Fayette County Board of Education
July 25, 2022
As part of our commitment to providing timely, clear, and accurate information to students, staff, families, and community members, we are pleased to provide a recap of our monthly school board meetings.
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WELCOME and SPECIAL REMEMBRANCES
Board Chairman Tyler Murphy welcomed members of the public attending the meeting at the John D. Price Administration Building, located at 450 Park Place, as well as those watching the board meeting online.
Board Vice Chair Amy Green invited the audience to observe a moment of silence and asked everyone in our community to pause to acknowledge the tragic death of Bill Brown, who was an assistant basketball coach at Bryan Station High School. Our hearts remain with his families, the Bryan Station High School community, and all those touched by his passing.
The board also paused to remember Dr. Ronald Walton, who served as superintendent of the Fayette County Public Schools from 1984 to 1994 and passed away on July 6. Dr. Walton recognized the importance of arts and music education in providing a full experience for students and was a very strong advocate for building arts programs in FCPS and the broader community. During his tenure, he formed the Taskforce for Excellence, which brought educators and community members together to study model arts education programs. Their work led to the creation of the School for the Creative and Performing Arts in the fall of 1987 and the development of a strong infrastructure for district visual and performing arts offerings K through 12. He was a man of great integrity who served FCPS honorably during a time of growth and change.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Under the Superintendent's Report, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins noted that this is a very exciting and busy time for our school district. Today was the first day of school for students at The Success Academy, and was also the first day of our Summer Ignite transition program for students entering kindergarten, sixth, or ninth grade this fall. It is a great way for them to feel prepared and excited for the upcoming year in a new school.
Monday, August 1, will be the first day of school for students at The Promise Academy at Harrison Elementary, Rise STEM Academy for Girls, and The Promise Academy at William Wells Brown Elementary, Liggins noted. The first day of school for the majority of students in the district will be Wednesday, August 10.
Liggins said the district continues to hire staff in the areas of food service and transportation, as well as custodians, special education paraeducators, and substitute teachers. However, he said staffing levels are better than this time last year. The district’s partnerships with colleges and universities in the Commonwealth allow us to be in a much better situation than many districts around the state and country when it comes to hiring teachers, he said, noting FCPS continues to recruit and hire for high-needs areas such as secondary math and science as well as special education.
The district's operations team is working busily to prepare buildings for the first day and minimize any start of school hiccups, Liggins said. The new Tates Creek High School building will open on time, and a ribbon cutting for the facility will be at 3 p.m. on August 4.
The board also heard from Assistant Superintendent for Academic Services Meocha Williams about the Teacher Leadership Institute, which drew roughly 330 educators from schools throughout the district last week at Bryan Station High School.
Every school in FCPS sent teams to this two-day learning opportunity, which was designed to create a common understanding and shared focus on curriculum, data, continuous improvement, professional learning, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
The event kicked off a multi-year effort to build leadership capacity in teams of teachers and administrators at each school and establish a districtwide network of peers they can learn from and lean on as they affect change in their respective buildings.
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CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS
Chief Operating Officer Myron Thompson shared the July construction highlights. He noted that the Tates Creek High School construction project is moving forward and 94% of the work is complete. The new school building will open on time, and a ribbon cutting for the facility will be at 3 p.m. on August 4.
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MEAL PRICES
Board members heard a proposal to raise student breakfast prices by 65-cents and student lunch prices by 25-cents for the upcoming school year. The proposed increase – the district's first since the 2016-17 school year – would not impact anyone at the 49 FCPS schools where all students receive free meals.
Under a federal program known as the Community Eligibility Provision or CEP, students at the majority of schools in the district eat for free, regardless of family income. To qualify for this program, schools must have a certain percentage of families who qualify for federal assistance. At the 18 schools not in the CEP program, students can still qualify for free meals based on family income.
The price increase is needed to stay in compliance with federal requirements. If approved the new prices would be:
- $2 for breakfast at all grades
- $2.75 for lunch at elementary schools
- $3 for lunch at middle and high schools
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PUBLIC COMMENT
During the portion of the meeting for remarks by citizens, the following individual shared comments with the Board related to masking requirements:
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BOARD ACTION
The board voted to:
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Adopt the instructional calendar for the 2023-24 school year, which sets the first day of school for students as August 16, 2023, and the last day of school as May 29, 2024, pending any weather make-up days.
- Authorize contracts with:
- The Collaborative Center for Literacy Development to provide professional learning on literacy instruction for staff members from Frederick Douglass High School, Crawford Middle School and Lexington Traditional Magnet School. This contract is required as part of participation in the Kentucky Comprehensive Literacy Project and is funded as part of that grant.
- Illuminate Education for a tool called FASTBridge, which helps schools monitor the progress of students who score below the 25th percentile on MAP. FCPS has used this platform for more than five years and schools are pleased with the way the program identifies specific skills that our students need more help to master.
- Riverside Insights, to purchase the CogAT/Iowa online assessment that FCPS uses to help identify students for gifted and talented services. This is just one of the tools used in the identification process, however, it is important because it creates a more equitable way to identify third graders for referral into the GT program.
- Northwest Evaluation Association, which is the company that provides the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing. FCPS students in grades kindergarten through eight take the MAP test three times a year and it helps schools predict and screen student strengths and growth areas.
- Pearson Assessment to help the district develop and deploy common unit assessments. This initiative supports the district's goal of providing consistent content for students and will help align what students are learning in the classroom with the support provided for teachers at the district level
- Approve the annual assurances required by the Kentucky Department of Education.
- Extend the service agreement with the BeWell In School program to provide students and staff with evidence-based practices to promote social and emotional wellness through mindfulness and movement at Rise Stem Academy for Girls, and Ashland, Mary Todd, Northern, and Rosa Parks elementary schools. The agreement includes training, support services, curriculum, and materials for this ESSER-funded pilot project.
- Accept the list of the FCPS staff members, by job title, who are eligible to chair Admission and Release Committees after they receive appropriate specific training from our Department of Special Education.
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The official minutes from July 25, 2022 action meeting will be posted within the agenda of the next meeting of the Fayette County Board of Education. |
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