02-13 Take Note

New on Board
The KSBA Board of Directors has several new members, replacing members who left the board because they did not win their local races. Outgoing KSBA President Tom Blankenship appointed three people to fill regional chairperson slots:

Mark Ross, chairman of the Pendleton County school board, will represent the Northern Kentucky Region.  Ross, who owns a farm equipment dealership, has been a board member since 2005. He replaces Becky Burgett of Gallatin County.

Susan Cable, who chairs the Wolfe County Board of Education, replaces Pike County’s Frank MaGuire as the Eastern Kentucky South Region’s chairperson. Cable, a board member since 2007, is manager of a local insurance agency.

Barry Cornelius, veteran Christian County school board member who currently chairs that panel, will represent the Second Region. He replaces Carolyn Tucker of Webster County. Cornelius, a school board member since 1999, is manager of a grain elevator.

Blankenship also appointed Dr. Ann Gaines, Pineville Independent, as an at-large member of the KSBA Board of Directors. She replaces Fern Reed of Montgomery County. Gaines, who chairs the Pineville board, is a veterinarian who has served on the board since 2002.

Interest PEAKS
The deadline is fast approaching for districts to enter their outstanding education efforts for the spring 2013 PEAK (Public Education Achieves in Kentucky) Award. Entries must be received in the KSBA office by 4 p.m., March 4. Click here for guidelines and other information.

The award was created by the KSBA board in 1997 to highlight outstanding public school efforts that have enhanced student learning skills and also promote the positive effect of public elementary and secondary education in Kentucky. The honor is presented twice a year.

Amended awards
The timing of the presentation of major awards at this year’s KSBA Annual Conference, Feb. 22-24 in Louisville, has been juggled from their usual order due to scheduling conflicts. The F.L. Dupree Award for Superintendent of the Year and the Friend of Education award will be presented during the Friday, Feb. 22 opening session. The Warren Proudfoot Award for Board Member of the Year will be named during Saturday’s luncheon session, along with the recipients of this year’s KSBA First Degree College Scholarships.

Statewide tour
State Education Commissioner Terry Holliday ended his three-and-a-half year tour of the state Jan. 15, with visits to schools in the Hart and Green county systems. Holliday had vowed to visit every school district in Kentucky when he took the education chief’s job. In the end, he racked up more than 50,000 miles with stops at 450 schools in what he called his “listening tour.”

Holliday said his talks with teachers, students and administrators often translated into changes made back in his Frankfort offices. “At every planning meeting with my associates, I go over the highlights from my visits and I say, ‘This is an issue, this is a concern, can we address this?’” he said.