“I‘m very much a person who pushes back on these kinds of things because our schools are overburdened. Back in the ’50s, when I was in school, it was the three R’s, a little music, no standardized tests. Nowadays we teach everything – sex ed, financial literacy, hearing screenings, eye screenings, we’re giving them insulin shots. We piled onto our schools and districts. The community expects schools to do everything. Our schools cannot be everything to everybody.” Education Commissioner Terry Holliday on the issue of unfunded mandates placed on schools. From the Fort Mitchell Kentucky Enquirer.
“We are looking for grants to apply (for) and this grant was a possibility to upgrade facilities for transportation and safety. We want to use any grant to help us do that.” Anderson County Schools Superintendent Sheila Mitchell explaining her district’s bid for grants for building and bus security upgrades from a foundation tied to a controversial natural gas pipeline that would be built across a portion of her community. From the Lawrenceburg Anderson News.
“These standards will help students develop the skills they need to join the work force – such as workplace principles, technical skills and basic computer knowledge – and also give students the foundation needed to pursue a college education in their chosen career. When they graduate, they can begin their chosen careers immediately. Some students may also not be able to further their educations for various reasons. But with career readiness, college can still be an option – maybe even at a later date.” Morgan County Area Technical Center Principal Sanford Holbrook on the career-ready now, maybe college later approach of programs at his facility. From the West Liberty Licking Valley Courier.
“We like it when we do not have to pay for things out of local funds.” Hancock County Board of Education member Donna Quattrocchi, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, about how state School Facilities Construction Commission funds will finance a nearly half-million dollar bond issue for renovating the high school gymnasium. From the Hawesville Hancock Clarion.
“We have taken out class times from 53 minutes in the four content areas and made it 65 minutes. That gives the students an extra 75 minutes of instructions in those areas. We are going to teach and re-teach. We want to work on areas where we need help and bring up those scores, which I know we can do.” Powell County Middle School Principal Tiffany Anderson on a revamped class schedule designed to improve student achievement. From the Clay City Times.
“Safety is dynamic; it’s always changing. A good safety plan is never finished. It has to be responsive to the emerging safety and security needs of the day. It’s impossible to have a standardized plan across the board because every school has different needs.” Laurel County Schools Superintendent Doug Bennett on the work of a year-old task force he established with local law enforcement agencies to address safety issues. From the London Sentinel-Echo.
“Once the board passed this tax rate in the fall of 2012, it was subject to recall for a period of 45 days. We printed an article in the local papers and went on local radio to tell the public why the district needed this revenue. No one in this county opposed the new rate at a public hearing.” Bell County Schools Title I supervisor Jeff Saylor rebutting a citizen’s claims about information sharing by the district on a special facilities nickel tax. From the Middlesboro Daily News.
“The modified class schedule that they are considering would be six classes per day, rather than the five. Your core classes like math science, social studies and English would have the opportunity to meet all year and you would keep your elective courses on a trimester rotational basis so you wouldn’t have those gaps in instruction. It would be like a compromise of what they already have with the trimester system with the benefits of the quarterly system.” Hopkins County Schools assessment director Jason Clark on plans to visit a Simpson County school to study its trimester schedule variation. From the Madisonville Messenger.