MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Career Center school board member Mary Jean Theaker resigned ahead of Thursday’s board meeting, which would have been the start of her third year as a board member.
Theaker was not present Thursday when the board approved her resignation, but board president Richard McClarnan said she resigned because of health reasons.
Supt. Kathrine Greenich contacted Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center, and MOESC will decide who fills the seat, Greenich said. MOESC meets Jan. 19 and Greenich said the seat is expected to be filled by KCCC’s February board meeting.
“(MOESC) has two names that are both Clear Fork (school district) residents,” she said. “And, I’ve been working with the Mid-Ohio superintendent and also the Clear Fork superintendent, but it is a Mid-Ohio decision, so I don’t know who they will pick to send to us.”
Theaker’s replacement will fill the term through December 2022.
Because Thursday marked the first meeting of the year, the board approved several routine items, but attendees also announced several new and upcoming projects.
High school director Jeff Lavin said KCCC will begin offering driver’s education training at a reduced cost. The full three-week training program, with a total cost of $325, includes 24 hours of in-class instruction and eight hours of in-car instruction.
“Since being able to drive to work is a major hurdle for some students, we look at it as an employability skill,” Lavin said. “So, we’re going to be flexible with when we can get those in-car hours. It might happen during the day. We can release them from lab. We have systems in place where that can work and still count.”
The training company is based out of Coshocton, Ohio, but will provide driver’s education training at KCCC.
The board also honored Jane Marlow Thursday, who is retiring from her position as director of Knox Technical Center.
“I just wanted to say thank you for all of your support,” Marlow said. “It’s certainly been an honor to be a part of the really important work we do here at the Career Center. It transforms lives, it really does.”
Regarding upcoming projects, Greenich said KCCC is having talks with Knox Public Health and Mount Vernon City Schools about starting a school-based health center.
If a student becomes ill during the school day, the school nurse could call the parent/guardian and refer the student to the school-based health center, which the student could go to without the parent/guardian having to pick the student up and potentially leave work.
The location has not yet been determined. The center could be located in a separate non-school building or attached to a current school building, Greenich said.
“(A school-based health center would) make it much easier to have healthcare for so many of our families who do not have access, especially here at the career center some of our families are in rural areas where there are no clinics,” Greenich said.
The school-based health center has the potential to provide medical services, as well as dental and vision services.
“All of those needs take away from them learning,” Greenwich said, referring to when medical, dental and vision needs of students are not met.
Amid increases in the spread of COVID-19 locally, Lavin said attendance remains relatively high.
“Our attendance is still above 90% — a little bit lower than it had been a few weeks ago prior to Christmas, but last year when we were in the middle of everything it was in the mid- to low- eighties,” Lavin said. “So we are still in a good spot.”
Lavin said KCC is also prepared to easily transition to remote learning, if needed.
Mount Vernon City Schools appointed Margie Bennett to the KCCC board for a three-year term, effective Jan. 1, and Knox County Educational Service Center appointed Richard McLarnan to the board also for a three-year term, effective Jan. 1.
McLarnan will serve as board president and Margie Bennett will serve as board vice president for the 2022 term.
Board meetings will continue to be at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month, except for March when the meeting will be the third Thursday of the month due to board member personal conflicts. There was no public participation at Thursday’s meeting.
