Minority educators can lead

Intern preparing to be superintendent

Demetria Choice hopes to one day become a school superintendent in Kentucky.

"We have 174 superintendents and just one of them is a minority," said Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education. "That does not reflect the racial makeup of this state."

That's why the department started the Minority Superintendent Internship Program in 2003.

Choice is the program's lone participant this year and is conducting her internship with the Kenton County School District. Her salary is paid by the education department, but her work is in Kenton County.

She's filling in the next three weeks for an assistant principal who is on leave at Simon Kenton High. She has attended training sessions on law and finance, and has done research and written a letter for the district to legislators about scholarship money.

"This isn't about shadowing me," said Kenton Superintendent Tim Hanner. "We're making sure that we're putting her in a position where she's getting hands-on experience and learning everything there is to learn."

Kentucky has a 9.6 percent minority population, according to the 2005 Census. Gross said fewer than 10 have gone through the program. Two became superintendents....

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer: Photoby Patrick Reddy: Superintendent intern Demetria Choice (right) with Erin Welch, a first-year special ed teacher at Simon Kenton High.