Pickett County Schools reporting a successful conclusion to the academic year.
Director of Schools Melissa Robbins said the district is seeing positive momentum as students and staff finish the year with strong performance indicators. Robbins said the school board passed the budget for the upcoming school year, which includes funding for major infrastructure needs and instructional support.
“I think we see a lot of positive change in those areas, and we see kids excited to come to school, so that, that is a big blessing,” Robbins said. “And we have a great, great board at Pickett County and they do work hard to make sure they’re thoughtful about what we are doing in the school and I really appreciate the whole district, they’ve all done well this year.”
Robbins said the new budget includes allocations for a new roof at the K-8 school to replace the current 25-year-old structure. Robbins said the district is also moving forward with a restroom renovation project that required specialized repairs to a pipe running underneath the library.
“They found some faulty places in that pipe and so the update on that is we’re going to have a liner put in that pipe, and so that was discussed as well as how that was going to need to be take, take, how that was going to have to take place,” Robbins said. “And we’re going to have to shut the water off to the school, so in order to do some of that.”
The board updated several personnel policies to align with new state legislation regarding sick leave and personal days for teachers. Robbins said one policy regarding banking days for non-certified staff was tabled for further investigation before a final decision is made.
“Some of those policies we look at them each year because that’s what we should be doing, and so we just look back at our policies to make sure that we have the newest updates for those policies, if that makes sense,” Robbins said.
Robbins said the board granted her the authority to adjust budget line items to allow for the movement of funds when necessary. Robbins said transparency is maintained by providing the board with a detailed expenditure sheet at every meeting to show exactly where money is being spent.
“We’ve had a really great school year, this year we had our teachers and all staff get together… celebrated our teachers of the year as selected by their peers, and I think it was a really great end to the school,” Robbins said. “We had a great end to the school for the students, and the administration at the K-8 celebrated by dressing up and just having a fun last day for our kiddos as they left for the school year.”