Corbin Schools applying for $2.5 million Full Service Community Schools grant

Mara Miller |, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
·2 min read

Aug. 11—CORBIN — The Corbin Independent Board of Education met last Thursday in a special-called meeting to discuss several items ahead of the new school year.

Highlighting the agenda was board members' permission to apply for the Full Service Community Schools (FSCS) program which could provide $500,000 per year over the course five years for a grand total of $2.5 million.

"It's similar to the old Thomas Neighborhood grant," Corbin Superintendent David Cox explained, "but it is a federal grant. We needed board permission to do that. Those funds are useable to hire people to do remediation with kids, some of the grant will allow you to buy materials. You can buy a lot of stuff."

This grant would open up a lot of doors for Corbin schools at $500,000 a year.

"You can buy equipment that needs to be utilized for education," Cox added, indicating that the district may even be able to update Chromebooks or other electronic equipment for students.

Board members approved applying for the grant.

In other business, the district is working to help adults who may want to further their education with the creation of the GEER/Steele-Reese Reengagement Teacher-Coordinator position.

Supt. Cox noted the importance of the program.

"That's a grant that we got from the Steele-Reese foundation which is a private organization," he said. "They wanted to give us this money to hire a person to help go out in the community to find people who didn't get a high school diploma."

Having a high school diploma can open up a lot of doors in terms of going to college and higher-paying jobs. Supt. Cox would like to extend the opportunity to those who did not receive their diploma to either graduate with a diploma or to take the classes needed to successfully get a GED.

"You go out and you find these people and you offer them services. Sometimes you might just be helping them study for the test and other times you might find someone (hypothetically) who only needs two classes to graduate. Come to our School of Innovation, take those classes, and you can graduate with a diploma," Cox explained.

The building and grounds document, or the BG-1, is going to the Kentucky Department of Education in Frankfort for approval of football field renovations. The lighting for the baseball/softball fields and lighting in the athletic buildings have already been approved by the state and the district will soon be moving forward with those renovations, according to Cox.

The meeting closed out with an executive session which included discussion for the annual evaluation of the superintendent. Cox expects the report to be possibly released next month.