Every day since the COVID-19 emergency began to take shape has brought new challenges for all of us who serve Kentucky’s students, and probably for all of you who are more intensively involved in your children’s education than ever before.
It has been just over a month since Kentucky’s first case of COVID-19 was confirmed, and it has been the longest month of many of our lives. We had no idea when that announcement was made on March 6 how our lives were about to change and we still don’t know when they’ll return to something close to normal.
A lot of times I hear people referring to career and technical education and college prep classes as two separate things. When it comes down to it, all education is career and technical education.
Our focus at KDE is now three-fold – Educate, Feed and Support. Our first priority is ensuring your children still receive their education through the use of Kentucky’s Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) Program.
As the first week of school closures due to the nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 draws to a close, I want to thank you all for the changes in schedules and sacrifices you have had to make to help keep our students and communities safe.
More than 60,000 of Kentucky’s elementary and middle school students and nearly 1-in-4 of Kentucky’s high school students are in that state of academic emergency. It is an incredibly dangerous place for our children to be.
In the nearly two years that I have had the honor of serving as Kentucky’s commissioner of education, I have made students’ preparation for success in the workforce a top priority.
While there is no single school safety measure that will ever completely eliminate the threat of harm in our schools, as a dad and the husband of a high school educator, I am comforted in knowing there is a well-trained, experienced SRO who is ready and willing to meet danger at the school door if need be.
The release of accountability data is an opportunity to engage in data-informed dialogue with schools and school staff about the strengths and areas for growth for both schools and students.
When Kentucky’s 5-star school accountability system goes live this fall, it will offer parents across the Commonwealth a new and more transparent way to understand how their children’s schools are performing.