Call to Order and Roll Call
The 4th meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was held on Monday, September 14, 2015, at 11:00 AM, in Fairdale, Kentucky, at Fairdale High School. Representative Derrick Graham, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Mike Wilson, Co-Chair; Representative Derrick Graham, Co-Chair; Senators Jared Carpenter, Danny Carroll, Jimmy Higdon, Gerald A. Neal, Reginald Thomas; Representatives George Brown Jr., Regina Bunch, Leslie Combs, Jim DeCesare, Jeffery Donohue, James Kay, Brian Linder, Mary Lou Marzian, Charles Miller, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Marie Rader, Jody Richards, Tom Riner, Jim Stewart III, Wilson Stone, and Addia Wuchner.
Legislative Guest: Representative Arnold Simpson.
Guests: Keven C. Brown, Kentucky Department of Education; Clyde Caudill, Kentucky Association of School Administrators.
LRC Staff: Jo Carole Ellis, Joshua Collins, Janet Stevens, Amy Tolliver, and Daniel Clark.
Welcome
Chairman Graham thanked Fairdale High School Principal Brad Weston and his staff for hosting the meeting and providing a tour of the Cambridge program classrooms as well as law enforcement, fire science, and heavy equipment classrooms.
Representative Donohue, talked about his alma mater and his pride in the recent turnaround of Fairdale High School under the leadership of Principal Weston. He thanked his colleagues for passing House Bill 268, resulting in the Cambridge International Exams being recognized for Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) eligibility.
Principal Weston welcomed the committee, thanked Representative Donohue for sponsoring House Bill 268, and acknowledged the Cambridge students in attendance.
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Donna Hargens welcomed the committee, acknowledged the Jefferson County school board members in attendance, and thanked them for their service.
Presentation: Jefferson County Public Schools: Focus on Student Learning
Donna Hargens, JCPS Superintendent, gave an overview of the district demographics. The JCPS district is the 27th largest district in the country with 101,000 students and consists of 1/7th of the students in Kentucky. Thirty-seven percent of students are African American, which is one half of all the African American students in Kentucky. The district has 172 school sites. About 52.7 percent of students are minority, and 63.6 percent receive free or reduced lunch. One hundred three different languages are spoken by the students, and 6.4 percent are homeless.
Dr. Hargens stated that in 2011-12 the district completed a school improvement audit, resulting in Vision 2015, a roadmap for improving student achievement with specific strategies and measurements to ensure progress. Since its implementation, the percentage of students scoring at proficient and distinguished in reading and math increased each year in all student groups. Students’ college and career readiness rate improved by 28 percentage points and is now at 63.5 percent. The graduation rate increased to 79 percent, and JCPS redirected $245 million of school expenditures into classrooms.
Dr. Hargens explained that the district is embarking on Vision 2020, which will be submitted to the board in October for approval. JCPS launched two district of innovation schools, repurposed a school back to an elementary school, opened a new alternative school, started an early childhood center, and have a new elementary school ready to open next year. The district is also participating in the Compassionate Schools Project, which centers on a health and wellness curriculum, utilizes an equity score card to ensure schools are meeting the needs of individual students, and is part of the males of color pledge, which seeks to ensure that males of color are on a successful trajectory.
Chairman Graham thanked Dr. Hargens and the JCPS system for the implementation of a six-week early childhood education pre-kindergarten program, held at the Unsel Center this summer. The program was funded by the business community to benefit students entering the system from zip codes where students scored the lowest on ACT/SAT and state testing. He said this is a great example of a successful public/private partnership that is benefiting public school children. Chairman Graham said that he is looking forward to participating in a meeting where the pre- and post-summer program test results of students will be presented and discussed.
Approval of the Minutes of the August 10, 2015, Meeting
Upon motion from Representative Kay, seconded by Representative Stone, the minutes were approved by voice vote.
Presentation: Cambridge International Program
Brad Weston, Principal, Fairdale High School, explained that the Cambridge International Studies program is administered by a non-profit department of the University of Cambridge in England. The program gives students the opportunity to earn the Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma, the most widely recognized international diploma. In its fourth year of participation in the human services international studies path, Fairdale has produced its first senior class of 38 AICE diploma-eligible students and has nearly 60 students enrolled in the freshman class. Fairdale offers Cambridge stage three and four courses which, thanks to House Bill 268, are KEES bonus money eligible. Fairdale’s long term vision is to offer all four stages of the Cambridge program, which would begin with Cambridge Primary at Fairdale Elementary. Principal Weston explained that, in the student-centered Cambridge classrooms, students learn to be self-aware, self-disciplined, and self-motivated critical thinkers who can work collaboratively in diverse groups. Principal Weston acknowledged and introduced each of Fairdale’s 11th and 12th grade Cambridge students who have in total earned over $20,000 in KEES bonus money.
Senator Wilson commended Principal Weston for addressing the workforce skills gap by training students in law enforcement, fire science, and heavy equipment operation. Senator Wilson also thanked Joe Burks, Education Policy Analyst in the Senate, for introducing the Cambridge program to Fairdale High School and praised Senator Dan Seum for supporting House Bill 268 in the Senate.
Representative Charlie Miller thanked Principal Weston for his work. He said that he is proud to see such strong academic and vocational programs going into area schools.
In response to questions from Senator Carroll regarding Fairdale’s law enforcement curriculum and graduate tracking, Principal Weston explained that the curriculum is modeled after a large law enforcement magnet school in Florida and aligned with Louisville Metro Police policies and procedures. Principal Weston stated that Fairdale worked with the Kentucky Department of Education to get certification for the 911 dispatch program, so that students can go directly into the field after high school if they choose. Principal Weston explained that Cambridge students are easily and closely tracked after graduation, as are the heavy equipment operator students; however, tracking law enforcement and fire science students is more difficult because they cannot begin in the field until age 21. Fairdale is in the process of developing a tracking system to monitor these students after high school.
In response to a question from Representative Riner, Principal Weston stated that Fairdale’s certified heavy equipment operator graduates are starting out making approximately $15-$18 per hour and moving up very quickly in the ranks due to on-the-job training they receive at Fairdale.
Review of Administrative Regulations
There was no action taken on 16 KAR 2:020, 16 KAR 4:030, 702 KAR 7:065, 704 KAR 3:303, or 705 KAR 4:041.
With no further business before the committee, the meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m.