Kentucky School Advocate
December 2023
Three superintendents to retire
Three Kentucky superintendents have announced they will retire at the end of this school year.
Jamie Weddington, Lewis County superintendent, said after 41 years as either a student, teacher or administrator in the district “it is time for me to finally graduate.”
Weddington has been superintendent of the northeast Kentucky district for eight years.
“Lewis County Schools has always been my home and the reason I never applied for superintendent in another district,” he said. “I have always loved our little piece of the country.”
Dayton Independent Schools Superintendent Jay Brewer also announced this will be his last year at the northern Kentucky district.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to be the superintendent of Dayton Independent Schools for the past 12 years,” Brewer said in his retirement letter. “Together we have created a mission to inspire, engage and grow our students and I believe we live out that mission each day.”
KSBA’s Superintendent Search Service will be facilitating the search for a new superintendent, which will begin immediately.
“I truly treasure the relationships and the differences that we have made together,” Brewer said. “The wonderful people of Dayton will always be near and dear to my heart.”
Grant County Superintendent Matt Morgan announced in October that this will be his last school year at the northern Kentucky district where he has been superintendent for six years.
Morgan has worked in the district for 31 years including as a teacher at Grant County High School and Grant County Middle School, assistant principal at Grant County Middle School, director of Pupil Personnel, and assistant superintendent for Finance and Personnel.
Districts get federal school safety money
Three Kentucky school districts will receive a total of $1.4 million in federal school safety money.
The funding, from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Service, will provide more than $73.6 million to 206 school districts and other public agencies at the state and local level in an effort to improve security at schools. The funding can’t be used for officers inside schools but can be used for deterrent measures like cameras and metal detectors.
The Campbell County Board of Education will receive $467,670, the Caverna Independent School District will receive $493,710 and the Pike County School District will receive $468,750.
Pile named to national board
Julie Pile, an at-large member of the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE), has been named to the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) Board of Directors to serve a one-year term.
NASBE, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, is the only membership organization for state boards of education.
A long-time family and parent engagement advocate, Pile was appointed to the KBE in May by Gov. Andy Beshear. She has served in various volunteer and leadership positions with schools in northern Kentucky, including as local PTA president. She was a member of the Boone County Board of Education from January 2019 to December 2022 and served as the board’s chair in 2022.
Pile is a 2012 graduate of the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership and a 2018 member of the inaugural EdTrust Fund Parent Fellowship class. In 2015, Pile co-founded ParentCamp and currently serves as the president. The organization’s model leans into capacity building and strengthening the family-school-community ecosystem, and works with local teams to provide opportunities for relational trust to be built amongst stakeholders. ParentCamp also offers a national virtual training once a month so parents, educators and community members from across the globe can connect, learn from each other and build a support system.