Pickett K-8 Fills Positions After Retirements

A lot of new faces will greet students when Pickett K-8 School reopens in weeks.

Pickett County Director of Schools Diane Elder told the School Board Monday night they expected nine teachers to retire, but a tenth left for a better opportunity. Elder said K-8 Principal Emily Bilbrey has done a wonderful job filling the positions.

“Well I will say this on Emily’s behalf,” Elder said. “She’s been pretty much baptized by fire, she went in with a load of things to take care of right off the bat, and nothing bad or anything but we had a lot of new hires which was new.”

The board still has a vacant certified Special Education teacher position. That teacher must be K-3 certified. Elder said the search to fill the position has been much more difficult.

“It’s been pretty impossible,” Elder said. “The state is not giving waivers in that particular area, so that makes it very difficult for us to fill a position because they are just not going into special education.”

Elder will have a directors meeting with the state on Wednesday to explore options that can be taken to address the vacant position. The system is looking to fill a custodian position and hire an additional nighttime custodian. Elder said the search to fill teaching positions was not very challenging.

“Most of the people we hired are from Pickett County,” Elder said. “And they are looking for a job in Pickett County, they want to come home.”

In other business, the school board approved updates to 21 current school policies and implemented two additional policies. The board also approved handbooks for the K-8 and High School. A notable change in the High School handbook was the dress code. The school received pushback from parents about the blouse length. The previous length required the blouse to be 3 inches above the knee. The new change to the dress code requires it to be 5 inches above the knee.