Students enter robotics competition

This from the Herald-Leader:

Some mad scientists have been running amok in a classroom at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.

One recent afternoon, the buzz of saws and electric drills filled the room, while computer screens flickered with mysterious, cryptic symbols, and harried workers made adjustments on a contraption that vaguely resembled an electrified grocery cart with a cannon mounted on top. Fortunately, there was nothing to fear.

The "mad scientists" scrambling around the room were all Fayette County Public Schools students. And the weird cart they were working on was a wheeled robot that they are building for a high school robotics competition at Purdue University next
month.

The 18 students from Dunbar and Henry Clay high schools are members of the first high school team from Central Kentucky ever to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition, which is sponsored by Dean Kamen, inventor of the futuristic Segway scooter. They'll go against other high school teams from around the region...

Dunbar Athletic Trainer Arrested For Distributing Obscene Matter

A man who worked with Lexington school children is now in trouble with the law for sending an obscene picture of himself through e-mail. (Video)

Lexington Police arrested 33 year old Gregory Jackson last night. He was a trainer with UK who worked with athletes at Dunbar High School.

Police charged Jackson with distribution of an obscene matter to a minor. They say he e-mailed the dirty picture to a 17-year-old girl.

School officials say Jackson worked with all the teams at Dunbar, male and female, but did not work for the school system.

This from WKYT TV.

Fayette County Superintendent Stu Silberman

issued the following statement following Jackson's arrest:

“This matter was brought to our attention by a concerned parent this morning and we acted immediately. We contacted the Crimes Against Children Unit with the Lexington Police Department and our Fayette County Public Schools law enforcement department. We contacted the University of Kentucky since Mr. Jackson is a UK employee, and directed them not to have him back on any of our campuses. The University of Kentucky has been extremely cooperative and is replacing him today. As we would do in any situation like this, we acted swiftly to have this person removed. We’re pleased that this parent brought this to our attention so that we could take appropriate action.”

Congratulations Bulldogs! Dunbar takes State BaseballChampionship

A record crowd of 4,467 saw a familiar sight -- a Lexington team celebrating a state title on the infield grass of Applebee's Park.

Dunbar, finishing a 38-6 season, also won the crown in 2003. Lexington Christian took the trophy in 2005, and Lexington Catholic was the 2006 winner.

Dunbar went 10-1 in these playoffs, with pitching, defense and timely hitting carrying them to the top.

Thomas Royse, the ace of the staff, was the star on the mound last night. The 6-foot-6 right-hander who has signed with Louisville went six innings, gave up three hits and struck out seven to improve his record to 14-1.

He threw one pitch in the bottom of the seventh before taking a bow, getting a hug from his pitching coach, and walking to the dugout to the cheers of the fans.

"That was very tough, a very emotional moment," he said.

Going into the finals, Shelby County Coach Donnie Williams said his team couldn't afford to let Dunbar have a big inning.

Needless to say, he didn't get his wish.

The Bulldogs got all their runs in one marathon at-bat as they sent 14 batters to the plate in the third.

Dunbar did some hitting -- Chris Wood (tournament MVP) had two hits and two RBI in the inning, and Giuliani and Chris Kubajak each had a double.

But Shelby County was its own worst enemy. Rockets' pitchers walked in a pair of runs and beaned another batter with the bases loaded.

Shelby County's defense was at fault, too. It dropped a routine fly ball to help fuel the rally.

Giving Royse a 9-0 lead is like locking up the gold in Fort Knox. He said he "couldn't have pictured" a better scenario than having a huge lead.

This from the Herald-Leader, Photo by MARK CORNELISON .

Students accepted into first-ever state math and science academy

Two Fayette County students have been selected to attend the Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky at Western Kentucky University.

Sophomores John Bowie from Lafayette High, and Daniel Coffman from Paul Laurence Dunbar High, will join 120 students from across the state this fall as part of the academy’s inaugural class. The pair will spend their junior and senior years at WKU, taking classes offered by the university. At the end of two years, John and Daniel will earn sixty college credit hours in addition to completing high school.

The goal of the program is to enable Kentucky’s exceptional young scientists and mathematicians to learn in an environment which offers advanced educational opportunities and prepares them for leadership roles in the Commonwealth. To be selected, students must demonstrate excellence in the areas of academic content, communication skills, maturity and personal character.
~
This video from YouTube.

Four Dunbar students injured in morning wreck

This from the Herald-Leader:

Four Paul Laurence Dunbar High School students on their way to school were injured in a car wreck Wednesday morning.

The accident happened just before 8 a.m. in the outbound lane of Versailles Road not far from Calumet Farm, Lexington Police Lt. Mario Russo said. Three senior girls and one boy, a junior, were taken to University of Kentucky Medical Center, Fayette County schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said.

CANCELLATIONS TOUGH TO CALL EVEN FOR BEST SCHOOLS CHIEF - SILBERMAN RETAINS CREDIBILITY BY NOT TRYING TO SNOW ANYONE

Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
February 9, 2007
Author: Richard Day

The best school superintendents spend their waking hours communicating and driving district personnel to increase student achievement. They want high attendance, not low attendance. They want more school days, not fewer. They want to have school.

The hardest decisions a school superintendent has to make are those that go beyond his control, such as deciding whether to call off school when bad weather threatens. Sometimes conditions are bad enough that school cancellations can be announced the night before. Other times, it's a close call made at 5 a.m. Then there is a four-hour window of time after the decision to have class is made and until the last child arrives at school.In that time, the winds can change and turn a seemingly solid decision into mush. That's when school officials hold their collective breath.

Such was the case with Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman recently when he admitted to a blown call to have school on a snowy Groundhog's Day.Silberman was reportedly bombarded with complaints from pretty much everywhere, and he reassessed the situation. Then he did something refreshing. He apologized.

A student at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School started a group on Facebook called "Stu wouldn't know a snow day if it hit him in the face." It featured a South Park-style rendering of Silberman in front of a school bus being hit with snow balls.The group's creator wrote, "Don't get me wrong guys, I love Stu. I just get the feeling that he has a bad system for calling snow days."

More than 440 high school students joined the group to vent frustrations and blame and to defend Silberman. They posted reports of Henry Clay students spamming the superintendent's e-mail and a mini-boycott where some Tates Creek seniors "just sat in their cars during first block."One student did blame Silberman for his car being rear-ended, but there were only a couple of snide bicycle references. What I found interesting was the general tone taken by most of the district's high school students. It was pretty mild.

Apologizing would seem to be the most reasonable and honorable thing for any superintendent to do. But it requires courage to expose oneself to blame instead of seeking scapegoats, and some have found that difficult.Former Superintendent Robin Fankhauser refused to accept responsibility when the district failed to update a required facilities plan that stood to cost the district $8 million in sorely needed facilities-construction money.Instead of accepting responsibility, she complained that she had been defamed by the public comments of some board members who demanded accountability. She was forced into retirement, and it apparently took some legislative arm twisting by state Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr to get the funds restored.

Silberman's bad snow-day call doesn't rise to the level of an $8 million mistake, but only because there were no tragic accidents as a result.

When things go wrong, as they will, and the superintendent wants us to believe his explanation of events, it helps if he has already established a pattern of behavior that allows him the benefit of the doubt. Silberman followed up his apology by getting it right on the next snowy day, and dismissing school early yet another day.

Then, on Wednesday, he got a curve ball. This time the northeast section of Fayette County got snow and the rest of the county did not. Once again Silberman fielded angry calls; this time for not having school. But angry calls aside, he made the right choice.When deciding whether road conditions will permit school, the only appropriate basis for consideration is the whole county; anything less devalues someone and endangers someone.

Silberma worked hard and made friends before he needed them. From his first day on the job, he redirected district leadership, opened the planning process to the public and committed himself for the long haul.The school board probably could not hold him to his commitment to serve 10 years, but when his name was being bandied about as a candidate to replace departed Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit, Silberman didn't miss a beat before taking his name out of the conversation.

Silberman has earned the confidence people place in him.


Caption:(1) by CHARLES BERTRAM , STAFF - Fayette County schools were in session Feb. 2 despite the weather, and the superintendent was bombarded with complaints.
(2) - Richard Day of Lexington is a former principal of Cassidy Elementary School.
Edition: FinalSection: CommentaryPage: A13
Copyright (c) 2007 Lexington Herald-Leader
Record Number: 0702090166