People are Talking

"Part of our mission is to provide local access to care and improve the health of our community. Partnering with the schools to ensure a comprehensive school nurse program would allow nurses to assist students with medications, provide first aid when injuries occur, educate students about healthy living and assist with transfer of care for hundreds of Muhlenberg County students, faculty and staff each year.” Muhlenberg Community Hospital CEO Dr. Ed Heath on the decision to step in and help the local school district continue to provide on-campus nursing services to students after budget cuts threatened to end them. From the Madisonville SurfKentucky News Group. Photo provided by Muhlenberg County Schools

“I hated it. Everything I drew was bad. The wind blew my roof off, I had triplets I didn’t want, and I had to pay for child care. I realized I really didn’t need some of the stuff I thought I did.” Russellville Independent High School sophomore Haley Elliott on the very successful – for her at least – Reality Store about adult life choices staged by the local 4-H with the FRYSCs of the Logan County and independent districts. From the Russellville News-Democrat and Leader.

 

“She is much more confident in her school work and looks forward to participating in the class now. Often times her mentor will visit during lunch. Just having a friend to help my daughter get through the hustle of the lunch experience and making her feel special by sitting with her and her friends has been a wonderful benefit of the program. If her mentor visits in the classroom, she helps my daughter focus on her task at hand and gives her that little extra confirmation that she is doing a good job.” Darcy Dierig on how her 7-year-old daughter, Emma, has benefited from involvement in the Ment2Be mentoring program at Stephens Elementary (Boone County). From the Fort Mitchell Community Press & Recorder.

 

“The fatal thing was that we stopped looking at it and didn’t proceed on as was planned. It was originally heavy at the beginning to get teachers. Now, maybe we need to load it a little toward the other end to keep our teachers.” Washington County Board of Education Chairwoman Patsy Lester on teacher concerns about the district’s salary schedule – not updated in nearly 15 years – which is comparable to neighboring districts for new teachers but much less so for those with 10 or more years of experience. From the Springfield Sun.

 

“It’s a win-win situation because these are courses some of our kids need. Not all kids are going to go to college.” Fairview Independent Schools Superintendent Bill Musick on one benefit of possibly converting the district’s former middle school into a branch of an area technology center to serve students from his district and Ashland Independent. From the Ashland Independent.

 

“An important aspect of it is that, if the adults hear the same message, it doesn’t quite hit home. It’s something that they already know and don’t pay attention to it. When our kids come home and start talking about what they learned at school they might start listening a little better. One of the scariest thoughts is as a firefighter we get a call and there is a child hiding in a corner, in a closet, in the smoke. I just want these kids to learn the right thing to do and be able to think and react quickly.” Firefighter/EMT Chris England on his mission to educate Middlesboro Independent P-8 students about fire safety at home. From the Middlesboro Daily News.

 

“The objective of Todd County¹s plan for nontraditional instruction days is to maintain continuum of instruction during a severe weather event. Likewise, our plan is designed to eliminate gaps of instruction due to multiple days of severe weather outage.” Todd County Schools Director of Districtwide Services Edwin Oyler on how his district plans to mix online instruction with placement of staff at remote locations around the community as part of its instruction plan for inclement weather. From the Hopkinsville Kentucky New Era.

 

“Facts are good, we need to know certain facts. But on a day-to-day basis what makes you effective is your ability and what you do with those facts.” Shelby County Schools Chief Academic Officer Lisa Smith on a positive aspect of the proposed state social studies standards. From the Shelbyville Sentinel-News.

“The Holler’s design and implementation plan operates from a theory of abundance rather than scarcity. In enables everyone with an interest in education and community improvement to serve as a developer of the site to ensure that it provides the greatest opportunities for our region to excel in our efforts to be ‘future ready.’ The Holler is transforming the way our region learns, earns and communicates. It is the social learning network for Central Appalachia and is fast becoming a model for other rural regions of the country.” Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative Executive Director Jeff Hawkins on “The Holler,” a new partnership between his co-op, the University of Pikeville and the Appalachian Renaissance Initiative to boost online learning and teacher training in the region. From the Prestonsburg Floyd County Times.

 

 

 

 

 

“You have to take into consideration that you will be dealing with children who might not be feeling well that day. The student might have high test anxiety and let me tell you, in a state where the assessments are this high stakes, there will be test anxiety. You don’t know what type of morning a student may have the morning the test takes place. So, a decision like this is frightening to think that a career could totally be put on hold.” Cumberland Trace Elementary (Warren County) kindergarten teacher Patrice McCrary on a defeated constitutional amendment in Missouri that would have reduced teacher tenure protections while linking evaluations to student test scores. From the WBKO-TV of Bowling Green.

“I will not say that I’m against it by any means, other than the fact that as an attorney following our attorney’s advice, we’ve been told that we cannot negotiate with an exclusive agent. I will say that whether or not there are negotiations, I think we need to continue one of the things we started doing recently, which is having regular meetings with teachers and representatives before our board meetings. Before, teachers had a seat at the table with our designee, but without us. Since (the contract ended) the teachers have had a seat at the table with all five board members, which I hope is a better way to keep communication open.” McCracken County school board member Rick Straub on a decision by the board to open talks about an employment contract with the local teachers association. From the Paducah Sun.

“Compromise is not a comfortable process. But it’s very vital and necessary to arrive at policy. (For example), it costs the Commonwealth $17 million of taxpayer money a day to send kids to school. So if we were going to give you guys 10 snow days, that’s $170 million with no return. And arriving at that compromise was almost tougher than budgeting.” Sen. David Givens (R-Greensburg) speaking to Glasgow Independent Middle School students about the debate during the 2014 General Assembly on helping districts hard hit by bad weather plus crafting new options to keep learning going during future winters. From the Glasgow Daily Times. Photo by Glasgow Independent Schools

 

“What’s happened over the years, as we’ve chosen not to purchase buses, is we now have a fleet that’s over 50 percent … over 14 years old. The gap is 21 buses. If we don’t bite into that gap and purchase more than four or five buses a year … in six or seven years, we will not have enough buses to transport our students. That’s the reality of it.” Interim Lincoln County Schools Transportation Director Ted Defossett on his recommendation that the board double its planned purchase of four new buses to eight next year. From the Stanford Interior-Journal.

 

“It’s the Thomas buses. Our previous buses were getting six to seven miles a gallon. These new buses are getting eight to nine miles a gallon in town and up to 11 to 12 on the road. These buses use a specific engine that’s more fuel efficient. With diesel costing between $3.50 and $4 a gallon, that’s a big savings.” Daviess County Schools Director of Transportation Wayne Wright on the long-view, financial upside of the district’s $716,000 purchase of eight new buses of a specific design. From the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.