PINEVILLE — A building project a long-time in the works is finally going to be completed in the coming weeks. Officials at Tuesday’s Bell County Board of Education meeting say the Bell County Area Technology Center is just about finished.

“The project is quickly moving towards completion,” said Sean Benson, architectural adviser for the board. “It’s about 98 percent finished.”

Benson said the bulk of the work is done and the only parts left to complete are inside the building. He said he expected it to be ready for occupation the first week of February.

“I do think the building is going to turn out very well,” said Benson. “It’s going to be a facility that Bell County can be proud of.”

While the building will be finished, one piece of the puzzle won’t be completed until Spring. Benson said asphalt paving plants shut down for the winter and the upper parking will have to wait for warmer temperatures. The bottom parking lot, while usable, still needs another layer of asphalt.

Director of Pupil Personnel Pam Greene gave an update on enrollment and said that Bell County schools were one of three school districts featured in Kentucky Teacher magazine for their “innovative and diligent work toward getting dropouts back.”

Greene said their dropout prevention program is catching troubled students before they dropout.

“When we first set out, it was about getting dropouts back in,” said Greene. “Now it’s more toward what we are doing to help them before they even get to the point of becoming a dropout.”

The board also approved changes to the school calendar. Greene said that due to the number of days missed, school will now be in session on Feb. 15, March, 19, and April 5-7.

The board approved a grant requested by the school’s grant writer Gina Johnson which would fund elementary and secondary counseling. She said if the school system got the nearly million dollar grant, it will fund school counseling in the district and fund new educational opportunities.

The board approved a draft budget for the 2011 Fiscal Year. Superintendent George Thompson said it was possible the state could cut the school system more because the federal stimulus money might run out. He said if there were any more cuts to the school district, the only thing left to cut will be personnel.

He said it is still too early to know anything for sure.

“It’s way too fluid right now to come up with any real numbers,” said Thompson.

Thompson also thanked the board for their commitment to the school system, in honor of school board appreciation month.

“There’s no pay and there are a lot of things about it that are very difficult, especially in this day and time with the way the budget situation is,” said Thompson.

The board recognized staff Rick Huffman and Dewayne Jackson for becoming Apple Certified Systems Administrators.

The board approve their schedule for the new year on the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the District Administration Building.

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.