Commissioner Stephen Pruitt drives "Buster the Bus" down through a row of booths at the 2016 Kentucky State Fair. Buster will be back by popular demand this year to teach children about school bus safety. Photo by Bobby Ellis, Aug. 25, 2016

Commissioner Stephen Pruitt drives “Buster the Bus” down through a row of booths at the 2016 Kentucky State Fair. Buster will be back by popular demand this year to teach children about school bus safety.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, Aug. 25, 2016

(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – Kentuckians attending the 2017 Kentucky State Fair in Louisville Aug. 17-27 are invited to visit the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) booth in the Main Street Kentucky section of the South Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center.

KDE staff will be on hand each day of the fair to engage visitors and answer questions. The KDE Office of Career and Technical Education also will be represented each day with staff available to answer questions related to career and technical education.

Commissioner of Education Stephen Pruitt and eight current and former Kentucky Teachers of the Year are scheduled to appear at the booth over the course of the fair. Staff and students from the Kentucky School for the Deaf in Danville and the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville will be on hand when those schools are spotlighted on Wednesday, Aug. 23, and Friday, Aug. 25, respectively.

Returning by popular demand this year is Buster the School Bus, who will appear throughout the fair to teach young children about school bus safety.

In addition to information on Kentucky’s new accountability system and the Parent Portal, an online tool for parents to monitor student attendance and progress, visitors to KDE’s booth can pick up a free pen, a small box of crayons, a bookmark or a bag, as well as a career and technical education “future student” badge sticker and career coloring pages.

For more information on the Kentucky State Fair, visit the fair’s website.