Lawrence board continues mask mandate
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
LOUISA — The Lawrence County Board of Education will continue mandatory mask wearing in school buildings until the county’s COVID-19 numbers drop.
Included on the agenda for the board’s Jan. 18 meeting was discussion and/or approval of revisions to the “Lawrence County Schools’ Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan.”
Fletcher recommended at the meeting that the district continue requiring students, staff members and visitors to wear masks in school buildings. Board members did not make a motion to change the requirement.
The school board had initially planned to make wearing a mask in buildings optional rather than mandatory on Jan. 3 when students returned from the Christmas break. Those plans were cancelled by board members at their December meeting due to rising COVID-19 numbers in Lawrence County.
An amendment to the district’s “Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan” that was approved by the board in November would allow the masking option to begin when the county can stay in the orange zone on the state’s COVID-19 incidence map for seven consecutive days and if the number of students who test positive in the district is less than .5 percent for seven straight days.
Superintendent Dr. Robbie Fletcher noted in December that although the district has been “underneath” the .5 percent criteria “pretty regularly,” the county has remained in the red zone for “awhile.”
Fletcher said in November that the Jan. 3 date to make masks optional was chosen in order to give parents the opportunity to vaccinate their children before the change took place after the Christmas break.
In other business from the meeting, Heath Preston was re-elected board chairman and Jim See was chosen as vice chairman.
Members also approved the 2022 school board meeting schedule. The board meets the third Monday of each month at 6 p.m., with the exception of the January and February meetings, which are held on the Tuesday following the third Monday due to federal holidays.
All meetings are held at Lawrence County High School, but the board decided to add Blaine and Fallsburg elementary schools as meeting sites. Fletcher recommended that the April meeting be held at Blaine and the October session be at Fallsburg.
The board also held a moment of silence for retired teacher Guinola Burton, who died Dec. 14 at the age of 95.
In recognition of January being School Board Appreciation Month, Fletcher presented board members with separate certificates of appreciation from him and the Kentucky School Boards Association for their years of service to the district. He also read a proclamation by Lawrence County Judge-Executive Phillip Carter declaring January as School Board Appreciation Month.
Board members also acknowledged receipt of the superintendent’s personnel action, which included the hiring of Brenda Penix, Misty Diamond and Kimberly Maynard as substitute cooks/bakers; Wendall Stephens as a substitute custodian; and Marcus Bowen and Charles Tarring as substitute bus drivers.
Resignations included Kim Huff as a full-time substitute teacher; Beth Lockridge as secretary at Louisa East Elementary School; Tommy Ratliff and Lionel Davis (retirement) as bus drivers; and Aleasha Barker as an instructional assistant.
Changes in positions included Matthew Maynard as principal at Louisa Middle School to principal at Louisa West Elementary; Melinda Clark as interventionist at Blaine Elementary to LBD instructor at Blaine Elementary; Laura Dennison as secretary at Lawrence County High School to secretary at Louisa West Elementary; Kylee Borders as instructional assistant at Fallsburg Elementary to substitute instructional assistant; Kristy Sammons as assistant principal to principal at Louisa Middle School; and Samantha Endicott as instructional assistant (alternative) to instructional assistant (IDEA) at Louisa Middle School.