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A Quick Look at What Happened at This Month's Board Meeting

Board meetings cover a lot of ground. Rather than asking our community to sort through a lengthy agenda or meeting minutes, Around the Boardroom provides a quick look at the conversations and decisions most relevant to our students, staff, and families.

Teachers Ready for a New Year

Our teachers recently came together for the annual “Close the Gap” professional development day at Southwestern High School. With approximately 130 sessions available, staff had a wide variety of opportunities to learn and prepare for the year ahead.

The feedback and energy throughout the day were extremely positive. We are grateful for the work our awesome curriculum team put into making the day successful.

A Collaboration in Preparation

Our schools also hosted major emergency management training that brought together school staff and approximately a dozen local first-responder organizations. Law enforcement, fire, and EMS agencies worked alongside our staff through a scenario-based exercise.

More importantly, this was about more than completing a training exercise. It gave the people responsible for protecting our students and staff an opportunity to practice working together, communicating, and responding before we ever need them to do so during a real emergency.

A special thank you goes to Chief Toby Young, who organized and facilitated the entire event, and all of our local first responders who participated.

Protecting Student Data

The Board also received its annual data security update from Assistant Superintendent Mike Braun and Jeff Taylor, systems engineer in our technology department.

The district uses multiple layers of protection to safeguard student and employee information, including multi-factor authentication, encryption, email filtering, malware protection, and regular reviews of user access.

Phishing continues to be one of the biggest threats to data security, which is why staff training remains an important part of our cybersecurity efforts.

A Look at District Finances

The Board approved the July financial report, with the district ending the month with an ending cash balance of approximately $34.9 million.

The Board also reviewed the district’s year-end financial position. The General Fund ended the 2025–26 school year with a balance of approximately $19.5 million, representing about 29% contingency.

The Board also approved a proposed tax rate lower than last year's, while it is still expected to generate approximately 4% more revenue due to increased property valuations.

Southwestern Project Moves Forward

The Board approved revised plans for Southwestern's athletic facility improvements. The revisions to the new fieldhouse plans add approximately 750 square feet, bringing the project to roughly 9,500 square feet, including new public restrooms and a concession area.

The revised plans have also been reviewed with the school administration and coaching staff. The board expects more detailed renderings soon for review. 

What's Next?

As we begin the 2026–27 school year, our focus remains on providing safe schools, supporting our staff, being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and giving our students the best opportunities possible.

Our next Board Meeting will be on September 8, 2026.

We appreciate our community's continued support of Pulaski County Schools.

Looking for work?    Contact Shelley Todd for more information 606-305-7531. The positions are for 40 hours per week with weekends off and benefits.  

Kentucky has been approved to provide summer P-EBT benefits as offered by the USDA. Please note the following important aspects of the approval:

• All eligible students will receive the same total benefit amount of $375 for the covered summer period. The benefit will be a one-time deposit to the existing cards that should occur in August.
• Summer P-EBT is an “extension” of the 2020-2021 P-EBT benefit, so all students that ended the school year as eligible will automatically receive the benefits, including students that graduated.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program by the FCC provides a temporary discount on monthly bills for qualifying households.  Recipients may receive up to $50/month discount on broadband service and associated equipment rental and a one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, tablet or desktop computer.  Your household qualifies for this benefit if your service provider participates and if you have a Pulaski County Student in your home because our school system participates in USDA Community Eligibility Provision providing all students with free meals at school. Click on the article tilte for additional instrucitons.  You can also visit the FCC website to apply.

Meals will be available for up to 7 days per week, May 24 - July 30, 2021.  Pickup at Pulaski County High School available Monday - Friday only (weekend meals picked during the week).  To be approved, complete and return the application to Mary Worley or Carylon Burdine.  Participants must read the Sponsor Training Guide.  Meals may be provided for children 18 and younger and persons age 19 - 21 participating in a school program who have a mental or physical disability.  For additional information contact Food Services at 679-1123 or Charita Roberts at 679-3217.  Click on the article title above for additional information.