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127th Year--Edition 49
P.O. Box 577,
k i¸
KY 40360 • Ph.: 606-674-9994 July05,2012
Making sense of the superintendent search
By Cecil lawson
KyNewsGroup
cecil@kynewsgroup.com
W'gh the recent resigna-
tion of Nancy Hutchinson as
Bath County School Super-
intendent, the school board
is now charged with the re-
sponsility of finding a re-
placement for the position.
The process is a bit more
complicated than simp ad-
vertising for a job opening.
There are very strict
requiremems for those
who apply for the super-
intendenfs position, and
the process of selecting a
superintendent is compli-
cated by loth state law and
bY upcoming school board
elections.
The Screening Com-
mittee
statute, once a school board
has determined that there
is a vacancy in the superin-
tendenfs position, the board
has 30 days to establish a
screening committee.
Nancy Hutchinson sub-
mitred her resignalion to
the school board on Mon-
day, June 18, and the school
board met in special session
the fonowing day to accept
the resignation and begin
the.search process, which
included sending out public
notices about the screening
committee and advertising
the superintendenfs va-
cancy.
The school board has
until July 19 to establish the
screening committee.
The screening committee
will look at superintemtent
applications and makerec-
ommendations to the hitmrd.
school board is not bound
by these recommendations
and only has to "consider"
them before maldng their
derision about the superin-
tendent.
Interim Superintendent
Steve Meadows released
this statement last Wednes-
I'he Bath County Board
of Education has begun the
process of selecting a new
superintendent: The Board
has elected to direct and
manage the selection pro-
In accordance with KRS
160.352, the first step in this
process is the establishment
of a screening committee,
which is to be comprised of
representatives from vari-
ous stakeholder groups, as
follows:
- TWo teachers, elected by
According to Kentucky State law says that the teachers in the aic
Park and Rec Board show off new
garage at sports complex
By Cecil Lawson
KyNewsGroup
cecil@kynewsgroup.com
The Owingsve/Bath
County Parks and Recre-
ation Board held its annual
meeting last Wednesday
evening at the Bath County
Sports Complex. This year,
board members showcased
a new garage for of the 2012,13 bud-
and maintenance: i get, discussion of the park's
ment (above). P:and : new sign and a $i000 grant
Rec Chair Kenny Williams through KeIlyWiJson to help
presented Bobby Carpen- withlandscaping aroundthe
ter a plaque honoring his sign, tentative scheduling of
six years of service OJ . :Community Day for August
board. Board membem ':25 or September 8, and dis-
conducted their monthly cussion of possible items to
business meeg in the purchase with grant money
new garage. I-lights of for grounds improvement.
the meeting included ap-
Bald eagle nests on Cave Run Lake
Four young eaglets will
soon take flight from two
separate nests on Cave Run
Lake in the Daniel Boone
National Forest.
Bald eagles have nested
at Cave Run since 2004. This
year's clutch brings the total
to nearly 20 eaglets success-
fully reared at the lake.
"We have an established
protection zone around
the nests to reduce distur-
bance for the eagles," stated
Ranger Dave Manner. "Our
me visors have been very
respectful about avoiding
the protection zone, which
keeps the eagles returning
here to nest year after year."
Visitors to Cave Run Lake
will notice buoy lines along
the shoreline directly across
from the Twin Knobs beach
area. The area behind the
buoys, along with the adja-
cent land, is off limits to hu-
man activity.
Forest Service volunteer
Lewis Komman has been
keeping a watclfful eye on
the eagle nests since early
March.
q3oth nests occur on the
Bath County side of the
make, but I set up a spoUing
scope across the me on the
Rowan County side to moni-
tor nesting activities," said
Komman.
Wor a number of years
there was just one nest,
Photo courtesy of photography.tcs.not
across from the beach.
That nest blew down sev-
eral years ago and another
nest was but nearby. In file
meantime, a second pair
built a nest further down
the make but along the same
shoreline."
The primary food source
for bald eagles is fish, so
their ideal habitat is large
makes and rivers. W'h their
keen eyesight, eagles can
read spot fish swimming
near the water's surface. In
one swift swoop, the eagles
use their talons to take
their catch from the water.
They can lift fish up to four
pounds.
Bald eagles build their
nests in large bees near
open shorelines. When nest-
ing, the male and female
share parenting duties by
taking turns sitting on the
nest-during incubation and
feeding the young once they
are hatched.
Once bald eagles are
paired as breeding mates,
they remain together for life.
They reach reproductive
at four or five years
of age.
Bald eagles are common-
ly seen during the winter
months wound Cave Run
After years of illegal hunt-
ing, habitat loss and agricub
tmal pestidde poisoning,
the bald eagle was added to
the endangered species list
in 1972. Under this protec-
tion, their numbers gradu-
ally began to increase. The
bald eagle was removed
from the endangered Sl
cies list in 2007.
Eagles remain protected
under the Lacey Act, Migra-
tory Bird Treaty Act and the
Bald and Golden Eagle Pro-
tection Act.
According to Konuna
the young bald eagles will
likely leave their nests and
begin soaring over Cave
Run Lake any day now.
"Just a few days ago, I
drove to Twin Knobs and
watched one of the nests
across the make. No adults
were present, but one of the
young clumsay flew out of
the nest into another nearby
tree. The other was perched
out on a limb away from the
nest but in the same tree,"
said Kornm_a
Only two other makes in
eastern Kentucky have
relmxhcing bald eagles-
Laurel River Lake in Laurel
and Whitley County and
Yatesw Lake in Lawrence
Lake and the,blinor Clark County.The mrity ofbald
FmhHatchery. Mostretuml eagle nests are found in
to their northern breeding western Kentucky at Land
grounds by early spring. Between the Lakes.
- One Board member, ap-
pointed by the board chair-
man;
- One prindpal, elected by
the prindpals in the disVict;
- One parent, elected by
the presidents of the parent-
teacher organization of the
schools in the disict; and
- One classified employee,
elected by the classified em-
ployees in the dislrict
The Board has set a date
for final screening commit-
tee membership as July 6,
2012. The Board Chair-
man has appointed Teresa
Caudill, Central Office Ad-
ministrator, to collect nomi-
nations, create ballots, tally
results, and submit names
of committee members to
the board on July 6, 20127
Board members had
o "nginally created the July
6 deadline for submitting
candidates to serve on the
screening committee, but
Meadows said in a later
statement that concerns
over voting on candidates
and looming deadlines
might require an upcoming
special called meeting of
the school board to resolve
these issues.
Upcoming school
board elections
The selection of the su-
perintendent is complicated
this year because elections
for three school board posi-
tions are going to be held in
November.
The current seats held by
B./k Franklin, Lisa McFar-
land, and Bill Boyd are up
• Hold a valid state-
ment of eligibility for a Ken-
tucky teaching certificate;
• Completed the
preparation program on the
basis of criteria developed
by the teacher education
institution (again, as estab
lished in KAR);
• Hold a masters de-
gree;
• Completed Levels
I and II preparation and cer-
tification for the position of
school principal, or supervi-
sor of instruction. -
These qualifications also
note that candidates who
completed preparation for
prindpal prior to 1988 must
have completed at least
three (3)years of full-time
teaching experience, inchd-
ing at least 140 days per year
Once he or she has as-
sumed the superintendents
position, the individual must
complete a training program
and assessment center pro-
cess within One year.
Also, the individnal must
establish residency within
Kentucky.
Anyone selected to be-
come a superintendent may
not serve as director or of-
ricer of any fmandal institu-
tional that holds the schools
funds on deposit.
F'mally, any superinten-
dent appointed must submit
to a criminal background
check.
Appointing a superin-
tendent
Once school board mem-
bers consider the recorrv
tbJs f'rdingAcco .... of the screening
to the Bath 0mmitibe_ flaey may make
County Clerk's Office, the
deadline for filing for this
election is August 14, and so
far, only two candidates have
filed to run: Bill Boyd, and
Brandon Green, who is run-
ning in McFadand's district.
If there is still a vacancy
for the superintendent's po-
sition following the Novem-
ber election, state law says
that the position cannot be
filled until board members
assume office in January.
Supe "nntendent qualili-
cations
Finally, not just anyone
can become a superinten-
dent,
State law requires that
anyone chosen as super-
inndent must have and
maintain superintendent
certification from the Ken-
tucky Educational Profes-
sional Standards Board
(KEPSB).
According to the board's
website, the KEPSB "is re-
sponsle for issuing and
renewing certificates for
all Kentucky teachers and
administmtors. Staff works
closely with local school dis-
Victs in the hiring process
to ensure a properly cre-
dentialed educator in every
professional position in Ken-
tucky schools"
The KEPSB issues five
year certificates for superirv
tendent for individuals who
meet the following qualifica-
tions:
• Complete an ap-
proved program of prepara-
tion
• Have the appropri-
ate requirements for certi-
fication (as established by
Kentucky Administrative
Regulations (KAR)); and
• Have at least two
(2) years of experience in a
position of school prindpal,
supervisor of' resection,
guidance counselor, direc-
tor of pupil personnel, di-
rector of special education,
school business administra-
tor, local district coordinator
of vocational education, or
a coordinator, administra-
tor, or supervisor of dislrict-
wide services. Other admin-
isWative experience may be
substituted for this require-
ment with the approval of
the Education Professional
Standards Board.
an appoinlment from the ap-
plicants.
Under state law, a super-
intendent may be hired for
no more than four years at a
time, and the term of office
under normal circumstanc-
es begins on July 1.
If a vacancy occurs before
a term has expired, then the
term will end on the date the
vacancy occurred. Nancy
Hutchinson's term was set
to end on June 30, 2013. As
noted above, she resigned
on Jun e 18 of this year, so
her own term ended on that
date.
State hw also allows .an
acting or interim superin-
tendent to be appointed by
the school board while a
screening committee is re-
viewing applications or in
the period of time between
November elections and
the following January when
board members take office.
This interim superintendent
may serve for a period of no
more than six months. At
the end of that period, the
board is allowed to renew
the interim's term for up to
three more months.
Steve Meadows was ap-
pointed as interim superin-
tendent on June 19, and he
may stay in that position un-
til around December 19.
When board members ap-
point a new superintendent
during an unexpired term
(as if the case in Bath Coun-
ty now), hw requires them
to make the appointment
so that the term will end on
June 30.
F'mally, state hw requires
that the board set the salary
of a superintendent to be
paid in regular installments.
The Timeline
Based on state law and
the current superintendent
vacancy, the school board
has to take in consideration
the following dates in order
to make decisions surround-
ing the hiring of a new su-
perintendent
July 19 - a screening com-
mittee must be in place to
review applications for the
superintendenfs position
August 9 - first day for
students for the 2012-2013
August 14 - deadline
for candidates running for
school board in the Novem-
ber election
November 6 - elections
held for three school board
positions; from this date
until January 22, 2013, no
superintendent may be ap-
pointed.
December 19- Interim
Supt. Steve Meadows six
month term expires; school
board members may hire
him for up to three more
months
January 22, 2013 - first
school board meeting of
the new year;, school board
members are traditionally
sworn in; after this date, a
superintendent may be ap-
pointed.
March 19, 2012 - end of
the interim superintendenfs
three term
As the Bath County News
Outlook went to press, no
further announcements
have been made regarding
the superintendent search
process, but we will follow
developments as they occur.
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