This piece was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here. Amid a low local infection rate and starting with small clusters of students, Alcoa Middle School last week became one of the nation’s first schools to reopen its campus to students during the pandemic. Within two days, a teacher with…
Month: July 2020

KentuckyWired may not spell the end of students’ connection woes
KentuckyWired was once considered an answered prayer for families across the Bluegrass, where broadband Internet access is among the worst in the nation. No one told us that prayer would turn out to be a Hail Mary. More than a third of Kentucky students lack adequate Internet access, a major reason why the KentuckyWired project was launched in 2015. The…

KY teacher coalition launches Brave New Teaching KY
Amid the uncertainty of school reopenings during a global pandemic, teacher voices are rising in Kentucky. Brave New Teaching KY, an open, collaborative coalition of Kentucky educators who want to learn and grow, makes its official launch this week. COVID-19 has presented education leaders with a bold opportunity to rethink teaching and learning. If you’re a Kentucky teacher looking to…

Kentucky has selected, but will not yet name, its new education commissioner
If you stayed up late following all of the media updates and Twitter threads last night, you already know the gist of the story. The Kentucky Board of Education met yesterday to interview the three finalists for Kentucky’s education commissioner position, and yes, a decision was reached. But after hours of discussion in closed session, the KBE revealed late last…
KST Podcast: Why Kentucky teachers are leaving (feat. Brison Harvey)
According to a recent study, nearly 30,000 Kentucky teachers have left the classroom in the last decade. My friend, former Hope Street Group Kentucky alum Brison Harvey, was one of them. In this episode, I sit down with Brison to talk teacher retention and figure out what it would take to fix the problem. (Spoiler: We have some ideas.) …