School board approves behavior intervention program, postpones raises for CCPS teachers

The CCPS Board of Education approved a new position that would implement a program to support students and also voted on the salary schedule for the upcoming year.

HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The CCPS Board of Education approved a new position that would implement a program to support students and also voted on the salary schedule for the upcoming year.

Dr. Kim Stevenson approached the board for approval of the PASS Program Supervisor job, which will be paid for with grant funding. The Positive Approach to Student Success Program (PASS) is already being implemented in over 150 schools in Kentucky.

“It is a framework for managing behavior of students identified as having emotional behavior disorders or who display high risk behaviors,” said Stevenson. “This is an individualized approach, based on teaching behavior expectations. It combines targeted and intense social skills instruction with behavioral monitoring and coaching for the student.”

The program would be launched in Hopkinsville High School with seven tier-three students already identified from the special education class. The tiers are established by the KDE based on the levels of intervention required for support during instruction. Selected individuals will be monitored in a general class setting, and if issues arise, they will be taken into the PASS classroom for lessons and support before returning to the general classroom.

“This gives us an opportunity to finally help tier three (students),” she told the board. Superintendent Chris Bentzel responded to the presentation saying, “When they graduate from us, they still have to exist in society, and we are just not doing a good enough job with some of these students.”

Coaches for the program will be staffed by existing special education teachers, who will set goals with the student and offer individualized intervention. When the goal is met, they are moved to the aftercare phase, which has less monitoring before ‘passing out’ of the program. They will first focus on special education students in the program and will then include other students who will also benefit from the program.

Teacher raises denied

After a presentation of the 2025-26 salary schedule and newly proposed budget during the meeting, board members ultimately decided to not include a 1% raise to CCPS staff and teachers. They decided to solely include a one-time $1,000 stipend.

Jessica Darnell, Director of Finance, explained that the 1% raise would cost $800,000 out of the upcoming 2025-26 general fund contingency budget. If they did include the raises in the salary schedule, they would be left with around $6 million in the contingency, which is 8.3% of the general fund.

“There is some uncertainty with the federal government at this point with federal dollars,” said Bentzel to the board. “Our philosophy moving forward was to let the dust settle in some areas.” He continued saying the board could reassess the raises later when the state budget is released this winter. When the new Christian County High School is open and staffed, they will have a revised salary schedule which is an opportunity for raises.

Due to changes made at a federal level, CCPS’s acquisition of federal and state grants is currently up in the air, which makes exorbitant financial decisions risky. Raises aside, if all grants are lost, the contingency will not cover the needed costs of the district.

“Usually by this time of the year we have some indication of what our grants are going to be for next year, and we have not received any,” Darnell said. “It’s still so fluid right now, we don’t’ have any allocations right now which is highly unusual.”

Final approval of the entire budget is due in September.