions or concerns, please call John Strycker, Superintendent, at (334) 382-2665.
