Estill County Schools receive $25,000 GEAR-UP grant
The Estill County Board of Education was awarded a grant for $25,000 to assist the school system with meeting project goals for college and career readiness programs by the Berea College GEAR UP Partnership. The award was announced at a meeting of the board last Thursday.
Also announced at the meeting were Excellence in Teaching Awards given to three Estill County teachers by Campbellsville College. An elementary teacher, a middle school teacher, and a high school teacher were nominated by their school system for this award for their accomplishments in their field.
“One thing that lacks in education, is that we often don’t recognize our good teachers. We have a lot of good teachers and are very proud of the work that they do,” Superintendent Bert Hensley said.
Recipients of the award were Christy Turner, a kindergarden teacher at South Irvine P/K Center, Sarah Beard, science and social studies teacher at Estill County Middle School, and Lynn Miller, agriculture teacher at Estill High.
Teachers weren’t the only ones recognized at the meeting. Savannah Parrett and Savannah Grensavitch, both seniors at Estill County High School, were recognized by Shiela Samples and the board for their design and creation of the Kentucky School Board Association Conference Banner this year.
The theme for the banner was Kentucky College and Career Readiness, Kentucky’s Real 2012 Olympics. The design of these two students was chosen from approximately 300 entries from grades three through 12.
“Artistically, they did a beautiful job,” Hensley said.
The banner, which took only three weeks to complete, was displayed during the school board association conference and will now be permanently displayed in the central office building.
The school system assisted those in Morgan County affected by the March tornadoes. Some of the surplus furniture and equipment from the West Irvine Elementary School was donated to their schools to help with their recovery efforts. Seventy-six desks, 12 teacher’s desks and shelves were given before the surplus auction was held. After the donations were made, proceeds from the auction totaled $11,794.