January is a time for new beginnings and a new session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The session will start on Jan. 4 and must end by midnight on April 14. I think this is an exciting time for Kentucky as a whole and for education specifically.
It’s been a little over a year now since I joined the Kentucky Department of Education as its commissioner. During that time, my focus has been on listening to the people of my home state telling us what is working in education in the Commonwealth and where we need to improve.
Veterans play an essential role in our education community. Some of Kentucky’s teachers, classified staff, and school and district leaders have answered the call to serve our country. Now, they serve our students.
I marked my one-year anniversary at the helm of the Kentucky Department of Education last month with a trip to Meade County, the school district I graduated from more years ago than I like to admit.
There’s a phrase you may hear in education circles – particularly in Kentucky – called student voice. Student voice is the idea that students should have some say about how their education takes place.
The 2021-2022 school year is set to start up in just a few weeks and many of us – educators and parents alike – are contemplating what the next year will look like.
By now, you’ve hopefully heard about the Commissioner’s Virtual Listening Tour. For more than a month, I led a series of virtual town halls in conjunction with the education cooperatives and the University of Kentucky’s College of Education to hear directly from parents, students, educators and community members about what is and isn’t working in Kentucky’s education system.
This year, Teacher Appreciation Week will be May 3-7. This year’s theme is #ThankATeacher. I am thankful every day for the teachers who have helped and inspired me along the way.
All of us at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) are committed to the core values of equity, achievement, collaboration and integrity. These are the values that drive our work day after day.
I like to say that people who are drawn to becoming teachers generally have a calling. That got me thinking; why do we often call teaching a calling?