This week is Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week.  Thank you to all our staff for their hard work and dedication to the students of Harrison County Schools!

Congratulations to our 2012 GED Graduates!  Graduation is being held this evening at the Covenant Presbyterian Church at 7:00 p.m.

Our Staff Appreciation Cookout will be held on Thursday, May 24th at 12:30 p.m. at Ingles Stadium.  We look forward to seeing everyone.

The Class of 2012 will be graduating on Friday, May 25th at 7:30 p.m. at the Harrison County Athletic Complex.  Congratulations to all of our Seniors!

A special “thank you” to our Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council.  We enjoyed meeting each of you and look forward to next year.  Our Senior members will be recognized at the May 22nd Board of Education meeting.

Harrison County Schools now has an Anti-Bullying Hotline.  The number to call or text is 588-8081.  Bullying should be reported to teachers, counselors or administrators.  Sometimes students are afraid to tell an adult out of fear the bully will harm them.  If you feel your child is being bullied or you as a student feel you are being bullied, call or text 588-8081 and leave a message to report the details of the situation.

Tune in to Coffee Break on WCYN 1400 at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 4th.  Judy Feeback and Whitney Fowler will be the Coffee Break  guests.  They will be discussing Preschool and Kindergarten registration.

Just a reminder…

OASIS entries are due to me by Thursday, April 5th.

OASIS stands for Outstanding Achievement in School Information Services.  For more information, visit KSBA’s website at www.ksba.org or call me at 234-7110.

- Preschool is for 4 year olds

- Our focus is school readiness and age appropriate instruction

- AM and PM session with certified teachers are available

- Transportation and meals are provided

- Space is limited, so don’t wait!

Harrison County Preschool open registration for the 2012-13 school year will be held at the Harrison County Board of Education, 308 Webster Avenue on Wednesday, April 25th and Thursday, April 26th from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Children entering Preschool for the first time must be 4 years old on or before October 1, 2012.  They are required to have birth certificate, social security card, current immunization certificate, physical, dental screening, and eye screening (has to be done by eye doctor) upon school entrance.  In addition, they will need a copy of medical card, if applicable, verification of income by showing one of the following:  individual tax return, W2 form, pay stub within last month, written statement from employer, document showing current status of public assistance.

Physicals and immunizations will be available on site on the day of registration on a first come-first serve basis.  All documents required prior to entering school.  If you have any questions, please contact Whitney Fowler at 234-7110.

The following letter and Title I/III surveys will go out to all Harrison County private/home schools this week:

This notice is our annual invitation for your school to participate in the Harrison County Title I, Part A program.  Title I, Part A is a federally funded program that provides supplemental instructional services to eligible children who are attending public, private, or home schools.  To be eligible to receive Title I, Part A services, a child must reside within the attendance area of a participating public school and be failing or at risk of failing student academic achievement standards.  Children participating in the Title I, Part A program must be identified through a multiple criteria assessment as having an educational attainment that is below the level appropriate for their age.  Certain other children who in the preceding two years had participated in Head Start, Even Start, Early Reading First, or a Migrant Education program.

The amount of the funds available to provide this service in each public, private or home school is determined by the number of low-income children living in the participating Title I, Part A attendance area.  For Title I, Part A purposes, low-income is defined as being eligible but not necessarily participating in the federally funded free or reduced lunch program.  For private and home schools, the funds generated are available to provide instructional services to eligible students, their parents and teachers.  The Title I law does not allow these funds or the equipment purchased with the funds to go directly to the private school or home school.

To ensure the Title I, Part A services are successfully meeting the educational needs of children, the Title I law requires that each participating child have a pre and post-test.

To facilitate Title I, Part A and Title III services to private and home schools, I would greatly appreciate your completing the short surveys and returning them to me by March 9, 2012.  I have enclosed a stamped, self-addressed envelope for your convenience.  If you have questions that you would like answered about the Title I, Part A or Title III programs before you complete the surveys, please call me at 859-234-7110.

School will be in session on Monday, January 30th.  This is due to the day missed on January 3rd. 

If you have any questions, please call 234-7110.

Like the students in the Harrison County school district, the members of its board of education must do their homework. This means sifting through complicated test data and financial reports while keeping abreast of the latest requirements handed down from state and federal governments, to name just a few “subjects.”

Mary June Brunker, Kristy Carey, Gary Lizer, Dr. Don Stephens, and Edwin Taylor conduct business at one or more meetings monthly, but you’ll often find them at ball games, school celebrations and civic events because they are the link between the school system and the community.

These responsibilities and others are the reason Kentucky and other states set aside the month of January to thank local school board members during School Board Recognition Month.

These five members of the Harrison County Board of Education oversee a $28 million budget and make decisions about multimillion-dollar building projects. All this is done in the face of shrinking state and federal dollars for education and tough economic times locally. But beyond those “macro” duties, they also make certain the individual child in the Harrison County school district gets what he or she needs to successfully learn in school and beyond.

So why do they do it? Here is what several school board members – no different from those here – from across the state recently said about their job on the occasion of School Board Recognition Month:

“You have to be willing to put in the extra hours to educate yourself. You cannot continually rely on other people to spoon feed you information. You actually have to read policy.”

“My background is in business management and I use these tools in dealing with people and making decisions and looking at budgets, focusing on the best possible outcomes considering the situations and constraints you have to deal with.”

“The very first skill – and I don’t even know if you could call it a skill – and that is you’ve got to have a true heart for children. If you don’t have that you don’t need to be on the school board.”

Members of the Harrison County Board of Education will be honored at the January 24, 2012 board meeting.  The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm at the Harrison County Board of Education/Central Office.

Harrison County Schools will have a guest on Coffee Break on Wednesday, October 26th.  The show begins at 8:00 am on WCYN 1400.  Tune in on the 26th to hear about the great things that are going on in our district!

Harrison County Schools' website received 1st place at the Annual OASIS (Outstanding Award in School Information Services) conference and 2nd place in Digital Citizenship.