48 Kentuckians to serve on the Kentucky Coalition for Advancing Education

By Jacob Perkins
jacobperkins@education.ky.gov

A group of 48 Kentuckians representing various facets of the state’s education community has accepted to serve on the Kentucky Coalition for Advancing Education (KCAE), Education Commissioner Jason E. Glass announced June 1.

Under the leadership of Glass, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), the Center for Innovation in Education (C!E) and the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) will partner with the coalition to create a vision for public education in the Commonwealth.

“The Kentucky Coalition for Advancing Education will bring together diverse perspectives from across the Commonwealth,” Glass said. “The coalition will co-create a vision with communities, foster local innovations and advance policy recommendations to shape the future of education in Kentucky.”

Beginning on April 6, Glass began a series of virtual town halls in conjunction with the state’s education cooperatives and the University of Kentucky’s College of Education to seek feedback directly from parents, students, educators and community members on long-term aspirations for the Commonwealth’s education system.

With the listening tour almost complete, the KCAE will work to find themes in the input received. Made up of a broad cross-section of Kentucky’s residents, the coalition will meet five times throughout June and July with department staff and members of C!E to create two documents that capture the strengths and needs of Kentucky’s public education system, and an aspirational vision for the students of the Commonwealth.

“From this work, we will build a future vision of education that is based on positive and meaningful experiences and think about how we can create more of those,” Glass said.

In order to bring together necessary perspectives and voices, KDE and its partners recognized that three distinct groups of stakeholders must be included in this crucial work:

Critical Stakeholders: It is vital to have the involvement of these individuals and groups. For that reason, the department directly appointed critical stakeholders;
Interested Stakeholders: This group of members expressed their interest in being included by participating in an open application process; and
Potential Stakeholders: Members in this group may not have been aware of the application process. Therefore, potential stakeholders were nominated by a sampling of principals from across the Commonwealth.

Each of these three stakeholder groups makes up one-third of the coalition and bring these diverse perspectives together to co-create and co-design policy recommendations. KCAE members will collaborate to build new tools, systems and approaches for education in the Commonwealth.

Members of the Kentucky Coalition for Advancing Education are:

Hussein Almosawi: Student at Butler Traditional High School (Jefferson County)
Kasia Antle: Teacher at Central High School (Jefferson County)
Houston Barber: Frankfort Independent superintendent
Deshae Barnhorst: Teacher at Collins Elementary (Boone County)
Wallace Caleb Bates: A recent graduate of Breathitt County High School and former member of KDE’s Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council
Brigitte Blom Ramsey: Fayette County, executive director of The Prichard Committee
Judith Bradley: Founder and board chair of Jack Be Nimble, a special education advocacy nonprofit, and a member of the KDE’s Commissioner’s Parents Advisory Council
Zhanine Brooks: Fayette County parent
Elijah Campbell: Student at Paul G. Blazer High School (Ashland Independent)
Penny Christian: Fayette County, 16th District PTA member
Thom Cochran: Johnson County Public Schools superintendent
Mark Daniels: Corbin Independent director of pupil personnel
Alfonso De Torres Núñez: teacher at Bloom Elementary (Jefferson County)
Arnav Dharmagadda: Student at Russell High School (Russell Independent)
Dena Dossett: Jefferson County Public Schools chief of accountability, research and improvement
Kimber Doyle: Student at Warren Central High School (Warren County)
Susan Dugle: Shelby County Public Schools chief academic officer
Robbie Fletcher: Lawrence County Schools superintendent
Stacie Gamble: Principal of Liberty High School (Jefferson County)
Audrey Gilbert: Student at Frankfort High School (Frankfort Independent)
Terra Greenwell: Principal of Ramsey Middle School (Jefferson County)
Abby Griffy: Marshall County Schools instructional supervisor
Melissa Hagans: Retired Fayette County educator
Travis Hamby: Allen County Schools superintendent
Michelle Hunt: Fleming County Schools chief academic officer
Jennifer Jacobs: Program director of the Rise STEM Academy for Girls (Fayette County)
Faneshia Jones: Education recovery leader with KDE
Jack Jones: Student at Murray High School (Murray Independent)
Michelle Lisby: Teacher at Southside Elementary (Shelby County)
Rep. Ed Massey: Boone County
Sherri Matthews: Teacher at LeGrande Elementary (Hart County)
Susan McAdam: Jefferson County parent
Traysea Moresea: Greenup County Schools superintendent
Lyndsay Nottingham: Teacher at Robert D. Campbell and Henry E. Baker Intermediate School (Clark County)
Contessa Orr: Logan County Schools chief academic officer
Julie Osborne: Principal of Whitley County High School
Rhondalyn Randolph: Daviess County community leader
Noraa Ransey: Teacher at North Calloway Elementary (Calloway County)
Emily Reed: Berea Independent Schools director of student learning
Kesha Richardson: Community Action Council for Lexington-Fayette, Bourbon, Harrison and Nicholas Counties
Rick Ross: Mason County Schools superintendent
Rayne Sheppard: Student at Bell County High School and member of the Kentucky Student Voice Team
Matt Shirley: Metcalfe County Schools director of digital learning
Matthew Turner: Boone County Schools superintendent
Adrienne Usher: Bullitt County Schools assistant superintendent
Michelle Walden: Christian County Public Schools instructional supervisor
Renita Wilburn: Teacher at Frederick Douglass High School (Fayette County)
Lu Young: Jessamine County, chair of the Kentucky Board of Education