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People Are Talking

Kentucky School Advocate

May 2018

Photo courtesy of Ryan Hermens, The Paducah Sun

“We must do everything we can to make sure more people aren’t joining this club we’re in.” – Marshall County High School student Mary Cox, referring to the fatal shooting at her school, speaking at an event held by district students as part of national March for Our Lives, from the Paducah Sun (Photo at right courtesy of Ryan Hermens, The Paducah Sun)

“We need to get the attention of the legislators and the government officials who can actually do something about this, because while we are still students and we have a partial voice, we aren’t legally allowed to do anything.” – Fayette Co. student Rachel Herrin, during the March 14 national student walkout, in the Lexington Herald-Leader

“I’d prefer they weren’t made. It probably just complicates it a little bit, and it’s complicated enough the way it is.” – State Rep. Tommy Turner (left), responding to Gov. Matt Bevin’s comments calling teachers “selfish” in a radio interview

“This is SB 1 without the provisions people were concerned about. We listened to you, we heard your concerns and we took those things out.” – State Rep. Chad McCoy, on Senate Bill 151, amended to reflect public pension system changes and signed into law by the governor, from the Lexington Herald-Leader

“Introducing a cobbled-together pension bill grafted on to a sewage bill in the waning days of the session without actuarial analysis and an opportunity for meaningful feedback is an insult to stakeholders.” – Jim Carroll, Kentucky Government Retirees spokesman, on SB 151, from the Lexington Herald-Leader

“All they have done is awaken a sleeping giant, so those who have been impacted by this bill have shown up to demonstrate their contempt for what happened last week.” – State Rep. Derrick Graham, after the lightning passage of pension reform tacked onto a sewer bill, from Kentucky Today of Louisville

“A couple of misconceptions that has stemmed from the media is that teachers are protesting the Pension System and to get a pay increase. The pension bill was signed by the Governor and at this time will be debated through the court system. At no time, have the teachers or employees asked for a raise. WE ARE FIGHTING FOR THE FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION!” – Mercer County Superintendent Dennis Davis, in a letter to the community explaining why schools would be closed so educators could travel to Frankfort at a critical juncture at the end of the 2018 legislative session

“Many of you aren’t in the spotlight. You are not speaking to people in the media. You’re not being featured on television. But the reality is your voices are being heard and you are writing to us and we’re grateful for it. These are some of those voices that we are hearing from the not-so-silent majority.” – Gov. Matt Bevin, in a video on his Facebook page, saying he has heard from educators who favor pension reform

“It means they love Hopkins County education. Team Hopkins all the way.” – Angela Richards, Hopkins County Education Association president, responding to the car horns honking as they drove by local teachers at a rally at the old Hopkins County Courthouse, from the Madisonville Messenger.

“This kind of thing could turn the public against us ... We will have higher moral ground by doing our job and showing some class (than) giving them an excuse to call us names. There will be time for a rational response.” – Bullitt County Schools Superintendent Keith Davis, in an email to his staff, asking them to report for work March 30, despite anger over passage of SB 151, from the Louisville Courier Journal

“It’s hard to get to a point in which charters would be successful additions to the public school system when we are not adequately funding the system as it is now.” – Perry Papka, director of policy and research at the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, about a funding mechanism for charter schools, in the Lexington Herald-Leader

“If this is a matter of wants versus needs for a school district, having school nurses is in the needed category.” – Portion of an editorial, in the Elizabethtown News-Enterprise advocating for a school nurse in every local school, after the district health department halted its involvement in school health

“We have roofs we need to take care of, original HVACs and safety. Those are the three main things we’ll start with and then we’ll ask for community input on the rest, because $21 million won’t cover everything, but it will go a long way.” – Mason County Superintendent Rick Ross, after a referendum on the district’s nickel tax – which will pay for extensive repairs and upgrades – passed, 1,694-1,034, from the Maysville Ledger Independent

“There’s no music class, no PE class, no art class because we’re just getting enough to teach the students we have, and our enrollment has dropped to 286.” – Danita Evans, parent member on the John M. Stumbo Elementary school council, on a push to revise attendance boundaries to bring more students into the school, from the Floyd County Chronicle, Prestonsburg

“I feel like I’m going to have the jump on everybody. I know I’m going to be ready before anybody else will.” – Frankfort Independent High School sophomore Delano Craig on the district’s partnership with Kentucky State University that will enable students to graduate from high school with an associate degree, from The State Journal of Frankfort

“You could have not done anything in the world that would have made me happier than to name the school after him.” – Joyce Dotson, a retired Shelby County teacher, reacting to the school board’s decision to name a new school for the late Marnel Moorman (left), a former Kentucky Education Association president and the first African-American elected to that position, from the Sentinel-News, Shelbyville