The Chilton County Board of Education held a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 7 to make several decisions before school begins Aug. 20.

The board discussed plans for the Chilton County Transition Program, or Job Training Program, which encountered problems with funding about a month ago.

Superintendent Dave Hayden received news that the state would no longer pay for the teacher aides needed for students in the program.

Part of the Chilton County Special Education Program, the transition program provides services to special needs students with two classes at LeCroy Career Technical Center in Clanton and bus transportation from the students’ home schools to LeCroy, as well as different job sites.

In order to make ends meet financially, the board approved to relocate the program’s four job coaches and special education teacher at the career tech center to other local schools with staff needs.

“We’ll save the expense of bringing everybody to a central location there at career tech,” Hayden said.

A solution the board discussed for saving the program is for each school to operate it in-house, similar to the way Clanton Middle School does.

Schools would use teachers and assistants they already have to run their individual programs, and students would no longer travel to the career center for training.

“We hope to have it in place pretty soon after the beginning of school in our home school locations,” Hayden said. “We just hope to work something like that out at all of our high schools.”

In other business, the board approved the following new employees:

•Pam Teel, pre-kindergarten teacher at Clanton Elementary.

•Laura Sublett, elementary teacher with a Spanish endorsement at Clanton Elementary.

•Megan Anthony, teacher at Isabella Elementary.

•Nichole Davis, speech pathologist, Isabella Elementary.

•Jennifer Noah, preschool teacher at Jemison Elementary.

•Cassandra Edge, pre-kindergarten assistant at Jemison Elementary.

•Jamie Mitchell, English teacher at Jemison High.

•Raynette Ellison, family and consumer science teacher at Jemison High.

•Robert George, social science teacher at Jemison High.

•Shannon McMinn, part-time custodian at Maplesville.

•Keith Williams, science teacher at Thorsby.

•Jessica Jones, elementary teacher at Verbena.

•Jay LeCroy, general science teacher at LeCroy Career Tech Center.

•Joe Dennis, Maplesville bus driver at Chilton County Bus Shop.

•Jason Griffin, transportation superintendent at Chilton County Bus Shop.

•Kay Hilyer, itinerant ELL teacher

•Jessica Anderson, special education program specialist and preschool coordinator.

The next regular board meeting will be Tuesday, Aug. 21 at 4 p.m.

The board will have a budget meeting Thursday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. and another on Tuesday, Sept. 18, following its regular meeting at 4 p.m.