September 2016
SPECIAL REPORT Help Wanted: Teachers The issues: A quarter of Kentucky’s K-12 teaching force is eligible to retire, including many baby boomers. The demographic issue is compounded by existing problems like shortages of teacher applicants in rural areas and an oversupply of elementary-certified educators.
The ideas:
Educators Rising, the newly branded Future Teachers clubs, has a new twist: involvement of universities and the prospect of dual credit for high school students.
Alternative certification is the basis for a community-based program that is helping Jefferson County Schools and surrounding districts recruit teaching prospects and get them certification and support.
Being proactive has helped a Fleming County principal fill vacancies using social media, testimony from current teachers and marketing savvy.
More grade-level flexibility in certification could help offset the glut of elementary-certified teachers and ease shortages at the middle and high school levels, one superintendent believes.
Student teachers can be a school system’s secret weapon in filling teacher slots – the trick is getting them to stick around. A Murray State University project could help.
A good startThe action taken by the 2016 General Assembly to apply an unprecedented amount of money to the unfunded liability of the Teachers’ Retirement System represents the beginning – not the final step in shoring it up.
Bullying by definitionSchool board members and school administrators may find that a new statutory definition of bullying prompts a spike in bullying reports. The good news is that there is a definition; the bad news is that aspects of it may be open to differing interpretations.
Fall forumsKSBA’s Fall Regional Meetings are continuing the give-and-take format begun last year, with sessions primed to survey members on association training and legislative priorities. Attendees will also learn more about recommendations to curb inappropriate student-teacher relationships.
Active back-to-school celebration, Anchorage Independent-style
Districts across Kentucky hosted August events to launch the fall semester, and the K-8 Anchorage Independent was no exception. Or maybe it was. Organized by students and parents, the school’s community picnic and carnival just about had something for everyone.