News from Aug.
11, 2005 issue
Airport will be re-opened soon
The Marion-Crittenden County Airport should be up and going again
within the next few weeks, though public aircraft may have to
wait a little longer.
Jim Johnson, Airport Board chairman and airport manager, said
the board hopes the new, nearly one-mile long, paved runway will
open on a limited-use basis within the next two or three weeks.
Work at the facility will continue after that point, which is
why the airport will not be fully open to the public until later.
Johnson said the work is progressing nicely, and Rogers Group
got back to paving on Monday and will probably finish this week.
The grand opening will hopefully be held on Oct. 1, he said, though
the board is still trying to coordinate various politicians' schedules
so that they might attend. One politician who won't be left out
will be Rep. Ed Whitfield, who was instrumental in securing funding
for the project at the national level.
The board has already received funding and designated contracts
for the paving, security fence and lighting. The lighting, paving
and lengthening of the runway will allow the airport to serve
as a 24-hour, all-weather facility, Johnson said. Previously,
the turf strip couldn't be used at night or during much of the
winter.
Now, the board will try to secure grant money from the Kentucky
Department of Aeronautics to build an administration building,
Johnson said. The board has already received funding from the
Federal Aviation Administration, and the site for the building
has been prepared.
The airport cannot be opened to the public until board members
secure a landing area designation certificate from the state.
Johnson said they should have the certification by this fall,
depending on when a state inspection can be completed.
Johnson said a couple of people have already contacted him about
moving their private aircraft to the facility once it is completed,
and several have asked if the airport will be open in time to
fly in for hunting season. It should, he said.
Getting the airport done will be valuable to the area because
it attracts corporate executives and the businesses they run,
Johnson said.
"All upper-level corporate travel is done by private aircraft
because of the value of a person's time, so for mid- and upper-level
executives, it's the only way they travel. If you want to get
them into your community, you need to have an airport. If you
don't have one, they won't come."
The airport has been closed since the fall of 2003 for the surfacing
project.
Schools short of test goals
Crittenden County Schools met 12 of 13 goals, or 92 percent, of
the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2005, but failed to make
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the measuring stick for federal
accountability.
Crittenden is among 141 of Kentucky's 176 school districts which
met 80 percent or more of their goals. Seventy-six school districts
met 100 percent of their goals.
NCLB measures adequate yearly progress. Schools must meet three
components to make AYP: increase the percentage of students scoring
at proficient or above in reading and math; show progress in the
school's accountability index on the Commonwealth Accountability
Testing System (CATS) and test 95 percent of its students.
These standards must be met by seven subgroups at each school,
which include students with disabilities, those on free or reduced
lunches and minorities. In Crittenden County, AYP was not met
by one subpopulation at the high school, and at the middle school
it was a lack of improvement on the CATS test that caused CCMS
to fall short of achieving AYP.
This is the second year Crittenden Middle School did not make
AYP because of its academic index on the CATS test. As a result,
CCMS faces what NCLB calls Tier I, the least severe, consequences
requiring it to offer school choice and to write or revise its
school improvement plan.
During July, CCMS Principal Vince Clark sent letters to all parents,
detailing CCMS' performance and listing schools students could
attend under school choice. If parents elect to send their child
to another school, the Crittenden County School District will
be required to provide transportation.
Clark said he has not received any calls or heard concerns from
parents since the letters were mailed, and no one has requested
their student attend an alternate school.
In the last year, CCMS conducted a self-audit and re-wrote its
Comprehensive School Improvement Plan as required under Tier I
consequences.
District assessment coordinator Depeka Croft said that while the
district did not meet 100 percent of its goals, the district is
working very hard to meet federal guidelines.
She also says preliminary indications from this spring's CTBS
test are that Crittenden made improvements across the board. Only
students in grades three, six and nine are tested on CTBS, but
Croft said it leads her to believe the schools will see improvements
on their CATS scores when they're released next month.