Kentucky School Advocate
April 2020
By Brenna R. Kelly
Staff writer
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has formed a task force to help guide Kentucky public education during the public health crisis. The Continuing Education Task Force, which meets virtually once a week, is designed to help deliver services to Kentucky students during the school closures.
“While Kentucky is way ahead of other states with our Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) program, we can always do more to assist districts, particularly during a time of crisis,” said Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown.
The task force provides weekly updates on information, research and instructional resources to districts and provides feedback.
The task force includes representatives of Kentucky’s educational cooperatives, educational partner organizations (including KSBA), Kentucky Educational Television, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and other groups. KDE’s eight associate commissioners lead subgroups of the task force.
“I appreciate the willingness of our partners to step up and help us assist our districts and students during this time,” Brown said. “Just like a family, Kentucky’s education community always rallies to do what’s best for kids.”
SREB President and former Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt said SREB will help educators share best practices and research-based resources.
“It’s important that our states step up to the plate in a time of crisis to make sure our students don’t miss any instructional time, and Kentucky has a rich history of doing that,” Pruitt said.
All 172 school districts have been approved to use the NTI program and the Kentucky legislature has passed a bill allowing districts to use an unlimited number of the days.