Published: April 30, 2009 03:50 pm      

Federal funds help students find summer jobs

Federal stimulus dollars have started flowing through Laurel County, money that will put 30 local kids to work this summer.

The county received $65,000 through the Workforce Investment Act, along with counties throughout the state.

“From Adair to Whitley, each county received $65,000,” Workforce Investment Coordinator Steve Wright said.

While some students will work for the school district, others will work at a range of businesses in the county.

“We want them to get jobs where they’re experiencing different things,” Wright said.

The students will be expected to work 240 hours from the end of May to the beginning of August and will earn $7.50 an hour, 25 cents more than minimum wage. The students will be required to open checking accounts and have their checks directly deposited into their accounts.

Of the pool of students under consideration for the jobs, Wright said the district will be selective.

“We’ll be targeting juniors at the McDaniel Learning Center or at the vocational school to get them summer employment,” he said.

The move is intentional.

“A lot of these kids might be in a situation where no one in their family works,” he said. “This teaches them the responsibility of fulfilling job requirements, not just starting a job but starting a job and finishing it. And we have a lot of kids who don’t come back to school because money is an issue.”

The students must provide their own transportation to get to work. Students who don’t follow through on their commitment will be replaced by kids who do.

In other action, school board members:

• Will save the district more than $176,000 by refinancing a $3.8 million bond at a lower interest rate. The move came after school board members adopted a resolution approving the bond refunding and held a special called meeting of the Laurel County Finance Corporation Committee.

The bond will have a new interest rate of 1.5 to 3.6 percent. The bond was previously financed at 4.25 to 4.6 percent.

The bond was issued in 1999. Because it is 10 years old, the refinancing was permitted.

“You have to wait until they’re callable,” Business Manager Jim Kennedy said. “When a bond is callable and the interest rate drops where we can save money, that’s when we do this.”

The district has more than $36 million in its bonding capacity, $11.5 million of which will be used to pay for the renovations to North Laurel High School and Keavy, Colony and Johnson elementary schools.

The 1999 bond will be sold May 6.

• Unanimously agreed to hire Ross, Sinclaire and Associates to act as the refunding agent to sell the bond.

• Unanimously approved a $1,000 Wal-Mart Corporation grant, which was awarded to North Laurel High School. The money will be used to buy electronic bulletin boards for the cafeteria and library and will advertise school announcements.

• Unanimously agreed to sponsor the summer feeding program, which “makes sure that kids have food in the summer,” Director of Food Services Tammy Hammock said. Any child 18 and under is welcome to come and eat at one of the summer feeding sites. Last year, the program provided 9,000 breakfasts and about 40,000 lunches and dinners to area children. This year, the United Way of Laurel County will take over for the YMCA in co-sponsoring the program. “I would say we will have 35 to 40 sites,” United Way Executive Director Judy Nicholson said.

• Unanimously awarded the yearbook bids for the district’s middle schools and high schools to Jostens.

• Unanimously approved an agreement with the Kentucky Department of Education that will fund a Reading First Coach for next school year. The coach provides reading strategy training to teachers in the district.