Three Powell County High School students who competed in the Family Career and Community Leaders of America brought home medals awarded to them for their performance in the clubs National Competition that was held during the first week of July in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kaylee Lane and Noah Perry were both awarded with a gold medal for their group performance in the Illustrated Talk category during the 2017 National Conference. Gabby Conley was awarded a silver medal for her individual performance in the “Teach and Train” category.   Kaylee Lane and Noah Perry did a project regarding single parent homes called “Nurturing the Non-nuclear” about how to build a single parent home a weak family structure and make it stronger. “We tried to gives a lot of examples of how you can take a family that has been broken and make it just as strong as a normal two-parent family that was our end goal was to give people some ideas of what they can do to get a closer relationship with their children or parents,” Perry said. “One of the things that we focused on was  having dinner together and being able to know when you need outside like counseling and it focused on things like love, trust and respect in a family whether that family was divorced, adopted family or foster family,” Lane said. “No matter what kind of non-nuclear kind of family it is that you need to have respect and balance within the family.” “Part of it being illustrated talk meant we had physical visuals that we could show so we used a particular illustration with a flower pot likening the flower pot to a family in that the flower pot nurtures the flower so that it can grow just like a family would for for a child,” Perry said. “We break the flower pot as a symbol of a divorce, death of a parent or a family splitting up and we used those examples to help put the pot back together with tape with that those kinds of things written on them.”

Advisor says that she believes that the illustration of the flower pot was important because it showed symbolism of how it used to be broken but it was taped back together and all though it may not look perfect that it can still be used to grow a flower cause an imperfect family can grow a really child at the same time. “To be recognized for the gold medal means a lot to us because we put a lot of work into it and its something thats close to our hearts not because of any personal experiences but because we both come from nuclear families but we see that our hometown is stricken with broken families so its important to make it known that non-nuclear families are any less than nuclear families,” Lane said.

“As FCCLA members we try to strive to have pride in where we are from and in our roots its a pretty big deal to us to do something like this that can really effect the fibers of your community and try to fix some of the issues we see here,” Perry said. Gabby Conley won a silver medal during the individual competion for creating a lesson that could be used to teach a group of students or co-workers in the “Teach and Train” category. “I had to choose a career so I chose to be a middle school math teacher and I created a lesson corresonding to a problem concerning low test scores in middle school math relating to multi-step equations,” Conley said. “You could choose anything as long as taught or trained a lesson.”

Conley had went to the Powell County Middle School taught a lesson to 8th graders about how to solve multi-step equations just to make their test scores better at the end of the year.  Conley says that during the previous years that the test scores were low not just in the community of Powell County but nationwide. “I had to do a lot of research and had to do a self-assessment so I had to look deep down inside of myself and figure out why I wanted to do this particular career,” Conley said. “I figured out that I really like teaching after it was all said and done. I feel like that I could make a career out of this.”  Conley says that she gave students a test at the beginning of the lesson and at the end of the lesson and she says she was able to see the improvement in the test scores that could be attributed to her lesson improving the students knowledge and ability to better solve multi-step equations.  “From pre-to-post test the students had gained over 35 percentage points of knowledge.” Conley said. “Their average test scores from the pre-test was a 65 percent by the end of the lesson and by doing the post-test they had 95 percent average.” Conley says that after discovering how successful her teaching methods were while she was participating in the FCCLA National Competition that she is  now considering a career path teaching family and consumer sciences. “I just feel very passionate about the subject and how it it has effected me because it has caused me to be a better person,” Conley said.

Nonprofit credit counseling agency Take Charge America shares tips for teaching children how to manage money

PHOENIX – (July 12, 2017) – For good or bad, today’s kids have access to more information than ever before. But even though they can find answers with just a few keystrokes, few know much about managing money.

“Despite the boundless information online, the best way to learn about money is to follow the footsteps of past generations, when people spent less than they earned and saved for big purchases,” said Michael Sullivan, a personal finance consultant with Take Charge America, a national nonprofit credit counseling and debt management counseling agency. “It’s important for parents to instill responsible money habits so their children can succeed in the future.”

Sullivan offers six tips to help parents teach their kids about finances:

1. Communication. The Council for Economic Education’s Survey of the States, Economic and Personal Finance Education in Our Nation’s Schools 2016 study reported that only 17 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance. Parents shoulder the responsibility, but many simply don’t discuss money with their kids. Without open communication at home, kids may not learn the value of a dollar.

2. Wants/Needs: We live in an immediate gratification world where the line between “want” and “need” is blurred. Ensure your kids understand the difference – and take care not to indulge their every whim – to raise kids with the discipline and patience needed to fight off the temptation to rack up credit card or excessive student debt in the future.

3. Budgeting: Show your kids how to budget their money, making sure you include line items for savings and even charitable giving. A physical budget is an invaluable tool in teaching them to allocate their dollars, measure their progress toward large purchases, and ensure they spend less than they earn.

4. Practice: Provide your kids with a regular allowance, encourage them to get a job, or offer frequent opportunities to earn money at home. Allow them to practice the lessons learned by funding their own “wants.” Children will quickly learn how much things cost, how money is earned, and the importance of budgeting and saving. Give them a chance to make mistakes, too, to learn valuable lessons.

5. Financial Accounts: Take the lessons a step further and help your kid set up a savings or investment account. Older children and math whizzes will be fascinated by compounding interest, which may boost their motivation to save more.

6. 50/50: Today’s kids are growing up in a high-pressure consumer culture, and parents often give in to their desires for clothing, toys, gadgets and entertainment. It’s important to give children the opportunity to put skin in the game to reinforce the value of money and bolster their financial ability. To that end, many parents arrange a 50/50 or matching-funds agreement with their kids for big-ticket items like a car, a vacation or even college tuition.

For more information about budgeting, credit counseling, debt management or student loan repayment, visit takechargeamerica.org or call (888) 822-9193.

About Take Charge America, Inc.

Founded in 1987, Take Charge America, Inc. is a nonprofit agency offering financial education and counseling services including credit counseling, debt management, student loan counseling, housing counseling and bankruptcy counseling. It has helped more than 1.6 million consumers nationwide manage their personal finances and debts. To learn more, visit www.takechargeamerica.org or call (888) 822-9193.

RICHMOND, Ky. (June 13, 2017) — Students attending the National Polygraph Academy, hosted by the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training, traveled from eight states and Singapore to attend a 10-week study of the art and science of polygraph. The students graduated after completing 400 hours of polygraph training.

The NPA course provides students, “foundational knowledge necessary to administer exams, sit for state licensing exams and apply for membership in professional associations,” the NPA website states. NPA Basic Programs Director Pam Shaw said law enforcement use polygraph in a variety of ways, including an array of criminal investigations such as murder, arson, burglary, assaults and sex crimes. Many law enforcement agencies also use polygraph in pre-employment screening and internal-affairs cases.

During the 10-week course, students studied polygraph history, nogy, instruments used in testing, psychology, physiology, polygraph operations, test question construction, interview skills, polygraph techniques, test-data analysis/chart evaluations, the validity and reliability of polygraphs, ethics, quality control, countermeasures, report writing, preparing for court testimony, state polygraph laws and administrative regulations.

Phillip Frazier, of Clay City, was among the graduares from the National Polygraph Academy will be working with the Law Enforcement Council Agency.

 

Darrell Billings of Stanton was awarded the Honorary State FFA Degree at a special ceremony during the 88th State FFA Convention in Lexington.  The Honorary Degree is awarded to adults who have made a significant contribution to the state association.  Past recipients of the award have included several Kentucky Governors, various leaders in agriculture and education, and numerous individuals who have provided service to the organization over the course of multiple years.

 

Billings is a longtime State and National Convention judge, sponsor, and state Foundation Board member.  He has served as Chair of the Kentucky FFA Foundation Board since 2015 and has helped raise over $1 million to support the work of Kentucky FFA.  According to State FFA Advisor Brandon K. Davis, “Darrell has provided exemplary leadership to the Foundation Board during a time of growth and expansion.  He has been instrumental in the RAM Scholarship Program, the Ag Tag Program, and various other initiatives.  We are thankful he has chosen to donate his time and talent to support Kentucky FFA and our members across the state.”

 

Kentucky FFA is an organization of over 14,500 middle and high school students enrolled in Agricultural Education courses.  The organization currently has 152 chapters in 116 counties.  Nationally, FFA has over 629,000 members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.

Did you know that there will be almost 200 young people, their youth leaders and REACH staff and volunteers from 9 different states coming to Powell County, Kentucky? They will be arriving June 25 and leaving July 1, 2017. (REACH staff arrived June 18).  This is a wonderful opportunity for our county!  These REACH work campers (as they are known) from the different states will all be mixed together and then split into smaller work teams to go to pre-selected homes in our county to do home improvement projects/jobs.

Not only will the youth be helping in our county with home improvements; but, as the REACH Ministries website states concerning impact of REACH with the youth themselves: “Helping develop youth into transformed servants of Jesus: Make Friends. Serve Communities. Be Transformed.” Youth will participate in various programs to help strengthen them in their relationship with Jesus as well as in their relationships with one another and in their relationships with those “neighbors” in our county. The home base for the week for those of this non-denominational REACH event will be at the Powell County High School. It will be at the High School where showers, eating and sleep time will occur for REACH participants after the daily duties in the county are done.

Preparations for this special REACH week began over a year ago. Many people and organizations in our county have been (and are still) working together to make this be a successful event.  Some of the numerous things that are being done (or have been done already) by people in our county are: at least 8 churches and 2 organizations preparing foods and desserts to feed the work campers for part of their meals while here, volunteers coming to the school to help staff with set-up, cleaning, serving food, etc.; vehicles made available for transportation to the worksites; monetary donations by businesses, churches and private individuals to help with various expenses; water donation; Ale-8 donation; discounts generously given – just to mention a few of the many.

By Cecil Pergram

Times Editor

The Powell County Board of Education held two working sessions to present and discuss budgeted items in the tentative budget for the 2017-2018 school year before the May 30 deadline. The board used the working session to reach a majority consensus to approve the 2017-2018 tentative budget.

Superintendent Michael Tate told the board at the May 17 meeting it was their budget and for them to do whatever they wanted. Tate also told the board that this years budget presented a lot of unknown items.

“We will get this approved at the end of the month a lot of this will be determined when we carry forward the money June 30-July 1 when the Fiscal year ends. So we won’t know until then how much money will carry forward. We have a lot of unknowns with the budget looking at Medicaid and some other things.” Tate said. “We do know that we cut $327,000 out of SEEK but there’s other things in the budget, this is the boards budget if you want to make changes you can tell us that tonight and we’ll try and put those in as long as we stay above the 2% contingency.”

The board was reminded that this budget was just a tentative budget and that a working budget would be in place by September 30.

The board discussed the general fund which is the operating fund to cover general expenses and the largest fund in the Powell County School District and was the fund the board was working with in the tentative budget.

The general fund for 2017-2018 is $17,834,269.63 and is the smallest budget the school system has been working with in several years.

The board was told again that it will have a carry-over beginning balance but won’t know the exact amount until after the Annual Financial Report is submitted to the Kentucky Department of Education on July 25.

The board was told that property taxes make up nine percent of all local revenues and is determined by the ADA, the districts property valuation and the districts ability to levy local taxes.

The current current local tax levy is four percent. Superintendent Tate asked the board for a notice if the board didn’t expect to pass that tax levy in the Fall.

“If you pass that levy in the fall, four percent, that amounts to $70,000 if we know tonight that we’re not going to pass that levy thats $70,000 we have to plan to make up somewhere.” Tate said. “I’ve been proud of the board every year I’ve been here you’ve passed the four percent, if your thinking about not passing the tax it would be nice to know now, so we can go ahead and make arrangements to cover the loss because we didn’t pass the tax.”

Two of the five board members said that as of that moment they didn’t see themselves voting for a tax increase next fall.

Superintendent told the board that if it failed to pass the four percent tax that the board would lose that money for every year going forward because it would no longer have an option to levy that tax because the board would have set the tax base where its at and that decision would be a loss of $700,000 over a period 10 years to the schools.

“Where I’m coming from I don’t see how you could project the appreciated amount of the tax base is going to be for next year. I don’t think the PVA even knows that.” said Board Member John Brewer. “Property doesn’t depreciate, it appreciates, we got new homes and businesses going up everyday. That’s an additional tax base for us.”

Prior to this months Board of Education meetings the budget included the asphalt repaving of all five of the districts schools.

“This is just my observation, Bowen Elementary doesn’t need sealing. The majority of the high school doesn’t need sealing, the bus garage does.” Brewer said. “Clay City Elementary and Stanton Elementary are in dire need. The middle school probably does need it but not as bad at Clay City and Stanton.”

At the May 22 meeting the board elected to cut the asphalt resurfacing from all five schools to three schools Clay City Elementary, Stanton Elementary and to fill in the pot holes at the Powell County High School.

The budget also included a $25,000 vehicle purchase to transport students to other facilities, conduct home visits and take smaller team membered teams to events in that vehicle instead of full size bus.

“I’ve been here six years we’ve always talked about golf, track, and academic teams these teams where we may only have four kids going on a trip yet when we leave Powell County we put them on a full-size bus while everybody else on that trip is coming up in a vehicle whether a suburban or van with their four or five kids.” Tate said. “We were looking that at that over a period of time it would probably save the board some money.”

Superintendent told the board that previous boards had approved the vehicle purchase in the past years budget but they were tight on funding and the funds kept being redistributing to fund other parts of the school budget or activities so it was never purchased.

Some Powell County School employees are currently using their personal vehicles to conduct home visits and meet other requirements.

When Powell County Students qualify for the Kentucky School for the Blind or the Kentucky School for the Deaf the school system is responsible for transporting those students to those students to those facilities when that happens the school system pays for a bus driver and monitor plus gas for the transportation.

We spent a year taking one student

Board Member John Barker said he was against the Board of Education keeping the vehicle in this years budget because it was included in the past years budget and never was purchased.

“If you had it in the budget for four or five years, the contingency wasn’t as low as it right now, you didn’t use to buy it then,” said Barker.

“I’m like Mr. Barker if its been in the budget all these years then why should we looking at when our contingency is down to the lowest its ever been. Why hadn’t the board done it years ago?,” said Brewer.

“The board did approve it the superintendent didn’t do it.” Tate said. “We felt we had other things coming into the budget. We started soccer and other programs at the high school, we were involved in dual-credits and involved in other things paying out money and I felt that at that time it wasn’t the best for the purchase of the vehicle.”

The board discussed and wanted to see how many teachers would be coming back the next school year. Clay City Elementary wil

Another major topic from the May 17 meeting was concerning school attendance.

“Were projected to be the lowest student membership numbers were going to have have in six or seven years.” Tate said. “Here’s where that comes in, SEEK, is based on attendance. You look at the attendance, our rate was 92.69 this year the teachers done a tremendous job focusing on attendance this year but we were at 92.58 last year and we only increased to 92.69 this year.”

Tate told the board that the schools did a lot of things this year to raise attendance during the school year but student attendance is hurting the board’s position.

Tate told the board that it had to sit at the meetings and make tough decisions but if the schools was able to increase the attendance rate to the state average of 94.5 that increase in attendance would give the board $225,000 in additional income for the budget.

“I think we may have to change some of our policy and procedures to tighten up on some things. How many excuses are legit at a certain school? There’s certain laws already in effect, maybe we need to work with our court systems better, there is a lot of things we need to look at. We got to work better with parents to help them understand” said Tate.

At the May 22 meeting the board made compromises to get the tentative budget approved.

Those compromises were to change the asphalt resurfacing project from all five schools to three, to remove the vehicle from the list of budgeted items and to discuss the vehicle at a later date to be able raise the contingency and get the tentative budget approved.  The board also made and the decision to change the funding for  starting the archery program as a club instead of a sport. The board passed the motion by a 3-2 vote. Board members Mendel Tipton, Kim Hall and Diann Meadows voted for approving the budget. Board members John Brewer and John Barker voted against approving the tentative budget.

Other decisions made by the Board of Education at the May 22 meeting include:

Approval of change order #5 for a no cost change to add five calendar days to the contract for the Powell County Middle School Renovation as requested by Bascum Construction for a final completion date of July 6. The board approved that motion by 4-1 vote. Tipton, Hall, Barker and Meadows voted for approval. Barker voted to oppose the approval.

Approval of change order #6 in the amount of $3,199.88 for the Powell County Middle School Renovation Project to replace existing door closers in disrepair at the front entrance of the middle school as approved by Sherman Carter Barnhart by a vote of 4-1. Tipton, Hall, Barker and Meadows vote for the motion. Barker voted to oppose the approval of the motion.

The board approved Stanton Elementary School Library as the site for the Superintendent’s evaluation.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

To say this years Powell County High Schools Family, Career and Community Leaders of America have been busy would be an under statement.

They have worked hard to increase their membership to 33 members and tried to have a multitude of activities to impact the community.

The mission of FCCLA is to promote personal growth and leadership development through Family and Consumer Sciences education.

FCCLA focuses on the multiple roles of a family member, wage earner and community leader and members develop skills for life through: character development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal communication, practical knowledge, and career preparation.

The members have been busy and completed many community service projects throughout the year including: volunteering at the Clay City Ice Cream Social, Stanton City Park clean up, PCHS grounds clean up, and volunteering at the Reading Celebration.

FCCLA also had six students compete at the regional level.

Kaylee Lane and Noah Perry, 1st place; Gabrielle Conley, 1st place; Hannah Wheeler, 1st place; Molly Cornett, 2nd place; and Shayla Fountain, 2nd place.

The first place winners advanced on to state competition where Noah and Kaylee placing 2nd and Gabrielle placing 1st, both of which will now compete at Nationals in Nashville the first week of July.

The FCCLA’s Advisors are Cretia Mainous and Lori Winburn.

Business and Marketing Department Student Organization

FBLA—Future Business Leaders of America:  Our Future Business Leaders have been busy this year!!! Powell County High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) recently had 32 students qualify for the state leadership conference and10 students to qualify for the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California.  The students who qualified were Katie Williams-Duff, Shayla Fountain, Kelsey Turner, Madeline Lowe, Kamryn Becraft, Allie Adkins, Kelby Rose, Logan Neal, Jeremiah Creech, and Chandler Thomas. They will be attending the national conference in June to compete against other members from around the country. In addition, the chapter received the Kentucky Commonwealth Award of Merit, Recognition Award for State Fundraising, Bronze Level for Local Leadership Challenge, and on the National level Non -Stop November where we raised over $600 for the March of Dimes.  Our chapter was involved in many community service projects including the local fall festivals, the annual Cops and Kids Program, Christmas Card Project, and the Red River Junior Chamber of Commerce Recruitment Drive. Our current officers had the opportunity to attend the National Fall Leadership Conference in Daytona Beach, FL where they were able to network and attend leadership workshops.  The Powell County chapter officers are President Cody Begley, Vice-President Kelby Rose, Secretary Kalei Farthing, Treasurer Tiffany Burton, Reporter Macy Bentley, and Historian Ashtynn Potts.  Alicia Frazier is the  FBLA advisor and was recently named one of the outstanding advisor for region 6!!

Corey Henson, of Stanton, Kentucky has been admitted to Berea College for the Fall 2017 term.

As an enrolled student at Berea College, Henson has been awarded a Tuition Promise Scholarship, which completely covers the cost of tuition after other forms of grant and scholarship aid are applied. Students at Berea graduate with one the lowest rates of student educational debt in the nation, and one in three students graduate debt free. Berea College admits students based on their academic achievement, community service, leadership potential, and financial need.

Widely known for the quality of its academic program, Berea College was the South’s first interracial and coeducational college. Berea charges no tuition, admitting only academically promising students, primarily from Appalachia, who have limited economic resources.

For anyone interested in more information about Berea College, please contact the Berea College Admissions Office at (800) 326-5948 or vista www.berea.edu.

Anna Reeves, a 2013 alumna of Powell County High School, will be graduating May 12 ,2017 , Summa Cum Laude from Eastern Kentucky University and will obtain a B.S. in Criminal Justice with certificates in both German and Intelligence Studies. In the picture above, the honor societies represented by her honor regalia are Alpha Phi Sigma National Criminal Justice Honor Society, Lambda Delta, and Golden Key International Honor Society. Her other honor societies include Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Kappa Phi, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. In addition to these honor societies, she is also a member of the German Club, NOVA (a TRiO student success program), and she is a Bluegrass State Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (BGS IC CAE) scholar. During the course of her college career, Anna has represented EKU at national conferences, presented research on topics of criminal justice and homeland security, and has gained ample experience in community service and leadership, which includes facilitating a rehabilitative mentoring program for ex-offenders.  Anna, has interned with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and has been awarded with the Outstanding Senior Award for the School of Justice Studies at EKU.  After graduation, she will attend EKU’s Criminology and Criminal Justice graduate program to obtain her M.S. in Criminal Justice and wants to become either a Federal Probation Officer or an Intelligence Analyst for a local police agency.