Whitley Board of Education to hire new Safety Resource Officer

May 23—WILLIAMSBURG — Whitley County Board of Education announced plans Thursday to hire an additional School Resource Officer (SRO) for the 2023-2024 school year to make a total of five in the school district.

"It's important to have SROs in the schools to build relationships with the students so if these students need help with something they can confidently reach out to an SRO who can help," Superintendent John Siler said. "Safety is our priority."

Whitley County Sheriff Bill Elliotte was present at the meeting to express his passion for safety at the school level and was willing to work with the district to see an officer hired and continue making safety a priority in the local schools.

"School safety is real important to me. When I retired from state police in 2018, I went straight to work after my 90 days in the Corbin schools as an SRO," Sheriff Elliotte said. "I will go out of my way to make these schools in Whitley County safer and we will hire the best people we can."

Siler expressed the Whitley Board of Education wants to move toward having an SRO at each of the buildings in the school district.

Elliotte shared many people in the community could have an opportunity to give back right in their hometown where their family and friends children, which makes this position extra special.

Supt. Siler announced they are confident they will be able to fill this position by August as the new SRO position was approved to start the hiring process by the Whitley Board of Education in Thursday's regular meeting.

The Whitley school board had good news brought to them by their lead architect, RossTarrant.

The long-awaited switchgear has been delivered to the site of the Whitley County High School CTE (Career and Technical Education) building. The building should be ready to occupy in two to three weeks.

"I think we will probably have it finalized in about two weeks," Siler said.

Additionally in construction news, middle school track plans have been been revised to take an additional 45 days to complete.

After workers took the first layer off the track, they realized the asphalt and stone underneath the rubber layer was failing.

"This is needed to build the kind of facility that we want to have to stand up to years of weather," Siler said. "This will be the type of surface we can host programs like regional."

The current surface is 32 years old and the replacement should last many years.

The change order was for the amount of $184,758.65 plus 45 additional days to complete the project, which was approved by the Board

The new completion date will be July 24 with these new changes.

The school board took the time to recognize students and teachers who had outstanding performance this year.

The first person they recognized was the Above and Beyond Award winner for this May. Mary Wilson was nominated by both a student and principal for the way she encouraged others and expressed how she cared about her students through her encouraging interactions each day.

Next, a group of students were recognized for their selection to the Morehead State University Craft Academy. Four individuals were chosen from the Whitley County School District: Isaiah Llewellyn, Andrew Meadors (not present), Norma Proffitt, and Jonathan Wilson.

These students will get the chance to complete their junior and senior years living on Morehead State's campus and will get dual credit to go toward their college degree.

"These three individuals are going to knock it out of the park at Morehead State and represent themselves, their family and our high school very well," Siler said.

The next group of students were recognized for their outstanding achievement in the Accelerated Reader program. One student from each grade level up to sixth grade was chosen and some had over 300 students to compete with in their grade.

"We want our students to be eager readers and independent readers by the time they leave first grade. We as a district know the importance of getting our students to become life-long readers and fall in love with reading," Siler said. "These students are the top readers of over 300 students each grade."

Braxton Bryant, Kindergartener from Oak Grove Elementary, finished the year reading at a second grade level.

Lathan Prewitt, 1st grader from Whitley Primary, finished the year with a 96 percent average and reading over a second grade level.

Leah Wilson, 2nd grader from Whitley Primary, finished the school year with 222 AR points.

Carter Davis, 3rd grader from Whitley Intermediate, finished reading books at the 4th grade level.

Isabelle McGinley, 4th grader from Whitley Intermediate, finished 4th grade reading at a 6th grade level.

Reed Frazier, fifth grader from Pleasant View, had the highest percent in the district with a 99 percent.

Jayci Feltner, 6th grader from Oak Grove, left sixth grade reading at a 6.5 grade level and had 300 points.

Siler thanked the parents for the involvement in their kids' lives to help them fall in love with reading.

"We want all our students to know how important reading is and their success in school among many other things," Siler said.