Kentucky School Advocate

May 2024

The National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), representing more than 2,900 school communicators nationwide, has announced that Owensboro Independent Public Information Officer Jared Revlett is one of four finalists for its 2024 School Communicator of the Year Award. 

“Each of the four finalists exemplifies what it means to be a leader in school communications,” said NSPRA President Trent Allen, APR. “Their tireless work on behalf of their students and school communities is inspiring.”

Presented in partnership with Finalsite, the award is designed to recognize the outstanding leadership and contributions of active, front-line school communicators. Presented for the first time in 2024, the winner will be announced at the NSPRA 2024 National Seminar on July 15 in Bellevue, Wash.

A total of 27 NSPRA members were nominated by their state/regional chapter for the national honor. All nominees were first selected by their chapter as its Communicator of the Year (or similar award equivalent), a criteria of eligibility for the national award. 

The board of directors for the Kentucky Center for School Safety (KCSS) has named Dani Bradley as board chair. Bradley, a former Woodford County school board chair, was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear as KSBA’s representative on the board until May 2027. Bradley leads project development for Trace Creek Construction. 

The vice-chair is Vestena Robbins, the representative from the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health.  

The 15-member KCSS board is made up of representatives from the Kentucky Department of Education, KSBA, Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Kentucky Association of School Resource Officers, Kentucky State School Security Marshal and other education and law enforcement organizations. 

The Kentucky Center for School Safety will hold its Safe Schools and Communities Conference

June 11-12 at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown. The free event is open to principals, law enforcement officers, school administrators, safe school coordinators, directors of pupil personnel and other school personnel. 

Attendance includes membership in the Kentucky Association of School Resource Officers (KYASRO) and the Kentucky DARE Association for law enforcement participants. EILA credit is pending for educators.

Keynote speakers include Jermaine Galloway, known as Tall Cop, a national expert on drug trends; Michelle Gay, co-founder of Safe and Sound Schools, who lost her daughter in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting; Molly Hudgens, school counselor and author who in 2016 disarmed a student with a semiautomatic gun at Sycamore Middle School in Tennessee; and Patricia Greer, director of the KCSS Resource Center and principal at Marshall County High School when a school shooting occurred in 2018. 

To register, go to kycss.org. 

Twenty-nine districts will be participating in this year’s Summer Boost: Reading and Mathematics Program, a partnership between the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), the Summer Food Service Program and the Children’s Reading Foundation.

The Summer Boost program will promote family engagement in reading and math by giving away free books and items – such as wristbands, bookmarks and magnets – intended to motivate and remind families to read 20 minutes every day. Each participating district will receive about 1,000 books to distribute at their meal sites. 

This year’s Summer Boost participants are the recipients of books donated on behalf of Age of Learning Inc. The publisher of ABC Mouse, Age of Learning Inc., donated 40,000 books to the summer program.