People are Talking

"Basically the flipped classroom takes that traditional method and puts it in video form so that the kids can watch that at home. During class, we can use that content and take the application part of it to the next level. Kentucky’s adopting these new science standards and I felt that the best method to do that was a flipped classroom. I felt it would maximize my students’ potential in that learning capacity.” Lakewood Elementary (Hardin County) science teacher Jamie Chenault, pictured above, on the basics of flipped learning in her classroom. From the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise. Photo provided by Hardin County Schools

 

 

“You have to remember that the General Assembly – with the requirements of Senate Bill 1 – said we had to have language arts and math standards by December 2010. The only way we could possibly get that done was to adopt the Common Core. The intent of the education chairs, governor and speaker and president of Senate at the time – was that we would adopt Common Core and so we did. The timeline we were working on was legislatively mandated; it had nothing to do with the federal government. We’ve been in it about five years now. It’s time to ask teachers what’s working, what’s not. Ask parents, community to provide input. We also want to provide those outspoken critics of the Common Core with an opportunity to put up or shut up. It’s one thing to say it’s a conspiracy…show us which standard you have an issue with, tell us why you think that’s the case and we’ll look into it.” Education Commissioner Terry Holliday on Kentucky’s adoption of common core standards. From WDRB-TV of Louisville.

 

“We just want our students to count, good or bad. If we can send a man to the moon, we can certainly figure this out.” Silver Grove Independent School Superintendent Ken Ellis on how federal rules barring a school from getting credit for testing students in groups of less than 10 (for example, his fifth grade has nine students) negatively affect his district’s state accountability score. From the Fort Mitchell Kentucky Enquirer.

 

“We still have to raise the level of awareness in our community on how important education is. If this community is going to exist 200 years from now, maybe even just 50 years from now, we’re going to have to have an educated, skilled work force. This is what will attract people to Madisonville and Hopkins County.” Hopkins County Schools Superintendent Linda Zellich on using K-PREP scores as a tool to engage people on student achievement. From the Madisonville Messenger.

 

“Budget and saving is a mindset. (It) has to be bought into by everybody.” Knox County Board of Education member Gordon Hinkle reacting to warnings from district Finance Officer Gertrude Smith on the need to rein in spending, which has outstripped revenue in recent years. From the Corbin Times-Tribune.

“Until somebody locks us up and puts us in jail, as long as I’m on this board and it comes up, I?will support using the biggest place that we have in this community, in Jessamine County, for graduation.” Jessamine County Board of Education Chairman Gene Peel, left, on the body’s contract with a large local church for 2015 graduation ceremonies for the system’s two high schools. From the Nicholasville Jessamine Journal.

 

“The exciting thing is not the paying of the tax. No one likes to do that. But the thing about it is the investment that this is going to allow us to make, not only right now but for the next 20, 30, 40 years in our kids here in the county.” Clay County Schools Superintendent Amon Couch after his board voted in favor of a nickel tax to enable the district to upgrade and repair facilities. From WYMT-TV News in Hazard.

 

“I want all 720 students to be able to find a passion and pursue it. I don’t like that education is competitive. Learning is personal, and it is up to us to remove the barriers so that students can find what they are passionate about. I want them to get up in the morning and want to come to school.” First-year Bellevue Independent Schools Superintendent Robb Smith on his goal of “personalizing” education in his district. From the Covington River City News.

 

“I don’t know how to explain what was happening in my head because it was a mix between being scared and confused and mad that someone would do something like that — and that this is happening in my generation, and that this is the kind of world we live in now.” Fern Creek High School student Alexis Peiffer, a witness to last month’s shooting of one classmate by another at her school. From the Louisville Courier-Journal.

 

“Eventually we want to move what we are growing from the tower garden into our cafeteria so the students can eat fresh fruits and vegetables they had a hand in growing.” Eastern Elementary School (Barren County) Principal Will Compton on his school’s use of aeroponics – a process for growing food in a soilless or mist environment – in its garden. From the Glasgow Daily Times.

“Many parents are more comfortable sending children who have special health care needs to school because the school system is making efforts to have nurses and trained personnel readily available in schools to assist on a daily basis. Healthy children are better learners. It only makes sense that students who don’t feel well — headache, stomach ache, emotionally upset, hungry, etc. — will have more difficulties in performance than those who feel well and have their health care needs met.” Laurel County Schools Director of Health Duff Holcomb on the challenges and the benefits of schools being able to help students with medical needs. From the London Sentinel-Echo.

 

“We simply cannot afford to have a nurse practitioner at every school and this helps a lot, and this way a physician can look down a throat or in ears, or at a rash. If a follow up is necessary, an appointment time can be set up and the child can come to the nurses’ station and have the physician check on their progress. It is a win-win situation, for parents and children.” Bracken County Health Department Director Tony Cox on a partnership with the Bracken County Schools to provide digital diagnostic services to the district’s students. From the Maysville Ledger-Independent.