Bell County Schools Superintendent Yvonne Gilliam is inviting members of the Bell County community to attend the regular called meeting today to honor the members of the Bell County Board of Education during School Board Recognition Month.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Bell County Board of Education Building, 211 Virginia Avenue in Pineville.

School board members are Eulene Brock, Dean Knuckles, Brent Pursiful, Kenneth Sams and Sheb Stewart. They are among the 872 school members being honored across the state during January by 174 school districts.

“The people of Bell County are fortunate to have chosen a group of their fellow citizens to take responsibility for the community’s most precious resource and a key to its future,” said officials from the Kentucky School Board Association in a letter to the newspaper.

Gilliam said she is proud to work side by side with “this group of selfless colleagues.”

“Our school board members do far more than show up at one meeting a month, cast a few votes, pocket their total compensation of $75 and go home,” said Gilliam. “Most folks would be very surprised at the hours of preparation, of questions, of discussion of options and sometimes differences of opinion that our board members are involved in for all of the issues that come up at every meeting and work session.

“Our district is working in a new state school assessment system that gave us some good measurements, as well as some challenges when the scores came out a few weeks ago. The board members are right in there as key players with the teachers and principals as we work to move every child to proficiency in learning skills. Our board members have spent countless hours gaining an understanding of the new accountability system to prepare them to make the decisions that will support our district wide improvement.”