BARC and CoBank Give $4,000 to Bath Schools

9-5-19 BARC and COBank give 4,000 Dollars to Bath Schools

The Bath County School Board met Tuesday, September 3rd at Valley Elementary school. After the opening procedures, Mr. Kyser from BARC presented two checks to the school board totaling 4,000 dollars to support the STEM and renewable energy programs. He said, 

“BARC provided 2,000 and CoBank is providing another 2,000.”

Alongside him was Tommy Ford,

“I’ve served as your director on this board for 15 years, and when I went on the board 15 years ago, anytime BARC was around other co-ops, association meetings and so forth, we were always kind of looking to them. ‘What are they doing that we could be doing? What should we be doing?’, We were kind of a follower. Well, I can probably say in the last 4 or 5 years under the leadership of Mr. Kyser, BARC is no longer a follower.” 

He also shared that the board voted on starting another new project but can’t go into details at the moment because it hasn’t hit the news yet. He did share that this will be another opportunity for people in the area that will save money for not only the members but for the schools. He ended by saying,

“BARC is very interested in our schools. We will continue to seek opportunities to benefit the schools and we just want you to know that we’re fighting for you, we’re on your side.”

Mr. Kyser shared a quick story that last week he and the delegation of the board and management team traveled to Reno and California where they toured a wind farm. He said, 

“To know that the kids back home are winning national awards for their wind projects while we’re touring a wind farm and seeing that this is truly the direction the industry is heading in the energy industry, and to have kids at Bath County school districts exposed to those types of opportunities..it wasn’t something I had growing up at all so it’s exciting to be part of a cause that helps to support that.”

Mrs. Hirsh said these two checks will be divided equally between the schools. 

Next on the consent agenda, Valley Elementary school teacher, Darah Hevener, put together a project to show preschool and grades K-7 what they’re working on in certain classes and new, creative ways of teaching the students. Mrs. Hirsh said that at every school board meeting, a teacher or principal of that school will share these projects. 

Valley Elementary principal, Mr. Wheeler and BCHS principal, Mr. Perry shared statistics on the school climate surveys where all areas seemed to be average and right on the median. They did realize that through these surveys that education on bullying needs to happen and be addressed. Mr. Wheeler said,  

“When you look at student understanding of bullying, the data suggests that students have a difficult time reaching a resolution to their problems. So one of the focal areas that I’m focusing on is making sure that we as a faculty and staff educate our students on how to resolve issues.”

Highschool principal Mr. Perry said, 

“I was thrilled to see our students reporting that the staff perceived as supportive, helpful, and respectful of students at 11.97%, that’s way above a standard deviation. That just tickles me to death.” 

He also shared that through these reports 55% of students from 9-12 grade plan on going to a 4-year college.

The Bath School Board meets every first Tuesday of the month with the open meeting starting at 7:30 pm. All are welcome to attend.

For AMR News, I’m Abby Dufour 

 

Story By

Abby Dufour

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