School News from Around Kentucky

Coach suspended for punching bus window: The Dayton football team last week lost its second game of the season. Later, it lost its coach. Zach Deaton, who has led the Greendevils since 2007, has been suspended three games for punching out a bus window during a postgame tirade. Dayton superintendent Gary Rye confirmed the decision Wednesday. According to Rye, the incident occurred after the team returned from Friday's 51-0 loss at Taylor, Ohio. (Enquirer)

National Blue Ribbon School Recognition for 304 Schools: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today recognized 304 schools as 2010 National Blue Ribbon Schools. The schools—254 public and 50 private—will be honored at an awards ceremony Nov. 15-16 in Washington, D.C. In the past 28 years, more than 6,000 of America's schools have received this coveted award. (2010 Blue Ribbon Schools) Kentucky recipients include: Dixie Elementary Magnet School, Lexington (Fayette County); Donald E. Cline Elementary, Cold Spring (Campbell County); Ezel Elementary, Ezel (Morgan County); Sedalia Elementary, Sedalia (Graves County); Willam H. Natcher Elementary, Cloverport (Cloverport Independent); Christian Academy of Louisville High School. (US ED)

Judge blocks $100 donation limit in school board races: A federal judge opened the door Friday for school board candidates in Kentucky to accept campaign contributions of up to $1,000 — 10 times the current limit. U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves said the $100 limit now in the law effectively silences candidates in some races where labor unions and other groups become heavily involved. In issuing a preliminary injunction that bars the current limit from being enforced, Reeves said Jefferson County plaintiffs Ben Foster and Edward Britton likely would win their case when he makes a final ruling...“Plaintiffs have produced evidence which shows a substantial likelihood that the statute’s $100 limit is so low as to make individual contributors’ political association ineffective,” Reeves wrote. (C-J)

Gov. Beshear: schools to get $135 million, legislature should keep hands off to fix new budget hole - KDE to release district-specific details in Sept. 20 webinar: Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday that the state has applied for its $134.9 million slice of the $10 billion “Edujobs” pie approved by Congress last month. And announcing yet another revenue shortfall, the governor said he would oppose any legislative attempt to balance the budget through a “shell game” involving cutting state education funding in light of the federal windfall to schools. Meanwhile, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday announced that details for distributing the “Edujobs” funds, including the timetable for the money to reach districts, will be released during a webinar on Monday, Sept. 20. Holliday is urging superintendents to use the new funding to expand teacher training and planning time to implement the new accountability system being developed to meet the mandates of the 2009 Senate Bill 1 reform law. (KSBA) (and here)

Federal Education Windfall: The Commonwealth should receive an additional 135-million dollars in federal money for education. The state's share comes from ten billion dollars set aside by Congress in the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. Kentucky Association of School Administrators Director Wayne Young says it will allow some school districts to re-hire teachers."I don't think there is any question that some districts will add staff because they've had to make such intensive cuts, they've lost people they didn't want to lose couldn't afford to lose, are depriving kids of services. So, I think you'll see a number of districts hire people back," said Young. (WEKU)

Program Reviews a shift from test-centered to program-centered: Even though neither the accountability model nor the role Program Reviews will play in it have been determined, 48 schools from 34 districts tested Program Reviews in a combination of writing, arts and humanities, and practical living/career studies, according to Rae McEntyre, assessment liaison with the state Department of Education. Rather than testing students with paper and pencil to see what they have learned in the three areas, schools gathered evidence about how they integrated the subjects across their curricula and whether they provided students with opportunities to learn, among other things, McEntyre said. To conduct a program review, a school forms a team of administrators and teachers to look for evidence of specific events or occurrences, called characteristics, expected in a school functioning at high levels. An example would be “students will be taught by teachers who are certified in the subject area they teach,” McEntyre said. Several characteristics would establish a demonstrator, which is a broader trait describing what is happening in a school considered fully functioning, such as “students have access to a quality arts program,” McEntyre said. Several demonstrators lead into four standards: curriculum and instruction; formative and summative assessment; professional development and support; and administrative/leadership support and monitoring. The standards then establish the quality of the overall program. The school team will identify evidence and establish a rating at each level from fully functioning to no implementation using a green, yellow and red scale. (KSBA)