Kentucky Teacher

The next superintendents’ webcast is Friday, May 31, 2013 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET.

One of the topics to be presented is maximizing the flexibility offered by Kentucky’s ESEA waiver. If there are other topics that you would like to have addressed, please e-mail maryann.miller@education.ky.gov .

The session will be recorded for those who cannot watch it live and the materials and link for the webcast will be forwarded closer to time for the actual broadcast.

The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education has awarded $1.5 million to fund model clinical programs for teacher preparation in Kentucky. The three programs seek to improve the effectiveness of how universities provide teacher training.

The recipients include:

•Eastern Kentucky University, in partnership with Corbin Independent school district

•University of Louisville, in partnership with Jefferson County school district

•Western Kentucky University (WKU), in partnership with Bowling Green Independent school district and Simpson County school district

The recipients were chosen through a competitive process.

Each partnership will receive $500,000 from an appropriation from the General Assembly to support the implementation of Senate Bill 1 (2009).

“Investing in Kentucky’s future and current teachers is one of the best investments we can make to move the education needle,” said Aaron Thompson, the council’s senior vice president. Continue Reading

The Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASA) announced its list of finalists for the 2013 Fred Award.

The Fred Award is designated for non-administrative staff, students and volunteers statewide. It was inspired by Fred Shea, a postman who became the subject of Mark Sanborn’s national bestseller, The Fred Factor.

The finalists include:

• Danny Henderson, bus driver and maintenance worker for Carlisle County school district
• Marcia Riffe, instructional assistant, East Carter High School (Carter County)
• Ronda Williams, occupational therapist, Owensboro Independent school district

The award recognizes those individuals whose efforts on a daily basis contribute to create a positive atmosphere in Kentucky’s school communities. The first Fred Award was presented in 2008 to Fred Strange, a custodian at Grants Lick Elementary School in the Campbell County school district, and the award presentation has continued each year since. Continue Reading

KEA president-elect Stephanie Winkler

The Kentucky Education Association recently elected a new president and vice president.Stephanie Winkler, 4th- and 5th-grade science teacher at Mayfield Elementary School (Madison County), was chosen as KEA’s president-elect, and Lisa Petrey-Kirk was elected vice president-elect.

Winkler and Petry-Kirk will assume their new positions on June 15, each serving three-year terms.

Winkler said the position will allow her to “visit, collaborate and engage many groups of public school employees and other stake holder groups in their efforts to provide Kentucky school children a world class education.”

Winkler has been teaching for 16 years. She joined the KEA Student Program (SP) while she was at Eastern Kentucky University and served as state KEA SP president during the 1994-95 school year. She has served as president of the Madison County Education Association and of the 20-county KEA-Central District. She is a member of the KEA Board of Directors.

Winkler said her leadership skills are best exemplified by her ability to quickly identify and utilize the professional strengths of others. Continue Reading

Cindy Hudson, the secretary at Daviess County High School in Daviess County, has been chosen as the 2013 recipient of the Kentucky Association of School Administrators’ prestigious Wanda Luttrell Office Professional Award.

Named in honor of KASA’s longtime office manager, the award has been presented annually since 1981 to a member of Kentucky’s educational support staff who has contributed significantly to the efforts of the administrative team and who exhibits resourcefulness, commitment, professionalism, and a positive attitude.

Daviess County Assistant Superintendent, Julie Clark, describes Hudson in this way, “Cindy is charged with an unimaginable number of responsibilities.  Despite bearing the weight of all these responsibilities, Mrs. Hudson always stops what she is doing when a student, a teacher, a parent, or a visitor walks into her office for help or to see the principal.”  She goes on to describe Hudson as a “…self-motivated learner whose thirst for knowledge is obvious.” Continue Reading

Leslie Lloyd said she applied to be a member of LearnZillion’s Dream Team because she wanted the chance to have an impact on students on a national scale. She also wanted to learn from nationally recognized master teachers.

“I am always about reflection and learning new things, and I really think that this opportunity will help me become a better teacher,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd teaches English II and Honors English III at North Bullitt High School (Bullitt County). She, along with Betsy Lane High School (Floyd County) mathematics teacher Kelly Boles make up two of 200 teachers across the county chosen for the Dream Team. More than 3,000 teachers applied for this opportunity.

LearnZillion is a national community of teachers dedicated to high quality instruction of the Common Core State Standards. Dream Team teachers will attend TeachFest, an intensive professional development conference in San Francisco in May. Continue Reading

Eminence Independent school district was recently named one of 15 first place winners in the national Magna Awards Program.

The Magna Awards, supported by Sodexo, recognize districts across the country for outstanding programs that advance student learning and encourage community involvement in schools.

Eminence Independent won for its School on FIRE (Framework of Innovation for Reinventing Education) program at Eminence High School.

The program fosters a college-focused culture in the district. At the time of its creation, high school students were transferring to neighboring districts in record numbers. The school board sought feedback and found students were leaving due to the lack of technology, elective course choices and the opportunity for advanced college-prep courses.

The school board took several actions to address those concerns. Every high school student now receives a free laptop.

Additionally, the master schedule was redesigned to promote mastery in learning and provide opportunities for enrichment and interventions. Students performing well in core classes also may take an array of electives. Continue Reading

Kentucky Teacher is looking to profile diverse, outstanding leaders in Kentucky’s public school districts for the final months of the 2012-13 school year.

If you know of an excellent district teacher or administrator who has innovative ideas, strong leadership qualities and a passion for helping students become college and/or career ready, e-mail the following information to Susan Riddell:

•nominee’s name, position, school and district

•contact information for nominee

•examples of how nominee has served in a leadership capacity

•what makes the nominee a strong leader

•headshot of the nominee

One leader will be profiled monthly in the Leadership Letter section of the Kentucky Teacher website.

The Kentucky Department of Education, Division of School and Community Nutrition, is addressing two ongoing concerns about the appropriate use of Food Service funds (MUNIS, Fund 51) by a school district.

The first area of concern is the payment of equipment for new facilities, or renovation of facilities, from food service funds.  All food service funds are federal funds, which are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDOA).  As such, proper procurement methods that include the required federal clauses must be utilized in order for the food service account to pay for the equipment.  If money has been transferred from the food service account to pay for equipment in a kitchen, it will need to be transferred back into the food service account unless it has been properly procured.

The second area of concern is the ability of food service staff to attend the Kentucky School Nutrition Association and the School Nutrition Association annual conferences.  The staff receives continuing education and food service directors receive necessary certification.  Both conferences are allowable food service expenditures and the Division of School and Community Nutrition strongly encourages that district food services staff be allowed to attend.

If any districts have any follow-up questions about these items, please contact Sue Bartenfield, Branch Manager, Schools Branch, in the Division of School and Community Nutrition, at Sue.bartenfield@education.ky.gov.

Please encourage all teachers, principals and other school-based certified educators to take part in the 2013 TELL Kentucky Survey.

As of Monday afternoon, there was a 57.67 percent participation rate with 29,125 educators participating. The goal is to have a 90 percent participation rate by the time the survey ends on March 29.

To encourage participation, each week we will be drawing for two $1,000 cash prizes, one for a school with at least a 50 percent participation rate, and another one a school with a 100 percent participation rate at which the prize will go to an educator. The first drawing was Wednesday March 13. Thanks to our partners who have donated private funds for the drawing: the Kentucky Education Association, Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Kentucky Association of School Superintendents and the Kentucky School Boards Association.

All school-based certified educators are asked to participate in the anonymous survey at www.tellkentucky.org. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. Districts will receive their results and schools with at least 50 percent of qualified educators responding will receive aggregate school results to use for improvement planning.