To kick off the start of the new school year, the Patrick County School Board discussed last year’s accomplishments at its Aug. 11 meeting.
Schools Superintendent Jason Wood said he originally presented the fun facts at the Aug. 4 Back to School celebration to thank the staff for working through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since March and the beginning of the pandemic, we have served nearly 770,000 meals. Also, just from last year alone we did 210,000 breakfasts and 265,00 lunches, and out of those 80 percent were all hot meals,” he said.
When schools were closed, he said bus drivers, school staff, and cafeteria workers delivered 21,000 meals to families.
Wood said the transportation department also worked extremely hard, with no bus routes being cancelled.
“I know some of our surrounding schools had to call families and say, ‘we don’t have a driver,’ but our director of maintenance, our administrative assistance, our mechanics, and all our bus drivers never had to cancel a route,” he said.
Coming out of the pandemic, Wood said he believes the school division is one of the best around at returning to preliminary Standards of Learning (SOL) performance. According to preliminary reports from the educational group the division is in, Patrick schools ranked fourth out of 40 schools.
“Our CTE (Career & Technical Education) certifications, we had six of those that had a 100 percent pass rate this spring, and our graduation rate is above the state average,” he said.
Wood said enrollment for the first day of the 2022-23 school year had increased by 37 students from last year, with some students still needing to register.
“Also, all our staffing and instructional positions are filled. We just have a few part-time teachers’ assistant positions available,” he said, adding the division is always looking for more bus drivers and substitutes.
In other matters, the board:
*Heard a budget update from Wood, who explained what was discussed at the Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting. Amy Walker, of the Mayo River District, said one thing people may not understand about receipt of grants, grant money, and expenditures for the school system is that the school board must spend the money upfront and then get reimbursed later.
“It’s not like the grant is awarded to up, and with that comes a big, fat check, and we get to spend it. According to the grant, we have to spend it first then get reimbursed,” she said.
Walter Scott, of the Smith River District, said the county is the opposite in that it receives the funds beforehand.
*Approved the personnel report as amended.
*Approved the school crisis plan for the 2022-2023 school year.
*Approved the religious exemptions 2022-2023-1 and 2022-2-23-2 as amended.
*Approved the consent agenda.
*Approved the school executive summary.
*Approved the school wide plans 2022-2023.
Shannon Harrell, of the Blue Ridge District, did not attend the meeting.
