Whitley County High School officials hope to be moved into their newly renovated cafeteria before the end of the month.
Substantial completion of the project is expected by Oct. 24, construction officials told the Whitley County Board of Education during its monthly meeting Thursday.
Whitley County Superintendent Scott Paul said that the expansion would add at least one-third more space to the cafeteria.
"We’ll be getting really close by the end of the week," he added.
During Thursday’s meeting, the board also recognized the staff at Whitley East Elementary School, and Whitley County Middle School math teacher David Atwood.
"Whitley County currently ranks 12th in terms of our test scores in the state of Kentucky," Paul noted. "We are very proud of that. Lots of folks in the district came together and worked really hard in every school.
"Whitley East in particular did something that was rather amazing considering what all the staff had to deal with last year. They didn’t have a principal for a good part of the year and that in itself creates a lot of problems. A lot of different situations came up."
Despite the difficulties, the school raised its index score from 88 to 110.
"To raise the index by double digits in four of the five content areas is another amazing feat. We are really proud of you all. We feel like you are one of the biggest reasons that we are currently ranked 12th in the state."
In addition, the board recognized Atwood with its newly named Above and Beyond Award.
"Each month we are going to try to recognize a teacher for achievement throughout the district. Last month we recognized an individual, but we hadn’t named our award yet," said Deputy Superintendent Paula Trickett.
"I just can’t say enough good things about this teacher, who we are going to recognize now."
Atwood, who is in his fifth year of teaching, has developed a computer-based system to monitor his students’ achievement scores, and frequently has community members as guest speakers in his classroom.
Atwood coaches soccer, is head of the math department at the school, sponsors the Christian Youth Club and the Fellow of Christian Athletes, and received the Campbellsville University Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010.
In other business, the board:
• Accepted a $21,000 bid from Richardson Excavating for waste water system improvements at Whitley East Elementary School.
• Approved leaves of absence for Margaret Shumate, Deborah Hensley, Melissa Pratt, Joyce Christian, Nellie Powers and Mary Knight.
• Accepted the school nutrition report card. During 2010-2011 the district served 617,741 student lunches, and 453,607 student breakfasts.
• Approved a trip and fundraising for Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) students to attend a regional meeting in Atlanta, and, if they are competing, to attend a national FCCLA national meeting in Florida.
