Take Note

July/August 2015

 

KSBA Executive Director Mike Armstrong is one of 23 members of a task force appointed by Gov. Steve Beshear to address the funding issues in the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System. The panel has been asked to report back to Beshear, who leaves office in early December, by Dec. 1. The group is chaired by former state education board chairman and former state senator David Karem. Its recommendations are expected to go before the 2016 General Assembly

 

Kentucky’s local school board members collectively earned the highest-ever total number of training hours in 2014, according to KSBA’s annual report to the Kentucky Board of Education.

 

The 869 board members racked up 11,725.75 credit hours during 2014 – the most since KSBA began tracking and reporting to the state board on compliance with state training requirements for school board members, and an 11.5 percent increase over the total training hours recorded in 2013.

 

Last year was the first year board members were held to the state board’s requirement to receive training in three areas – finance, ethics and superintendent evaluations.

 

Veteran board members in their third term or more also set a record – 97 percent of them exceeded the minimum of hours, while overall, 93.5 percent of all board members exceeded their minimum training-hour requirement.

 

Twenty-one board members, nine of them appointed late in the year, did not meet the requirements. The state board granted extensions to the nine, with the rest given 30 days to complete their training and notify the department. The next step is removal proceedings.

 

KSBA Board Team Development Director Kerri Schelling takes office July 28 as president of the Kentucky Society of Association Executives for 2015-16. The Frankfort-based group provides its members programs and tools to improve the efficiency and professionalism for the management of not-for-profit organizations in Kentucky. Schelling has been a certified association executive since 2012.

 

A 20-year member of the Johnson County school board received the 15th annual Joseph W. Kelly Award from the Kentucky Board of Education. Bob Hutchison, a Paintsville businessman who currently chairs the Johnson County board, is only the second school board member to receive the honor, which goes to a business leader who is active in making a difference in local schools.

 

Hutchison, the 2001 KSBA Friend of Education winner, owns 14 McDonald’s restaurants in eastern Kentucky. He has donated more than $1 million to local schools, served on the Johnson County Career and Technical Education Steering Committee and helped students develop leadership skills.

Floyd County Schools Superintendent Dr. Henry Webb, far left, moved up to the presidency of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents in June at the group’s summer meeting, taking over from Pendleton County Schools Superintendent Anthony Strong, pictured at near left. Webster County Schools chief Rachel Yarbrough is next in line, after being chosen president-elect. Bo Matthews of Barren County Schools is the new vice president.

 

Webb, a 20-year educator, has headed the Floyd County system since 2007; it was named a District of Distinction in 2014. Webb received the Kentucky Board of Education’s Samuel Robinson Award last year. In 2010 Webb was selected to be part of the Instructional Rounds Institute at Harvard University with other superintendents and state department officials from across the country. He is currently serving and has served on a variety of regional and state committees.

 

During Education Commissioner Terry Holliday’s last appearance at a KSBA Board of Directors meeting in June, President Allen Kennedy, left,  presented him with gifts from the board acknowledging his service. He received a handcrafted Kentucky-shaped cutting board and a video collection of championship games by the New York Yankees, Holliday’s favorite team.