Discussions about the Marshall County Technical Center and the Marshall County High School graduation date were the focus at the Marshall County Board of Education’s March 5 meeting.
The meeting opened with an update about the Tech Center from the center’s principal, Leah Beth. Beth previously served as an assistant principal at Marshall County High School and moved into her role at the Tech Center on Jan. 1.
Much of the presentation focused on how the center is funded, as well as the number of students involved in career and technical education. Currently, Beth shared that there are just under 1,200 students involved in CTE classes, with more than 700 of those being in the tech center. Beth noted that culinary, business, media arts, and family and consumer sciences classes are offered inside the main high school building.
Alongside a number of industry certification programs, Beth shared several new programs being offered. Programs include CTE dual credit courses, a teaching apprenticeship through a partnership with Murray State University, and expanding work based learning opportunities.
Of 258 seniors at MCHS, Beth said 102 of them are involved in work based learning. Those 102 students are not a part of the number of CTE students previously given by Beth. Beth then began to discuss issues of chronic absenteeism, and how work based learning can help mitigate that.
“Right now we’re sitting at a little over 17% of our student population is considered chronically absentee,” said Beth. “To kind of break down the biggest group that affects, economically disadvantaged. To bring this full circle, a lot of those are the kids that come to us saying, ‘I want to go to work,’ and we want to put them in our work based learning program.”
Beth shared that currently, grade 12 has the lowest number of chronically absent students, while grade 10 has the highest amount. These numbers, Beth believes, are related to the work based learning program.
“These 12th-graders are the ones that are going to work,” said Beth. “Now they only have to be at school half the day, or maybe three [of four] blocks. But, at the same time, it’s easier for them to say, ‘You know, I only have to go ‘til lunch, then I get to go to work, so I’m gonna go ahead and go to school.’ That’s one part of it. The second part is, they have to have a 90% attendance rate in order to be in our work based learning program.”
Following Beth’s presentation, Superintendent Bill Thorpe shared that he was working to have Kim Cothran from Murray State University come to a future meeting to share more about the education apprenticeship program to be implemented in the 2026-2027 school year. He also noted that the Tech Center open house had been scheduled for 1 to 6 p.m. on March 17.
The meeting then shifted into monthly reports. Thorpe shared that he has been to Frankfort to discuss several bills relating to district funding and other school district related bills. He also shared that he has met with several community leaders, and attended Kentucky School Board Association training with several board members.
Student board representative Maleah Terry shared that Senior Opportunity Day would be held on March 10, allowing seniors to job shadow or volunteer while junior students take the SAT. Terry also shared that the student board had put together an end of year survey for student feedback. That data is expected to come at the April meeting or the following meeting.
The meeting moved into action items, during which District Finance Officer Brooke Gibbs presented the SFCC offer of assistance for technology. The funding is a matching program the district has been involved with for several years. The funding for 2026 is just over $33,000. Gibbs noted that the funds have decreased each year while technology costs have increased.
Present members of the board approved the assistance unanimously. Board Chair Darla Doss was absent due to an illness, while Vice Chair Amy Waggoner attended via Zoom from out of town due to traffic.
The board then unanimously approved the 2026 graduation date for May 22, with no discussion.
The board regularly meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 5 p.m., with some exceptions due to district breaks. During the Feb. 5 meeting, it was unanimously decided to cancel the March 19 meeting due to Thorpe and several district employees attending a conference during that time. The next regularly scheduled meeting is set for April 16.
