School News from Around Kentucky

Straight up anti-Berman blog launches in TheVille: JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SUPERINTENDENT SHELDON BERMAN: SO MANY BLUNDERS, SO LITTLE TIME TO BLOG ABOUT THEM. Education Voodoo


A how-to on incorporating student-response systems into the classroom: A Kentucky middle-school science teacher is successfully using a student-response system to gauge what students know and uses the nearly instant results to alter her lesson plans. Doni Beaupre says she acclimates students to the response system by allowing them to answer benign questions, such as what their favorite animal or sport is. Then, she uses the system to gauge student understanding of the curriculum. (T.H.E. Journal)


Report says more Kentuckians going to college and are more prepared: State education officials say a new report on college attendance and readiness among members of Kentucky's 2008 high school graduating class shows "substantial gains" but that much still needs to be done. Some 63 percent of the 43,362 Kentucky students who graduated from high school in spring 2008 had enrolled in college by that fall, according to the report. That included 57 percent who entered Kentucky colleges or universities. That's an improvement over the class of 2004, 51 percent of whose students entered in-state schools, officials said. (H-L)


KY. MOVING TOWARD TOP 20 IN MANY AREAS - 4TH, 8TH READING RESULTS REACHING HIGH LEVELS: In 2008, the Prichard Committee challenged Kentuckians to move the education system to the Top 20 among the 50 states by 2020. Two years later, results show important progress and plenty of evidence the state needs to make stronger gains. Most of the new results are good. Reading scores show both fourth-grade and eighth-grade Kentucky students reaching the Top 20 for the first time. Student results are moving up quickly enough to reach Top 20 by 2020 in fourth-grade math, high school Advanced Placement credit, students starting higher education, and the rate of completing associate's degrees. However, there are also grounds for concern. Get the full report from (Prichard).


High school choral director charged with sexual abuse: A 17-year-old student at Christian County High School student reported that the school’s choral director, Steve Sansom, touched her buttocks and grabbed her thighs in separate occasions this spring. Hopkinsville police served Sansom a criminal summons Wednesday afternoon. They charged him with first-degree sexual abuse, a Class D felony punishable by one to five years imprisonment. Kentucky law makes sexual abuse a felony whenever the suspect has a position of authority and the victim is a minor. (Kentucly New Era by way of KSBA)


School officer returning to work after suspension: Fayette County school officials are reinstating a school police officer suspended after video appeared to show him throwing a punch toward a student while breaking up a fight. Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman told the Lexington Herald-Leader that district officials investigated and found the officer "acted within the legal scope of options available to him." (H-L)


Draud heads back to office: Republican Jon Draud is headed back to public office after beating Democrat Thomas Elfers on Tuesday by nearly a 2-to-1 margin in the race for Kenton County Commissioner. “I have proven success in the past,” said Draud, whose career in public service spans more than 30 year. “I have good contacts at the local and state level. This position would give me something meaningful to do for my community.” (KyPost)


Leestown Middle School custodian's murder trial begins: Opening statements Tuesday in the trial of a former Leestown Middle School custodian accused of killing a co-worker last year described a history of tension between the men. Brian McGuire, 27, is charged with murder and possession of a weapon on school property. Police said he brought a semiautomatic handgun to work and emptied it into Jose Daniel "Danny" Donato, killing him. (H-L)


Incumbents victorious in Jefferson County Public Schools board races: There will be no shakeup on the Jefferson County Board of Education, as two incumbents won re-election Tuesday, while two others ran unopposed. School board chairwoman Debbie Wesslund, who represents District 3 in eastern Jefferson County, defeated David Toborowsky, a health-care consultant, and Daniel Smithson, a former accounting executive, winning 62 percent of the vote. (C-J)


Kentucky on pace for surplus if recovery doesn't falter: This unofficial projection was part of the quarterly economic report issued this week by the budget office, which reviewed revenues through the first quarter of this fiscal year and predicted revenues through the year's end on June 30, 2011. (C-J)


Backing parental participation: Educators kicked off a statewide effort Monday to urge parents to get involved in their kids’ education, and mentor students who don’t have that support at home. First lady Jane Beshear and state Education Commissioner Terry Holliday visited Elkhorn Middle School to announce that November is Parent Involvement Month in Kentucky. (State Journal by way of KSBA)