Pulaski School Board swears in Price, Carrigan
Jan. 12—In Tuesday's monthly Pulaski County School Board meeting, Cindy Price and Laura Carrigan took two oaths of office to start their new terms as Chairperson and Board Member respectively.
The two women are not new to the school board. Price and Carrigan have dutifully served on the board for years. However, this year marks the beginning of their new term, and the pair took both a state oath and a constitutional oath for the board.
Attorney Larry Bryson swore in Price and Carrigan, first with the state oath and then with the constitutional oath. The state oath had Price and Carrigan affirm their commitment to the board and their refusal to affect the outcomes of firing and hiring for any position save the superintendent and board attorney. Price and Carrigan affirmed.
The constitutional oath was more interesting. As with most Kentucky positions, the oath required inductees to affirm they had not participated in a duel. This, as per usual, elicited a laugh from the crowd, Bryson, and Price and Carrigan.
Following their swearing in, the pair returned to their chairs. The board then set the date, time, and location of regular monthly meetings for the next year.
The agenda was adopted, then Superintendent Pat Richardson gave his report. One of the primary topics was the major leak occurring in Pulaski County Elementary School. Christmas Day around 4 p.m., one of the sprinkler pipes burst, causing extensive damage. Some classrooms had between two and four inches of flooding.
Richardson praised the maintenance staff for repairing the leak quickly and effectively.
"[Assistant Superintendent Matt] Cook and I, we showed up on scene and there were already at least 10 maintenance guys there," said Richardson. "Make a long story short, Christmas Day, we worked about three hours with our maintenance guys and got that taken care of. We didn't demand anybody be there... and we had a whole slew of people show up."
Richardson thanked the maintenance workers for their dedication to the children of Pulaski County.
Krystal Goode then presented teacher of the month to Jodie Wilson. Mrs. Wilson is the first teacher of the month for 2023. She is a reading intervention teacher at Nancy Elementary School. She's been teaching for 25 years, and says that each day "is like a new adventure."
She enjoys shopping, traveling, watching Netflix, and watching her husband garden.
Her favorite quote is "A good education can change everyone. A good teacher can change everything."
Imagination Library was then presented. Imagination Library is a program erected by Dolly Parton in order to get children to read more. Many on the board voiced their love for the program and felt it was a huge help to their students as well as their own children.
Some concern was expressed over the budget as the federal funding was "starting to dry up," though the board was confident they could continue without federal funding. Following action item approval, the board opened up for public comment.
No one stepped forward and the board adjourned.
