A new logo representing the Russell County School System was unveiled at the February session of the Russell County Board of Education.

The student driven effort resulted in a logo that will become the symbol for Russell County schools appearing on shirts and other retail merchandise, school entrances, banners and communications for many years to come.

The idea is the result of Superintendent Kenny Pickett having noted many school districts having a logo that represented the whole system. First National Bank agreed to sponsor the student based contest to develop the new symbol.

After reviewing over a hundred entrants, the decision was made to combine the two leading ideas into one logo. The first place winners were 6th grader Megan Tiller of Russell Springs Elementary, and 4th grader Addison Loy of Jamestown Elementary. They won a $100 cash award, a certificate and the first t-shirts to bear the new logo.

Kelly Pierce, a secretary at Russell County High School, developed the final design combining the winning entrant's ideas.

All winners received a certificate and t-shirt with the new logo along with a cash award. Second place went to 2nd grader Makalyn Wade of Russell Springs Elementary, third place went to 7th grader Gavin Lawless of Russell County Middle School, and fourth place to 8th grade Jonathan Proctor of Russell County Middle School.

A number of teachers and student Dorsey Franklin of the Jamestown Elementary School gave a detailed, professional slide show presentation outlining curriculum, teaching methods, program involvement of students and teachers, as well as academic accomplishments over the past few years.

A representative of 116 school system employee petition signers argued before the board against a new "E-Stub" electronic paycheck statement that went into effect after their February 15 payment. The argument was a lack of access, lack of computer knowledge by some employees and lack of choice between options of payment method.

Superintendent Pickett addressed the concern with a commitment to easy access to computers set up for all employees and to schedule instruction for employees to learn the new system, saying that the new change can be learned within five minutes. Pickett said the new system would free up staff time and was a more efficient system that would save money for the school system.

Marla Carnes gave the monthly treasurer's report: balance on hand at the beginning of the month $2,841,399.31; total of all receipts for the month $3,336,211.83; total of all receipts and beginning balance $6,177,611.14; disbursements $2,117,295.18; balance at the close of the month (cash in bank) $4,060,315.96. Fund Balances: general fund - Fund 1 $3,191,286.19; special projects - Fund II $101,562.31; capital outlay - Fund 310 $-3,488.87; FSPK/building - Fund 320 $551,480.37; construction - Fund 360 $0.00; food service - Fund 51 $198,093.40; FRC child care - Fund 52 $21,368.76; total cash in bank of all funds $4,060,315.96.

In accordance with policy by a March 1 deadline, the board has been notified of the school's staffing allocations for the next fiscal year. Following guidelines provided by Policy #02.4331 the board voted to adopt the policy which covers certified staff, classified staff and includes student to teacher ratio.

The 2011/2011 School Calendar was approved. The minimum school term is 185 days, with a minimum instructional term of at least 170 six hour instruction days. It is required that students receive a total of 1,062 instructional hours. The calendar provides for the 170 instructional days, two days for opening/closing, four holidays, eight professional development days and one planning day.

The Board pledged to the Commonwealth Commitment to College and Career Readiness, to raise the rate of college and career readiness in our school district from 36 percent in 2010 to 68 percent in 2015. The national average college and career readiness is 34 percent in 2010.

Further information on what this score means to Russell County, and steps being taken by the Russell County Industrial Board, the Russell County School System and other local services to elevate this score will be upcoming in this weekend edition of The Russell County News-Register.

The following groups received approval for overnight trips: RCHS Swim Team attend Regional Competition in Woodford County; RCHS DECA Club attend State DECA conference in Louisville; RCHS Y Club attend KUNA in Louisville; RCHS FCCLA attend State FCCLA in Louisville; RCHS Baseball Fort Walton, Florida; Lake Cumberland ATC attend Vocational Skill U.S. League in Louisville.

A scheduled executive session was not taken up.

Superintendent Pickett relayed the following informational items:

The following groups received approval from the superintendent for the following in-state trips; RCHS FCCLA attend FCCLA competition in Greesnburg; RCHS DECA travel to Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green; RCMS Pathfinders to Pizza Hut/Laker Lanes; UCES Principal's List and Accelerated Readers to McDonald's; Lake Cumberland ATC to Somerset College; RCHS English Department to Western Hills High School in Frankfort; UCES 3rd - 6th to UK Singletary Center to see Lexington Philharmonic; RCMS for regular season softball schedule.

Personnel Items: Joey Holt - retired effective 1/31/2011; Blake Martin, Jennifer Patterson, Shannon Eads hired as substitute teachers; Sara McElroy, Sara Taylor and Emily Williams were hired as emergency certified substitute teacher; Barbara Popplewell, Linda Bradshaw and Shannon Gossage were hired as substitute cooks.