Harlan independent, county schools reach agreement on who goes where

This from WYMT (video):

Board members from both school systems reached a three year reciprocal agreement that will allow some students from the county to attend city schools if they choose.

“Our contract for non-resident students to attend our school district expired last June,” said Joe Meadors, the Harlan Independent School Board Chairman.

A fluctuating number was chosen that both districts are comfortable with.

“Basically every year that number will decrease from the 275 the first year to the 250 to the 225 for the non resident students,” said Gary Farmer, the Harlan County Board Chairman.

A yearly number had to be chosen because that dictates where state funding for the student will end up. If it is left unclaimed, it goes back to Frankfort. Those numbers do not include employees' students.

“Anybody that works in either district, their children can attend that school free of charge whether they are resident or non resident and the schools still get full funding,” said Meadors.

Meadors said that there were also siblings of some of those students who were “grandfathered in.”

Board members said that they had to meet in the middle, but they were glad to negotiate among themselves.

“This is a Harlan County issue that we needed to solve locally,” said Meadors.
“We did not need the state commissioner nor the state board of education to rule on this.”

Both agreed that the current economic status is weighing parents’ decisions enough.

“It is not something we both wanted, but it is something that we both compromised and both districts can live with,” said Farmer....

‘Eschool’ discussed by Harlan Board

This from the Harlan Daily Enterprise:

Program allows students to catch up

Several different topics were up for discussion on Thursday as the Harlan Independent Board of Education held its monthly meeting.Among the items discussed was the eschool program, which was brought to the district in August of 2007.The overall feeling about eschool was a positive one shared by the board members. However, there were a few different areas of concern raised regarding the program. Board member Parker Boggs said the program is very beneficial, but he has some concerns.“I just want to make sure the material of this program meets the standards that we have at this school. I just want to make sure that our faculty is comfortable with the content of the curriculum this program offers,” Boggs said.

Eschool is an elective program designed with online courses that allow students who are behind to make up what they are lacking in order to graduate. Since the program was implemented, four students have graduated who would have been unable to if it were not for the program.

Boggs said in that regard the program has been a great success.“This is a great thing for students because it allows them to catch up on material that they are behind on. I just don’t think it should replace our regular courses,” he said. “It is great as an elective though. As long as it is something that is offered as an elective it’s great.” ...