School News from Around Kentucky

Boyd Co Supt Contract Stymied - Vacant board seat leaves vote split equally: Time is running out for the Boyd County Board of Education to decide whether it wants to keep Superintendent Howard K. Osborne.His four-year contract expires at the end of June and the board has not offered him a new contract.Two board members, Randall Stapleton and chairman Bob Green, say they want Osborne to stay. Stapleton said the two other members, Theresa Jackson and Teresa Cornette, do not want to renew the contract. (Daily Independent)

Grand jury to hear case against ex-coach: Police allege that a former coach apparently allowed 14-year-old girls visiting his home overnight to sneak out to see their boyfriends in return for sexual favors. The Graves County Sheriff’s Department arrested Donald Richard, 46, of Fancy Farm on June 2 on 48 sex-related charges. He has pleaded not guilty. (Paducah Sun/subscription)

Kentucky Adult Education Exceeds Goals: Kentucky is one of 11 states to exceed adult education goals and qualify to receive a federal grant of $851,748...Kentucky has seen a recent increase in the number of adults earning high school equivalency diplomas. The state had an 11 percent increase from 2007 to 2008 - the most significant growth in seven years. (H-L)

Bowling Green Board OKs New Positions with Stimulus Funds: Federal stimulus money will fund either entirely or in part four new positions in the Bowling Green Independent School District.The city school board Monday approved the creation of new positions ... funded entirely with Title I stimulus funds, [one] funded by Title I and IDEA stimulus funds and an assistant principal ... funded with a proportion of 80 percent of Title I stimulus money and 20 percent [SEEK] funding from the state. City schools Superintendent Joe Tinius said the economic assistance is expected to fund these positions for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.“We will be up front to folks that apply and tell them that we anticipate these positions will be a two-year assignment,” Tinius said. “There’s no guarantee that the district will be able to absorb the cost after that time.” (Bowling Green Daily News)

Warren Co Creates Virtual High School to Support Local Homeschoolers: [The Warren County] board approved the naming of Warren County Online High School, which will allow the district to become a facilitator of Kentucky Virtual High School classes and give students the opportunity to take classes online that may not be available in the schools. Superintendent Dale Brown said the program also allows many of the area’s home-schooled children to take classes for credit through Warren County. Before Monday’s adoption, many students were going through Barren County to complete the online classes for credit, and now Warren County will receive the credits for the classes completed by local students, Brown said. (BGDaily News)

State to fire employee accused of misconduct: A state employee from Breathitt County, who is also a school board member, has been indicted on charges for using a state cell phone and vehicle for personal matters and faking time sheets. Kelly Noble, 58, of Jackson, is a roadside development supervisor for the Transportation Cabinet and also sits on the Breathitt County school board. He is charged with official misconduct, forgery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. (State-Journal by way of KSBA)

My Hero - Poor attendance follows graduates to court: On May 29, 194 students graduated from LaRue County High School. On June 3, bench warrants were issued for six of them who decided to skip a required court appearance. Their offense? Missing too many days of school. District Judge C. Derek Reed issued the $1,000 cash bench warrants to compel the 18- and 19-year-olds to abide by an agreement he made with each of them at an earlier court date: Show proof of graduation in court on June 3 and misdemeanor charges of intentional breach of compulsory attendance law would be dropped. (Herald News)