Help for Menifee County’s board
KSBA’s Board Team Development unit is working with the Menifee County school board at the request of the Kentucky Department of Education. The district was placed under state management in July after failing to correct several problems identified by KDE while it was under state assistance. Board Team Development specialist Jean Crowley, who is doing similar work with the Breathitt County school board, had an initial meeting with the Menifee County board Oct. 12.
KSBA will function as an advocate and ally for board members, and will collaborate with them to develop a training plan aimed at giving them the skills and knowledge they need to help return the district to local governance. The work may include training, facilitated discussions, board governance coaching and guided practices in areas like superintendent evaluations.
Top teachersOldham County Schools English and creative writing teacher Ashley Lamb-Sinclair is Kentucky’s 2016 Teacher of the Year. She has taught at North Oldham High School for the past three years.
The award was presented to Lamb-Sinclair Oct. 20 during a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda that included Gov. Steve Beshear and new Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt. The top honoree receives $10,000 and a year’s sabbatical or suitable alternative, and will go on to represent Kentucky in the national competition.
Joshua DeWar, a second-grade teacher at Engelhard Elementary in Jefferson County, was named the 2016 Elementary School Teacher of the Year, while Karen Mallonee, a world language/Spanish teacher at College View Middle School in Daviess County, took the middle school honors. They each received $3,000.
Twenty-one other teachers from across the state also were honored with 2016 Ashland Inc. Teacher Achievement Awards. Each received $500.
More honorsThe Kentucky School Public Relations Association singled out two programs and one individual for their work during its annual fall conference Nov. 5-6 in Bardstown.
The Appalachian Renaissance Initiative received the Richard Thornton Award, presented for exceptional leadership and dedication to public education in Kentucky. The initiative is a 17-school district consortium under the auspices of the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative and funded with a $30 million, four-year federal Race to the Top grant. It serves 99 schools. The initiative has provided several kinds of new technology to those schools, which the districts will keep after the grant ends.
KYSPRA’s Flag of Learning and Liberty was presented to the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars program, which marked its 32nd anniversary this year. The flag is given to a person, group or corporation outside the public schools field for significant contributions to public education in Kentucky. Governor’s Scholars is a selective, summer residential program for rising high school seniors that provides academic and personal growth opportunities. Students are housed on three university campuses at no cost to them.
Wayne County Schools employee Linda Jones was the recipient of KYSPRA’s O.V. Jones Memorial Award, named for the first superintendent to join the association. It recognizes outstanding service to KYSPRA and to school public relations. Jones, the district’s public relations officer, is a past treasurer and current regional director of the association. Jones, a University of Kentucky graduate, has worked in school public relations for 24 years.
Also at the same conference, school public relations professionals were recognized with Outstanding Achievement in School Information Services (OASIS) Awards. A list of top honorees is on the inside back cover of this issue.
BattlegroundThe Kentucky Battle of the School Buildings Competition is just a month away, when participating schools from across the state will measure and track their monthly energy use for calendar year 2016. The gauge will be ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, an online measurement and tracking tool. Comparisons will be made with the schools’ 2015 energy use.
The school with the greatest percentage-based reduction in energy use from 2015 to 2016 will be named Top Kentucky School Building, as determined by the competition sponsor, KSBA’s School Energy Managers Project. Schools that reduce energy use by 20 percent or more during that period also will be recognized. For information, contact Martha Casher at
[email protected] or 800-372-2962.