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People Are Talking

Kentucky School Advocate

February 2017

“The most important thing that I can think to recommend for you is to just keep working on your craft – if it is drawing, singing, dancing, writing. Keep working on that as often as you can, develop your passion for it, understand why it is important to you, really be able to talk about (that).” Nick Covault, first-year director of the Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts, on his recommendations for students preparing to apply for slots in the 2017 school. From Louisville WFPL Radio News. Click here for full story

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“We are very likely going to have to make some difficult decisions. We are working hard now to keep costs down, continuing the trend of doing more with less that educators have faced for about the past decade. This certainly has our attention and we are working daily to find new funding sources through grants as well as looking for ways to save and eliminate costs.” Harlan County Schools Superintendent Mike Howard on the problems many eastern Kentucky districts will face this year after being alerted that the state will be providing fewer dollars to schools under a shrinking unmined minerals tax revenue base. From the Harlan Daily Enterprise. Click here for full story

“We do a great job catching kids up by grade 6, but, boy, if we didn’t have to catch them up, what could we do.” Mary Goetz Elementary principal Jason Steffen to the Ludlow Independent Board of Education about his optimism about the benefits of a four-year grant to fund a math intervention teacher for students who need extra help on that subject. From the Covington River City News. Click here for full story

“I don’t understand their reasoning. It would be a nightmare for us. As many days as schools are out, it looks like they could set aside two days for us to hold elections. We have such a hard time finding polling places if we don’t use public buildings, including schools.” Daviess County Clerk David Osborne pledging he and his counterparts would fight any effort to get the General Assembly to remove the mandate that schools close on election days. From the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. Click here for full story

“Too many times in the past I would pass a kid in the hallway and say to them, ‘Hey, what’d you all work on in class today?’ and they’d say, ‘Well, we worked on page 57 to 58.’ That is not what we want our kids saying. We want them to know what you are expecting them to learn.” Belfry Middle School Principal Jeremy Howard to the Pike County Board of Education on aspects of the latest comprehensive school improvement plan designed to expand how students use what they learn in the classroom. From the Pikeville Appalachian News-Express. Click here for full story

“There seemed to be a lot of incomplete stories about Henry County, and not even some of my students took pride in that. The kids should be proud of where they come from.” Henry County Middle School English teacher Jessica Crenshaw on her classroom project to get students to learn about local history, eventually leading to plans to publish a book about the community’s past. From the Eminence Henry County Local. Click here for full story

“We know with very good confidence that charter schools will continue to defund what is already underfunded. They will take taxpayer money, money from the people we represent, and put it into a private enterprise for personal gain with no substantial data to support a better education system than a public school system.” Elizabethtown Independent school board member Tony Kuklinski on his board’s resolution opposing creation of charter schools as an educational option in the state. From the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise. Click here for full story

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“Our students and staff are eager to share what we’re doing. I have seen a lot of excitement with our teachers and staff with the use of #TeamHopkins on posts about activities they want to showcase in the community.” Hopkins County Schools Superintendent Deanna Ashby on how social media is helping to spread the word about a series of community service projects by students and staff. From the Madisonville Messenger. Click here for full story

“Now a gym is not just a gym. It’s an indoor theater, it’s a place for graduation, it’s a place for communities to have things. Another county I’m familiar with just a couple counties over has a fundraiser and they have a concert in theirs. We don’t have a great deal of options for an indoor graduation ceremony. We can go to Lexington or Richmond and rent others’ facilities but if the weather is inclement during our graduation, our only option is to keep cancelling and rescheduling until we have weather that’s conducive to an outside setting.” Clark County Schools Superintendent Paul Christy on his board’s request for a state waiver to build a larger-than-usual multipurpose gym at the high school. From the Winchester Sun. Click here for full story

“One thing about growth is that you’ve got to stay in front of it. If you ever get behind – it’s awfully, awfully hard to try to ever catch up. You’ve got to be out in front of the potential growth that you might have. And that will be part of our challenge as we look at this plan.” Woodford County Schools Superintendent Scott Hawkins on a challenge to planning facilities needs for the future. From the Versailles Woodford Sun. Click here for full story

“It’s a bad epidemic. Anything we can do to help – we need to try to prevent it.” Garrard County High School student Nathan Dailey, a member of the school’s GLAD (Garrard Leadership Against Drugs) club, on the group’s efforts to stop heroin use among young people in the community. From the Danville Advocate-Messenger. Click here for full story

“Is there any way we can bid that out? That’s an awful lot of extra money to spend on just a couple inches of resurfacing.” Carter County school board member Kirk Wilburn voicing concerns about a Kentucky Department of Education requirement that a 12 percent architectural fee be included in a project to resurface running tracks at the district’s two high schools. From the Grayson Journal-Times. Click here for full story

“Our goal is not to give out tickets. It is to educate drivers and protect students.” Guy Griffin, compliance coordinator for Rowan County Schools, on a joint effort between the district and law enforcement authorities to reduce the number of incidents in which motorists violate state law when passing school buses, up to and including courts summons on criminal complaints. From the Morehead News. Click here for full story

“For us, it is all about the learning, not necessarily the number of days. We feel our process has been refined from the first year of implementation and the quality of the assignments for students has increased. The first year of snow learning was definitely the most difficult, but we listened to feedback from our teachers, students and parents and made a huge switch last year. Our administrative teams work in the summer to make sure we are ready to go with a proactive communication plan for all stakeholders.” Grant County Schools Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Wright on preparations in her district for a third year of using the state’s non-traditional instruction (NTI) day option when weather or other factors force closure of schools. From the Williamstown Grant County News. Click here for full story

“Some teachers were told that they could bring children if they couldn’t find childcare. Other teachers were told they had to make it up if they could not make it into the building. Some teachers were told that they could make it up at the end of the year. Some were told they could work from home just depending on the weather and the needs of the school, the teacher and what the principal thought.” Shelby County Educators Association president Cyndi Powell Skellie on the need for improved communications as her district begins to use the NTI option. From the Shelbyville Sentinel-News. Click here for full story