Lexington Herald-Leader, Dec. 2, 2014

Board member: Interim Fayette schools superintendent will tackle achievement gaps
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears

Fayette County Public Schools board member Daryl Love said Tuesday that the district's soon-to-be-named interim superintendent will begin implementing 10 recommendations for closing achievement gaps among various groups of students.

The school board hopes to name a permanent superintendent by July, but Fayette Equity Council chairman Roy Woods said after a news conference Tuesday that the district shouldn't wait for the new superintendent to be named before implementing the recommendations.

Love said he hoped that an interim superintendent would be named this week. The candidates are former Fayette interim Superintendent Marlene Helm and former Anderson County Superintendent Ronald "Sonny" Fentress.

Superintendent Tom Shelton's last working day is Dec. 12. Shelton has resigned to become executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents.

In October, the school board approved the recommendations, which range from placing attention on mental-health issues to holding leaders of schools with the highest achievement gaps accountable.

Members of the equity council have said that decades of initiatives and talk of reform have led to little progress for black, Hispanic, poor and disabled students.

Shelton recently announced a timetable for implementing the recommendations, with many changes scheduled for the first half of 2015.

Love said the interim superintendent will be asked to make significant progress on the recommendations and other initiatives, including redistricting school boundaries.