Call to Order and Roll Call
The 4th meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was held on Monday, September 18, 2017, at 1:00 PM, at Valley High School’s Conrad Bachmann Auditorium, Louisville, Kentucky. Senator Mike Wilson, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Mike Wilson, Co-Chair; Senators Julie Raque Adams, Jimmy Higdon, Alice Forgy Kerr, Gerald A. Neal, Reginald Thomas, and Stephen West; Representatives Danny Bentley, Mark Hart, Regina Huff, Mary Lou Marzian, Reginald Meeks, Phil Moffett, Tim Moore, Kimberly Poore Moser, Rick G. Nelson, Melinda Gibbons Prunty, Steve Riley, James Tipton, and Russell Webber.
Legislative Guests: Senator Dan Seum; Representatives McKenzie Cantrell, Jerry Miller, and Jason Nemes.
Guests: David Wickersham and Joe Burks, LRC; Eric Kennedy, KSBA; Greg Coker, KASS; Jimmy Adams and Lauren Graves, ESPB; Cassie Blausay, Christina Weeter, Tracy Herman, Rich Gimmel, Kevin Brown, and Chase Bannister, KDE; Erin Klarer, KHEAA; Rob Matthew, Gay Adelmann, Karin Bennett, Cordelia Hardin, Marco Munor, Carmen Coleman, Chris Nolan, James Higdon, Abby Piper, Sean Cutter, Amy Dennis, Chris Kolb, Dequan Dorsey, Diane Porter, Steph Horne, Amanda Averette, Lana Carroll, and Zina Knight; and Chris Otts, JCPS staff, board members, and parents; Emily Evans and Hayden Ristevski WDRB; Nancy Dematra, community leader; Chris Harner, AROS Louisville; Joel Adams, KPLSA; Pinky Jackson, Jack Be Nimble and Manual PSTA; Judith Bradley, Jack Be Nimble; Jerald Adlens, AFSCME; Iris Wilbur, Greater Louisville Chamber of Commerce; Emily Maher and Forrest Cleam, WLKY; Nicolai Jilek, FOP; Don Weber, Spectrum News; Shay McAlister and Blake Randall, WHAS; Beverly Moore, LWV-KY; Gary Cox, AIKCU; Mardi Montgomery and Wayne Lewis, EWDC; Sherman Brown, MSS; Kate Wood, CA; Brent McKim, JCTA; Frances Cotton, League of Women Voters; Tracy Peyton, CES; Barbara Boyd, KY Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; Barbara Dempsey, Sharon Moorman, and Elizabeth Kraner.
LRC Staff: Jo Carole Ellis, Yvette Perry, Lauren Busch, and Christal White.
Senator Wilson recognized the Valley High School ROTC Color Guard’s presentation of colors and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Members of the Valley High Men’s Ensemble performed My Old Kentucky Home.
Senator Wilson introduced the new Education Committee Analyst, Lauren Busch. He also announced the co-chair, Representative Carney, who was not in attendance because he was attending an early childhood conference in Colorado.
Approval of the minutes of the August 28, 2017, meeting
On a motion by Representative Gibbons-Prunty and a second by Representative Bentley, the minutes of the August 28, 2017, minutes were approved.
Welcome and Valley High School Overview
Rob Stephenson, Valley High School Principal, welcomed everyone to Conrad Bachmann Auditorium, funded by Mr. Bachmann who was a 1951 graduate of Valley High School and is currently associated with the annual Louisville Film Fest. Mr. Stephenson introduced his father-in-law, Majority Caucus Chairman, Senator Dan Seum. Mr. Stephenson recognized a group of students at Valley High who served as tour guides of the high school as well as the ROTC.
Valley High opened in 1936 and celebrated its 80th anniversary last year. The new additions, renovation projects, and redesign at Valley High positioned the school to prepare students for the future in areas such as Advanced Placement, allied health, business education, environment, medical arts and sciences, nursing, and liberal studies. State-of-the-art technology is available throughout the school.
Mr. Stephenson said Valley High has exited priority school status thanks to the teachers, staff, alumni, and students. He introduced Dr. Glenn Baete, Assistant Superintendent of Area 1.
Mr. Stephenson said the Freshman Academy assists incoming ninth graders with the transition to high school. Sophomore students have an opportunity to job shadow, junior students can participate in work programs relating to their career pathway, and senior students have the opportunity to complete college courses at Jefferson County Technical College (JCTC), or shadow an intern in their career pathway.
Valley High allows students to explore opportunities in the Health and Science Academy with pathways such as administrative support, medical billing and coding, allied health, sports medicine, EKG technician, pre-nursing, veterinary assistant, and phlebotomy. The Industrial Greatness Academy includes administrative support for the business office, electrical technician, HVAC, and mechanical technician. Business partnerships in the community enhance the student experiences in the real world.
To meet the college- and career-readiness demands of the future, Mr. Stephenson said Valley High offers the Advanced Program and Advanced Placement courses in the fields of medicine, health, environment, and liberal studies.
Valley High has an award-winning and first Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) Program in Kentucky. Mr. Stephenson said ROTC is a global pathway allowing students to participate while benefitting from enrollment in other academies.
Outside the classroom, students have the opportunity to participate in numerous clubs, organizations, and teams that help develop teamwork and leadership skills.
Chairman Wilson thanked Mr. Stevenson for providing the meeting venue and Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) for hosting the meeting and providing lunch. Chairman Wilson introduced Rich Gimmel with the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE).
Presentation: Jefferson County Public Schools Student Assignment Plan
Chairman Wilson introduced Dr. Marty Pollio, Acting Superintendent of JCPS and former principal of Doss High School. He commended Dr. Pollio for turning a failing school into one with great success through the transformation of the culture and the introduction of academies.
Dr. Pollio said he is proud to represent JCPS as the Acting Superintendent after teaching in the school system for 21 years and said Louisville will eventually have 11 academy model high schools in the district and provide every student the opportunity to be active in an academy and a pathway for college- and career-readiness. Career pathways will include highly skilled positions, have high employability, pay high wages, and will prepare students for either college or a career. Dr. Pollio believes JCPS will eventually become a national model with great opportunities for students.
Dr. Pollio was principal for eight years at Jeffersontown High School and then moved to high priority Doss High School. The school climate and culture vastly improved with the introduction of the academy model and saw students become passionate about career and in-demand area job opportunities. Academies ensure success for at-risk students from challenging backgrounds and expressed his commitment for improvement and forward movement in JCPS.
Dr. Pollio introduced Dr. Dena Dossett, JCPS Chief of Research and Planning, who is currently charged with student assignment plan revisions.
Dr. Pollio said work is ongoing to develop a strategy for the JCPS student assignment plan to address challenges ensuring every child in JCPS has access and opportunity to a top-notch education. Although the plan has been revised every five to ten years since the early seventies, the last significant adjustment was in 2007. Dr. Pollio said it is necessary to address some of the concerns with the plan and ask for legislative feedback throughout the process.
JCPS is the 28th largest school district in the United States with 100,981 students comprising 81 percent of the market share and serving one-seventh of all students in the state. Dr. Pollio said the success of Kentucky schools will depend greatly on the JCPS performance, which encompasses 172 school sites. The student demographics are 45 percent White, 37 percent African American, and 18 percent other.
Dr. Pollio gave examples of the diversity challenges facing the JCPS community on a daily basis. JCPS has 5.9 percent of students who participate in the English as a Second Language (ESL) programs and 120 difference languages are spoken within their schools. JCPS has 121,338 students from ages 3-21 who receive Exceptional Child Education Services. JCPS has 6,128 homeless students; 62.3 percent of students receive free or reduced price lunches (FRPL); 249 students move in and out of schools in the county each day; 65,000 students ride JCPS buses daily; and more than 104,000 meals, including breakfast and lunch, are served daily.
Reviewing the previous five years, Dr. Pollio said FRPL students remained stable at 62.3 percent; the non-white or minority student population increased 4.4 percent to 55 percent; Limited English proficiency (LEP) rose 25 percent; and the ESL population increased by 50 percent.
In 2015, the Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE) developed and approved a new strategic plan known as Vision 2020 Excellence with Equity, a vision that all JCPS students graduate prepared, empowered, and inspired to reach their full potential and contribute as thoughtful, responsible citizens in our diverse and shared world. The JCPS mission is to challenge and engage each learner to grow through effective teaching and meaningful experiences within caring and supportive environments. The Board is supportive of the concept of deeper learning where students participate in authentic learning opportunities, authentic learning experiences relevant to the world, and students are college and career ready.
JCPS’s three essential priority areas for growth are to improve the culture and climate, increase student learning and achievement, and build organizational coherence.
Dr. Pollio said it is not possible to achieve successful schools without a positive culture and climate. Based on the KDE survey results from parents, teachers, classified staff, and students, the top priority was culture and climate. Culture relates to the attitudes and beliefs of adults in the school and how it translates to learning for the students while climate is what occurs every school day. He said students deserve to have a positive, healthy, academic learning climate every 175 days of the school year.
The second area of focus is increasing student learning and achievement, which encompasses the type of activities that students are doing. Dr. Pollio said while improving achievement scores and increasing college- and career-readiness and standardized test scores are important, the ability to be successful in life and authentic learning experiences play a significant role.
Dr. Pollio said with 16,000 employees in numerous central office facilities and 172 distinct learning sites with 104,000 students, the importance of building organizational coherence is crucial. Building organizational coherence means schools will have their own culture but share the same focus areas and belief systems. He said significant strides have been made, and JCPS will continue to do that throughout the course of the year.
Dr. Pollio referred to the historical content of the student assignment plan, beginning in 1973 when desegregation lawsuits were filed. In 1975, city and county schools were merged into a single county-wide district, and the Court ordered the JCBE to implement a desegregation plan. In 1985, the Board was considered unitary and could modify a court-ordered plan without the courts approval. In 1991, JCPS adopted the plan of managed choice, a major component of the student assignment plan giving parents and families choices for school selection. From 1998-2000, a lawsuit filed on behalf of African American parents claimed the 50 percent limit on black enrollment at Central High School, a historically Black school before desegregation, violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court said a compelling governmental interest in maintaining diversity in public schools exists but race may not be used in the assignment of an individual student. JCBE adopted modifications to the student assignment plan to exclude racial enrollment guidelines at special and magnet schools. The plan was last adjusted in 2007, and Dr. Pollio said JCPS will work intently over the coming months to ensure all information is collected from the entire local community before making an adjustment to the plan.
In 2007, the Board approved a set of guiding principles to develop the student assignment plan to meet the guidelines provided by the Supreme Court. Since that time, JCPS has used a graphic plan to achieve diversity in the plan without race being a factor, with focus on family income, geographic areas, and educational attainment of census blocks. Elementary students have choices from a cluster of five to eight schools. Middle and high school students are assigned to the school serving their home address but also have an opportunity to apply to a multitude of schools. All students can apply for a variety of magnet choices.
Dr. Pollio said the three most critical areas of the student assignment plan are choice, diversity, and equity. Other guidelines include predictability, quality, and stability.
Dr. Pollio said a success of the assignment plan is families having options to fit the needs of their children, where 90 percent of kindergartners receive the first choice in their cluster. Challenges include balancing choice, diversity, and travel time. Other challenges include insuring all families have access to pertinent information to be able to make an educated choice in a timely manner. Balancing overcrowded and low enrollment schools can also be difficult.
Regarding diversity successes, a 2011 survey concluded 80 percent of high school students were in favor of keeping or strengthening desegregation efforts and more than 90 percent of parents believe that diverse schools have important educational benefits. He said most schools meet diversity guidelines and allow for more diversity than the neighborhood school plan. Challenges include elementary schools that do not fall within the guidelines, changes in demographic shift and cluster configurations, and allowing for racially and economically identifiable schools.
According to a 2017 Comprehensive School Survey, Dr. Pollio said 49 percent of families with kindergarten students do not choose their home school as their first choice, and the average ride for elementary students is 25 minutes. He said 45 percent of incoming 6th graders and 48 percent of incoming 9th graders choose a magnet schools and 90.8 percent of parents are satisfied with their children’s school.
Strategies for measures supporting schools include improving communication and participation through targeted outreach efforts, launching a predictability tool so families know the likelihood of receiving their school choice, eliminating barriers, improving equitable access by electronic records transfers, and providing differentiated supports for schools outside diversity guidelines or priority schools that are underperforming.
Strategies addressing challenges include increasing facility needs, recognizing population shifts leading to over- or under-used buildings, racially and economically identifiable schools and neighborhoods, lack of community consensus, family engagement, and a balance of diversity, choice, and efficiency.
Dr. Pollio said the newest high school in the JCPS system is Ballard High and was built in 1968, nearing 50 years old. Most of the high schools are well over 50 years and need significant facility improvement, including roofs and HVAC. JCPS has significant work to do on their facilities plans, which could range from building new schools to find ways to address infrastructure. The balance between diversity, choice, and efficiency is a difficult challenge for JCPS, and Dr. Pollio vowed to work with the community and the committee to ensure balance.
JCPS plans to review its current student assignment plan within the next 12 to 18 months to determine its effectiveness and the challenges to be addressed. Discussions will include changing demographics of the community, population shifts, and researching other large districts for improvement ideas. JCPS plans to gather input from students, families, and community stakeholders and will develop a timeline for recommendations.
Dr. Pollio said working together is important because modernizing facilities could impact student assignment plans. JCPS will address any legislative concerns but also wants local families and communities to be a major part of their student assignment development. There are issues with student assignment and hopes for the chance to address that locally.
Dr. Pollio said JCPS has recently launched a community involvement program to add parent and community members to district committees, to identify other community partners and input, to develop a carefully coordinated plan for listening to the community, and to provide regular reviews of progress to the KBE and the legislature. Community involvement is vital to ensure the needs are addressed.
Dr. Pollio said improving the culture and climate will create opportunities for students to learn in diverse settings with students from different backgrounds; increase student achievement by providing equitable opportunities to access varied programmatic options for all students regardless of where they live; build organizational coherence by maximizing efficient use of school facilities, transportation, and other capital and operational resources; and empower families to engage in a school choice system that is understandable, transparent, and easy to use to find the best fit for their child, including schools close to home, magnet schools, or particular programs.
In response to a question from Senator Wilson, Dr. Pollio said JCPS has asked the community members for feedback and a link is provided on the JCPS website that allows parents or community members to apply for the student assignment plan committee. Once the committee is established, community forums will be held and on-line submission access will be provided. Dr. Pollio said JCBE meetings are open to the public and time is provided for speakers at every meeting.
Senator Seum expressed concern about failing high schools in Jefferson County. Only 61 percent of white students and 31 percent of black students are proficient in math and reading in grade school. He expressed concern over neighborhood schools that do not have Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs). High school students are only as proficient as grade schools and middle schools teach them.
Regarding busing, Senator Seum reported Jefferson County has 961 school buses that travel over 19 million miles per year. With billions of dollars spent on forced busing since the 1970s on maintenance, gas, and drivers, Senator Seum suggested the money may be better spent in the classroom or on bonus programs for teachers. He expressed concern over the lack of PTAs in neighborhood schools and believes we are failing our children.
Representative Moore, a recruiting representative for the Air Force Academy and Air Force ROTC, also serves as chairman of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. It is alarming to find that 75 percent of high school graduates do not qualify to serve in the military, and Kentucky has an even higher percentage due to academic deficiencies. He expressed concern with Dr. Pollio’s emphasis on choice and diversity without any emphasis on quality, stability, predictability, or academic achievement. Many young people in a diverse school are being prioritized to have a choice but are not achieving full potential, and no focus is being placed on academic achievement. In response to a question from Representative Moore, Dr. Pollio said he agrees that quality should be paramount and should be first for every student in their district. The three goals addressed will lead to a healthy, positive, and academic climate and will produce high quality schools. He said he is not satisfied with the academic outcomes and the achievement gap occurring throughout the district, and he will continue to work regarding student assignment and obtaining academic achievement. Representative Moore said he does not feel these priorities are adequate for academic excellence so that students can achieve their full potential. He encouraged a rebalance of the priorities to ensure every student gets the quality and predictability of life choices and potential. While Dr. Pollio said he shares the concern of a quality education and students not being prepared, his charge today included a presentation related to the student assignment plan. In response to a question by Senator West regarding whether the plan prioritizes quality or whether it is only achieving diversity and choice, Dr. Pollio said those are two areas JCPS has focused on regarding the plan but not the only two areas.
Senator Raque Adams said she struggled with the neighborhood schools bill since creating a student assignment plan without understanding the facilities component and having inadequate structures for increased population would be a difficult task. Senator Raque Adams said her constituents view choice with excellence and quality. In response to a question by Senator Adams, Dr. Pollio said significant decisions regarding facility issues and infrastructure concerns are an immediate issue and Crosby Middle School has an overcrowding problem partly due to students outside the area choosing it in prior years. JCPS is faced daily with the balance between choice and capacity in schools. Dr. Pollio said it is important to ensure no schools are over capacity and every single student gets a quality education.
In response to a question from Representative Moffett, Dr. Pollio said $63 million of their annual budget is used to provide transportation to students which includes over 65,000 riders, over 900 buses, fuel, maintenance, and drivers. JCPS has a total budget of $1.5 billion.
In response to a question by Representative Moffett, Dr. Pollio said the school report cards are available online to parents by accessing the school’s website but is unsure if parents are aware that only one in three students who graduate are proficient or above in reading. He explained the 5-star career themes on the JCPS marketing website have nothing to do with rating but simply a career pathway selection initiative. The new accountability system will address the issue. Dr. Pollio acknowledged outcomes and achievement gaps need drastic improvement. Representative Moffett said it is hard to understand that a school with a 32 percent proficiency rate is no longer considered a priority school. Improvements to the rating system will be a more common sense approach than previous years.
Representative Nemes said school choice is important and agreed that high schools can be better served with proficient students coming from elementary and middle schools, but said families must be involved. He also said the justice system, housing patterns, and family services must be more aggressive, and our society is failing our children. He believes the overcrowding at Crosby was not due to parental choice but because JCBE chose to close Western Middle School to the local community and make it a magnet school only, with Western having 245 open seats last year and Crosby Middle School being overcrowded by more than 400 students. He recognizes the tremendous difficulties facing JCBE and said diversity is important but is not all encompassing.
In response to a question by Representative Nemes, Dr. Pollio said culture and climate are about great instruction, passion from educators, and a focus on student engagement to ensure all children have a sense of belonging. He believes pathways to success lead to a positive culture and climate, and the opportunity for quality programs will lead to success for students with educators having high passion and energy.
In response to comments by Senator Seum, Senator Thomas said as a former PTA president he understands the importance of parental involvement and how critical PTAs are to the success of schools. However, he has observed Fayette County PTAs are strong regardless of whether magnet or neighborhood school, but does not agree an interested parent lets proximity determine their involvement in the PTA.
In response to comments by Senator Raque Adams about facilities management, Senator Thomas expressed concern over the age of JCPS schools, saying Fayette County has six high schools, only one of which is over 50 years old.
In response to a question by Senator Thomas, Dr. Pollio said he is a strong believer that the student assignment plan be adjusted at the local level with input from the community. Regarding the school facilities management plan, he said JCPS must have a comprehensive plan for infrastructure, significant renovations, and building new schools in areas affected by increased growth, which will require significant funds. Senator Thomas said the Fayette County facilities management plan includes parental involvement, and Dr. Pollio said he will encourage JCPS to include parents.
Representative Marzian said today’s meeting focused on the student assignment plan and suggested another meeting may be required for outcomes and achievement. In response to her question, Dr. Pollio said kindergarten readiness is an important part of ensuring children are on an equal playing field. Although JCPS has seen an increase in the pre-K camp sponsored by the Jefferson County Education Foundation, the district continues to move forward to increase attendance.
In response to a question by Senator Higdon, Dr. Pollio said the traditional school nickel taxes have not been implemented in Jefferson County as other counties have done. He confirmed one-seventh of all Kentucky students attend Jefferson County Schools, where 17 of Kentucky’s 30 priority schools in the state are located.
In response to a question by Senator Higdon, Dr. Dossett explained that JCPS follows the McKinney Vento homeless definition, which is the same definition as used by KDE but differs from what the Federal government uses regarding HUD. By JCPS standards, homelessness means living in shelters, residing with someone else, or any kind of economic instability that results in unstable housing.
Representative Higdon said visiting schools in their home districts is a necessity for members of the committee. Dr. Pollio said he has been moved by the passion of educators in many of the schools he has visited during the short time he has served as Acting Superintendent, and he and the board members are intent on making sure that priority schools are reduced or eliminated in Jefferson County.
In response to Senator Thomas’s comment regarding the age of Jefferson County’s high schools, Representative Miller said it is shocking that Fayette County has only one high school over 50 years old and Louisville has not built a new high school in 50 years. He said the Blankenbaker area and eastward has increased 85 percent since 2000 without additional JCPS schools. However, new schools have been added in Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, and Bullitt and much of that is driven by predictability. He has observed people moving to adjoining counties because of the uncertainty of where their child will attend school and recommended JCBE consider building new schools.
Representative Miller said his constituents have expressed concern about the recent decision to kick instructors out of certain classrooms and suggested the board ask for an exception for the remainder of the school year to allow students to finish the year with stability. Dr. Pollio said JCPS has had numerous audits and reports indicating it is not in compliance with state laws, regulations, and board policies. Dr. Pollio emphasized JCPS must be in compliance but said if an exception from KDE or ESPB can be given, JCPS will ask for it just as it asked for an interpretation from EPSB before the action was taken.
Senator Kerr said she is appalled at the older schools in Louisville and it helps her understand why property is more expensive in Lexington than in Louisville. She said a better culture and climate can be helped when pride is taken in new facilities. She said with much of the SEEK money coming from Jefferson County and going to rural areas, she sees a need for Jefferson County to have better schools. Dr. Polio said 70 percent of JCPS funding comes from local property assessment so having a school tax tied to property taxes may be something JCPS, the board, and community members must decide. He said improvement does not always have to mean a brand new school but updating current facilities with significant renovations.
In response to a question from Senator/ Neal, Dr. Dossett said JCPS has done a previous study at the relationship between where a student resides and where they attend school as it relates to academic outcomes which showed that when Title 1 students, those eligible for FRPL, attend a non-Title 1 school, a more affluent school, the students tend to perform better than students who are eligible for FRPL and who attend more poverty- concentrated schools. However, she said there are always exceptions to the rule where schools may have a high number of FRPL students and perform well. There is a correlation in research between FRPL and outcomes, but JCPS does not make that a pre-determinant for a student’s academic outcome.
Dr. Pollio told the committee that JCPS has initiated the process of adjusting the student assignment plan and invited any of the members to be a part of the planning process. He said he will continue to update the committee moving forward.
Other Business
Senator Wilson announced the next IJCE will be on Monday, October 9th, at the Toyota Plant in Georgetown. A plant tour will be offered at 11:30 and the meeting will begin at 1:30.
Adjournment
On a motion by Senator West and a second from Senator Kerr, the meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m.