Kentucky School Advocate
January 2022

Carver receives award
The Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) named Reeca Carver, state adviser for the Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), as the winner of the 2021 Kevin M. Noland-Mary Ann Miller Award.

Carver also serves as an education vocational program consultant in the Office of Career and Technical Education (OCTE).

The award recognizes a KDE employee for significant service to Kentucky’s public schools and for providing inspiration for education. Nominations are submitted by KDE staff.

Her nominator, Robin Linton, also in OCTE, said that Carver has provided numerous activities to help students be proficient with real-world activities. These activities have helped students develop leadership and soft skills, leading to more involvement in competitions and community service projects.

Carver also has led the development of competitions for students with special needs. The state’s career and technical student organizations now have two modified events for students with special needs.

“Ms. Carver has made an impact on several areas for KDE. Teamwork is a big part of her nature. She is one of the first to volunteer and assist those in need,” Linton wrote in her nomination.

The award is named for Noland, who served as KDE’s deputy commissioner and general counsel and served as interim commissioner on four occasions, and Miller, who served KDE as a program consultant, staff assistant, policy adviser, executive director of KBE and chief of staff.The award was established in 2013 to recognize Noland’s 18 years of service; KBE added Miller’s name to the award in 2017 to honor her 30 years of service to KDE. Miller passed away in May of this year. Her husband, Ed Miller, presented the award to Carver and Noland attended the meeting virtually.

Superintendent tenure, vacancies
The average length of service for Kentucky superintendents in their current district at the start of the 2021-22 school year was 4.05 years, according to the Kentucky Association of School Administrators.

So far this school year, at least six superintendents have either resigned or announced they will retire at the end of this school year.

Most recently, Gallatin County’s Larry Hammond and Carroll County’s Danny Osborne announced their retirements. In December, both boards of education partnered with KSBA to facilitate searches for their next superintendents. For additional information on these searches, including position postings and access to online applications, visit ksba.org/supersearch.aspx.

Questions may be directed to KSBA Search Consultant Don Martin at (859) 991-4932 or [email protected].

KSBA’s Superintendent Search Service has assisted school boards in the facilitation of more than 300 successful superintendent searches.

KBE changes rules on corporal punishment  
The KBE approved new rules on how districts can implement corporal punishment. Though the board made clear that is opposes using corporal punishment in schools, it noted that under Kentucky law it cannot ban the practice.

Another state law requires schools to use trauma-informed discipline, so KDE staff determined that the regulation governing corporal punishment needed to be updated to comply with that law.

Under the new regulation, each local school board must adopt a policy that either prohibits or allows use of corporal punishment. As of now, 156 districts prohibit the use of corporal punishment in their district policies. Four have permissive policies and 11 have no policy. KSBA’s recommended model policy prohibits the use of corporal punishment.

Districts that allow corporal punishments must:

• Get written consent from a student’s legal guardian within the first five days of the school year. Before administering corporal punishment, the school must receive an additional verbal consent from the student’s parent or guardian.

• Corporal punishment must be administered by a principal or assistant principal and must be in the presence of at least one other staff member of the same gender as the student.

• After administering corporal punishment, the student must receive a minimum of 30 minutes of counseling provided by the school guidance counselor, social worker, psychologist or other qualified mental health professionals by the end of the next school day.

• Exempt students with an Individual Education Plan (IEP), 504 plan and those who are classified as homeless or are in foster care.