PINEVILLE — The Bell County School Board met in their first regular meeting since the beginning of the school year on Monday night. A few issues on the agenda included the status of the construction on the Vocational School, the 2008 No Child Left Behind Program results, revisions to the district mileage rates and the 2008-2009 tax rates.

The meeting began with a short update about the HVAC enhancement in certain schools. All of the HVAC enhancements in the Frakes, Page, Right Fork and Yellow Creek school are finished, according to the report given to the board. There’s still some adjustments to be made and training to do, but the enhancement project is complete.

Construction on the Vocational school is moving slowly but steadily forward, at least according to the report the board heard from engineers Vaughn & Melton. Rain and added foundation work have held up the construction, which is only 20% complete, and the work is not as far along as the Board had hoped it would be. As a result members turned down a request by the contractor for a 12 day extension on the project deadline but approved an application for payment number six on the project and a change order for additional foundations.

Joe Nance reported on the status of the bonding potential available to the board. “ As of July 1st we did have additional funds available that we can use which creates potential bonding potential, so that’s the good news tonight.” said Mr. Nance.

Clarence Yeary with Innovative Marketing Sales discussed the creation of a website centered on students and activities in Bell County Schools. “We want the board to know exactly what we plan on doing because it does involve the kids of Bell County High School,” said Yeary. The website is www.bellcountysports.com and events such as ball games, pep rallies and graduation events will be covered. The site will also include links to popular teen sites such as YouTube and MySpace.

Pam Greene discussed enrollment and grant programs, reporting that enrollment was up from 2,987 students last year to 2,997 students this year in grades K-12. She also talked about a plan that was put in place to keep attendance and enrollment up since the district lost some important grant money. “We were lucky as a district to receive the past six years a grant that allowed us to have a drop out prevention person employed full time. After six years, we no longer received that grant,” she said. The plan includes help from attendance clerks, family resources and parent liaisons and home visits from school personnel. “Our goal is to hit a district average of 94 percent attendance this year,” Greene added.

The highlight of the meeting was the report on the No Child Left Behind Program (NCLB). “The good news is that the reports say Bell County is a good place to go to school,” the board said of the NCLB program results. Bell County Schools showed significant increases in both reading and math in all schools. The Bell County school district showed an overall improvement of 13.7 percent in Math and 6.6 percent in reading. Lone Jack had the largest reading gain in the district, but Bell Central had the highest math score increase with a 21.8 percent gain.

Gina Johnson discussed a grant the system is seeking that would provide new books for the kids and for adult literacy programs. She also asked the board to make a motion on a grant that Yellow Creek School received, which the board approved.

During a discussion about a waiver request for District Facilities Planning, a suggestion was made that a board member be appointed to the local facility planning committee. At this time, a motion was made and approved to appoint Boardmember Shelby Stewart.

Considerable thought was given to the revision of the school district’s mileage rate. The state rate is .49 cents per mile, which is the rate paid by nearly every other school district in the region. Bell County School District’s mileage rate was at .36 cents per mile, but the board agreed unanimously to raise the rate to .42 cents per mile. The rate change is set to take effect on September 1.

The board voted not to raise the 2008-2009 tax rate in the district, but set a tax rate hearing for September 15 at 6:30 p.m. They also discussed researching some options available for purchasing more buses.

The following action was also taken by the board during the meeting:

Approved application for payment #6 on Vocational School construction.

Approved change order for additional foundations on Vocational School construction.

Approved grant application for Yellow Creek School.

Approved acceptance of a bid from Palos Sports for physical education equipment.

Approved adoption of Coal Severance Project resolution.

Approved authorization of Coal Severance Project resolution.

Approved motion to not recover the “indirect cost” from the Food Service Program.

Approved Page School Center’s textbook purchasing plan

Approved motion to request a waiver for the district facilities planning process.

Approved motion to appoint board member Shelby Stewart to the local facility planning committee.

Approved SBDM requests from Bell Central, Lone Jack and Right Fork.

Approved shorter school days for a special needs student

Approved meeting minutes for July 21; approved the payment of bills, approved applications for Emergency Substitute Certification; approved fund raising requests and facility requests; approved two requests for medical leave; approved a military leave request and approved an out of state transportation request.

The next regular meeting of the Bell County School Board will be September 15 at 7 p.m.

Michelle Martin is a staff writer for the Middlesboro Daily News and can be reached via e-mail at mmartin@middlesborodailynews.com.