Director-at-large election results
At the business session of last month’s KSBA Annual Conference, local board members re-elected five of their own to serve on the association’s board of directors as directors-at-large. Eight candidates spoke at the business session prior to secret-ballot voting by board members in attendance.
Those candidates re-elected for three-year terms are:
* Linda Duncan, a retired teacher and assistant principal and member of the Jefferson County school board;
* Gene Peel, an IBM retiree and 27-year member of the Jessamine County school board, which he currently chairs;
* Pharmacist Dr. Tiny Hasty, vice chairman of the Rockcastle County board who is active in Operation UNITE;
* Allen County school board vice chairman Jeff Eaton, a supervisor at South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative.
Paintsville Independent board chairman Eddie Cornett, an air traffic controller, was elected to the final year of an unexpired term.
The KSBA Board of Directors meets in its annual strategic planning session March 30-31. During the meeting, members will sit down with Education Commissioner Terry Holliday in their role as the Department of Education’s Local School Board Member Advisory Council.
The KSBA board meets quarterly, although board committees may meet more frequently. The Governance Committee, for example, is composed of the three officers and the chairpersons of the board’s three other committees on planning and program development, performance oversight and monitoring, and external/member relations. The Governmance Committee meets weekly during when the General Assembly is in session to adopt KSBA positions on education bills.
Speaker update
Also at the KSBA Annual Conference, Dennis Dio Parker, assistant manager at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Georgetown, was part of a panel discussion on career preparation for high school graduates. Parker sent the following information to be shared with KSBA members:
It was my great pleasure to participate in the "Career Readiness" discussion panel with you at the KSBA conference. During our time together, many of you expressed interest in Toyota's Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) program scholarship for your graduating students. This communication is to convey information to you regarding that program so that you may, in turn, get this information into the hands of your students, especially those graduating this year, who may benefit from the generous scholarship afforded by this exciting and advanced activity.
Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT ) Program Overview
* A work/study scholarship program worth up to$28,000 over two years.
* Students perform paid and learning-relevant work at an attractive wage while earning an advanced associate degree.
* Students attend school 2 full days per week, for at least 8 contact hours each day, and work 3 days per week for 8 paid hours each day. Engaged time is 40+ hours/week.
* A five semester program with no summer break.
* Students start at $12/hr. Pay can be increased to $16/hr. Pay is increased by earning better grades in class, and better evaluations while working in the manufacturing plant.
* Significant emphasis, much more than in a normal college experience, is placed on developing good communication skills and on effective teamwork.
* Students are expected to participate in and complete five major non-credit experiences involving: 1) Safety; 2) Workplace organization; 3) Lean Manufacturing; 4) Problem Solving; 5) best skilled maintenance work practices. The learning and experiences in these areas are highly valuable to prospective employers and students would pay thousands of dollars to obtain this same learning outside of the program.
* The total value to the student ranges up to $28,000 over a two-year period. It is enough to pay tuition and fees, book expenses, and board, if necessary, essentially making for a full-ride scholarship.
* A program in which a high degree of performance is expected of the student. Both work and class attendance is expected and tracked. Students must earn at least a 'C' in each class (not just maintain a 'C' average overall). Students must make appropriate progress in their work on the floor. Students must practice good interpersonal relationships with others and must effectively work in teams.
* An associate degree program which can be continued to an engineering degree program.
* A program with an expected 15-16 seats (scholarships)starting with the Fall 2012 semester.
There are many more benefits to this program, but these should help for you to see the multiple benefits to students, who both gain an educational experience which will put them far ahead of their peers and which also provides them the finances to complete it without debt.
In the past two yearsover 15 of these scholarships have been left on the table, i.e. available but with no qualifying student takers. It was a tremendous lost opportunity for many students, and especially for talented students who may have been economically challenged and would have great benefited in seeking a higher education with such good financial assistance. We are trying to do a better job of getting the word out this year, and so your help in your school district is greatly appreciated.
While we wish to encourage you to distribute this information to any student in your district who you feel may be benefitted by this program, I would particularly ask you to be certain to target these populations:
- If your school has Project Lead the Way (PLTW), I would particularly ask you to be sure to get this into the hands of every graduating student in this program. I would also ask you to distribute it to sophomores and juniors who may be interested in the next year or two so that they can be encouraged to sustain their participation in PLTW. (If your school does not have PLTW, as part of the educational leadership team for your school district please consider this nationally leading program for adoption in your school system. The national website is here: http://www.pltw.org/and the Kentucky website is here: http://www.pltwky.org/. Dianne Leveridge, University of Kentucky College of Engineering, is the Kentucky coordinator.)
- Students in honor programs, particularly in Science and Math.
- Students with a passion for technology and engineering.
For more information, contact Parker at 502.868.2970 or [email protected].