http://www.kentucky.com/142/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Education 60 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:15:54 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/456154.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/456154.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:13 EDT
Come August, 11-year-old Brianna Mayo will be entering the sixth grade at Winburn Middle School, but she's already got her first college scholarship offer. Brianna won an academic scholarship to Eastern Kentucky University this spring that could wind up paying her full tuition.

She's not the only elementary school student from Fayette County who has pulled down college offers. Thirty-six students won scholarships this last school year by participating in Fayette County's school-sponsored academic competition that culminated in the district's Superintendent's Cup this spring.

Debate is brewing about whether to offer college scholarships to middle school athletes, but there's no debate on the wisdom of offering high-achieving Fayette elementary school students college scholarships: It's a main goal of the One Community One Voice program, a Lexington-born initiative which works to narrow the achievement gap in the Fayette County public schools.

Says Christie Nicewarmer, whose 11-year-old daughter Rebecca will be on her way to Edythe J. Hayes Middle in August: .I've told her, just because you got one to EKU doesn't mean that's the only one you'll ever get, the only one you'll consider.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/455966.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/455966.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:38 EDT
Commuters traveling to the University of Kentucky may be able to leave their car keys behind this summer. UK is offering employees bus passes in exchange for their parking permits and has started an online carpooling system that is open to the public.

Officials hope the programs will reduce the number of cars parking on the space-squeezed campus while helping those struggling with high gas prices.

More than 24,000 parking permits were purchased last school year, but there are only 19,416 parking spots on campus.

During July and August, UK employees with an E permit can swap their parking permit for a LexTran Metro-Lex 30 day bus pass. E permits are for full time UK employees. A total of 11,762 E permits were sold as of March. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/455789.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/455789.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:43 EDT
Christopher J. Crumrine of Lexington, a University of Kentucky graduate student, has been named the student member of the state Council on Postsecondary Education.

Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Crumrine on Tuesday for a term that expires June 30, 2009.

Crumrine has a bachelor's degree in mass communications from UK, where is he working toward a master of public administration degree.

He is a former chief of staff of UK's Student Government Association and is strategic programs assistant for Phi Gamma Delta International Fraternity. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/454933.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/454933.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:19 EDT
FRANKFORT . Tuition at Kentucky's public universities and community colleges has shot up an average of 12 percent a year over the last five years, which is about four times the rate of inflation and the growth of the state's median family income.

That may be putting the cost of a college education out of reach for ordinary Kentuckians, worried state legislators and postsecondary education officials said Monday.

.Something's got to happen,. said Richard A. Crofts, the interim president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education.

.It can't continue, and we're going to have to develop a plan,. he said ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/451850.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/451850.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:38 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear appointed 10 Democrats and a Republican on Thursday to seats on the governing boards of Kentucky's public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

All of the appointments are for six-year terms.

Beshear's lone Republican appointee was Cheryl U. Lewis, a Hyden lawyer, who was named to the Morehead State University Board of Regents.

At the University of Kentucky, C. Frank Shoop, a Lexington auto dealer, was reappointed; and Edward Britt Brockman, a Louisville doctor, was named to a new term. He replaces Billy Wilcoxson, a Lexington businessman and a Democrat, who was a trustee since 1987. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/451821.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/451821.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:13 EDT
A mother who says her daughter was bullied for two years has sued five Fayette school board employees because she said they failed to prevent the alleged harassment.

A lawsuit filed by Denise Jones says her daughter was bullied by fellow students at Southern Middle School from August 2006 to May 2008. Her lawyer, J. Dale Golden of Lexington, said the bullying caused the girl so much mental anguish that she had to check into a hospital for a few days.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Fayette Circuit Court, only identifies the student as Jane Doe.

The defendants named in the suit are Superintendent Stu Silberman, Principal Kelli Miller and three other employees. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/448329.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/448329.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:28 EDT
It has been almost a year since two former Beaumont Junior High School teachers were dramatically arrested during the first day of trial in Carol Lynne Maner's high-profile sex abuse lawsuit in Lexington.

But little progress has been made in either teacher's criminal case.

As Maner took the witness stand the afternoon of July 11 in Fayette Circuit Court, news broke that former art teacher Roberta Walter, 62, (formerly Roberta Blackwell) and former science teacher Jack Russell Hubbard, 61, had been arrested in Nashville and Johnstown, Pa., respectively.

Both were accused in Maner's lawsuit against the Fayette School Board, which resulted in a $3.7 million civil judgement. Yet neither criminal case has been presented to a grand jury. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/447591.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/447591.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:12 EDT
A conservative political group has singled out six University of Kentucky professors in fliers because their teaching, research and outside activities deal with subjects such as same-sex couples, abortion and queer theory.

The Family Foundation of Kentucky issued the fliers, which question the need to spend state funds supporting the six individuals, to state lawmakers who were in Frankfort last week for a special session on pension reform.

Kent Ostrander, the foundation's executive director, said photos, short bios and salaries that appear on the fliers were taken from UK's Web site and should not be construed as ammunition for .personal attacks..

.That's not our intent one iota,. he said. .We did not go after anybody. We're not trying to stigmatize those folks.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/446296.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/446296.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:31 EDT
WASHINGTON . It's not much of a report card.

Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, an Associated Press poll released Friday finds.

.A lot of kids, when they get out of school, are kind of lost,. said Jamie Norton, a firefighter in Gridley, Calif. .When you get out of high school, what are you educated to do?.

The views of the general population echo concerns from business and college leaders, who say they have to spend a lot of time and money on remedial education for people who completed high school but don't have the skills to succeed at work or in higher education. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/445231.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/445231.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:18 EDT
Kentucky's immigrant teenagers are five times more likely to drop out of high school than their American-born counterparts, according to a new study by Kentucky Youth Advocates.

The biggest reason for their failure is a limited ability to speak English, said Janessa Bryan, the report's author and a policy analyst for Kentucky Youth Advocates.

The report found that 41 percent of immigrants ages 16 to 19 either speak English .not well. or .not at all.. But 70 percent of immigrants who were not enrolled in school had limited English skills.

Kentucky has one of the highest dropout rates in the nation. Most of the dropouts are white and U.S.-born. One in 10 is an immigrant. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/444645.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/444645.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:38 EDT
Generating support for strong pre-kindergarten programs was the focus of two events in Central Kentucky Thursday.

At the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence announced it has joined with a national group to recruit older adults as advocates for pre-kindergarten programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds. Jane Beshear, wife of Gov. Steve Beshear, and all of Kentucky's living former first ladies took part.

Later, in a ceremony at Lafayette High School, 31 children were awarded certificates for completing a pre-kindergarten program that stresses high standards, strong performance and parental involvement. Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman made the presentations at the event, which was sponsored by Directors for Quality in Child Care, an organization made up of 14 area child care centers.

.We teach them Spanish, sign language, they get their sounds down, we have them reading ready, they learn proper social skills, so they're prepared for entering the Fayette County schools,. said Angela Shaw, owner of Shaw's Child Care in Lexington. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/440579.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/440579.html Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
The University of Kentucky associate professor was killed when the single-engine Piper Cub airplane he was riding in crashed mid-day Friday near Placid Lakes Airport in central Florida. The pilot, citrus grove owner Mason Smoak, also died. Maehr was the only passenger.

Maehr, 52, was an associate professor of wildlife and conservation biology in the Department of Forestry. He is known for his work reintroducing elk to Eastern Kentucky and his research on the black bear population in Appalachia. He also spent time protecting Florida's endangered panther population while previously working for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.

"He was very passionate about protecting Florida's large carnivores, the panther and the black bear," said colleague Tom Hoctor, a research associate at the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center. "It's devastating for us. ... It's hard to find folks who have the intelligence and passion to become the expert in his field and make the difference he was making."

Smoak and Maehr were conducting aerial surveys of Highlands County black bears as part of a multi-year project when they crashed, according to the Archbold Biological Station in Lake Placid, where Maehr was a visiting scientist while on sabbatical from the university.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/440014.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/440014.html Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
High fuel and food prices have driven many Kentucky school districts to raise the cost of meals to allow food service programs to run in the black.

On Monday, the Fayette County school board will decide whether to raise meal prices by 15 cents for breakfast and 25 cents for lunch.

Breakfast would cost $1.35 and lunch would be $2 for elementary school students. Middle and high school lunch prices would increase from $1.85 to $2.10.

However, there would be no changes to the cost of reduced-price meals, which are 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch, Superintendent Stu Silberman said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/423962.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/423962.html Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:58 EDT
Kentucky's high school graduation rate ranks 29th nationally and is slightly ahead of the national average of 70.6 percent, according to Education Week, a national news publication for K-12, and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. The report uses data from the class of 2005, the most recent year available.

Kentucky's five-year trend also is encouraging. The 2005 rate is up 6.2 percentage points from the state's 2001 graduation rate: 65.3 percent.

The report's projection nationwide is that 1.23 million, or almost 30 percent of the class of 2008, will fail to get a diploma this spring with their classmates. The class started with about 4.18 million, and four years later, about 2.95 are graduating.

Christopher B. Swanson, director of the EPE Research Center, said in a news release that “many states face severe challenges” with their graduation rates.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/379043.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/379043.html Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:37 EDT
UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy and Angie Martin, vice president for budget, policy and planning, will attend the forum at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Worsham Theater, which is in the Student Center.

Under a proposal that UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. announced last week, in-state undergraduates at UK would pay 9 percent more for tuition and mandatory fees this fall.

Out-of-state undergraduates would pay 6.6 percent more in tuition and mandatory fees.

Todd also announced last week that faculty and staff would not get raises for the 2008-09 academic year.

Todd said the budget measures are necessary because of a 3 percent cut that Gov. Steve Beshear ordered for higher education in January and a relatively bare-bones 2008-10 state budget that the General Assembly has approved.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/341572.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/341572.html Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:43 EDT
This is the 25th year for the competition, which was founded in 1983 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, CNA Insurance Company, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The top four students were awarded a full-tuition, four-year college scholarship to either the University of Kentucky or the University of Louisville. They each also won an expense-paid trip to the national contest in Denver.



Winners are:

1st place: Evan Miller of Owensboro Middle School coached by Paula Roberts]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/338937.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/338937.html Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:01 EST The Kentucky Fairness Alliance yesterday presented Gov. Ernie Fletcher's office with nearly 400 letters from Kentuckians, calling on him to veto sections of the budget that would provide the school with $10 million in public funds for a pharmacy school building and $1 million for a scholarship fund.The university last week dismissed Jason Johnson, 20, a sophomore theater arts major from Lexington, after he declared on a Web site that he was gay. The action prompted the ire of the fairness alliance, a group that promotes gay rights.
Fletcher's chief spokesman left open the possibility of the governor using his line-item veto power to drop that money for the university, but noted that the governor was reluctant to get into the middle of an issue involving a private college.
Christina Gilgor, the fairness alliance's executive director, said that, if Fletcher does not take out the public dollars for the school, he should press for administrative regulations requiring equal opportunity practices at all institutions receiving state funds.
The school should receive no state funding, even money for scholarships or tuition, she said in a news conference at the Capitol.
"The Commonwealth of Kentucky has no business financially rewarding discrimination," Gilgor said. "Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied Kentuckians pay taxes to this state. We're appalled that our dollars will subsidize prejudice against us."
Legal action might be necessary "if the discrimination continues," Gilgor said.
Fletcher, in a statement, said: "My administration does not condone discrimination of any kind. I was elected to defend the constitution as well as move Kentucky forward for every resident of the commonwealth. I will stand behind my oath to continue to do so."
His communications director, Brett Hall, later said: "We're not going to insinuate ourselves into a situation that is between the school and the student and his family."
He added that the school also could have problems with the organization that accredits new and existing pharmacy schools. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education's guildelines prohibit discrimination on the basis of lifestyle or sexual orientation.
"We would prefer to let them take care of themselves," Hall said of the university.
Overall, Fletcher has not decided whether he will use his line-item veto power on any portion of the $18.1 billion, two-year spending plan.
Fletcher has the power to line-item veto parts of the budget without any legislative oversight to override vetoes because the House and Senate did not give final passage on a budget until Monday.
He has 10 days to consider approved bills.
Lawmakers ended the 2006 General Assembly yesterday because the state Constitution forbids them to meet more than 60 days in a regular session.
Two House Democratic leaders, Reps. Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook and Larry Clark of Louisville, said yesterday that a veto is "the governor's prerogative" and wouldn't comment further on the University of the Cumberlands situation.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Jason Johnson and the university said negotiations continued in a dispute over the student's transcript.
When Johnson was dismissed, the university gave him a failing grade of "F" in all courses he took this semester, which is about three weeks from conclusion.
Johnson's attorney, Don Waggener of Lexington, contends that Johnson's transcript should accurately reflect what he was making in the courses.
Waggener said the grades were consistent with Johnson's record as a dean's list student.
Johnson issued a statement through the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that said in part: "What is most essential to me right now is ensuring that my academic record is safe and secure."
The transcript is important in Johnson's plans to transfer. He has said he will enroll at either the University of Kentucky or Eastern Kentucky University.
The University of the Cumberlands' attorney, Jamie Jordan of Nashville, said "we're still hopeful we'll be able to reach an agreement."
Both Waggener and Jordan said they could not discuss specifics.
As for the veto debate, Martin Cothran, senior policy analyst for The Family Foundation, said his group is not overly excited about the state's spending on so many new buildings, but that Fletcher should not remove the funding for the University of the Cumberlands.
The Williamsburg school has a policy that specifically restricts students from the practice or promotion of homosexuality, Cothran said.
"If students don't want to abide by the college's standards, then they are free to attend another college," he said. "In fact, we wonder why a gay student would want to attend a conservative Baptist college in the first place. It is no big secret what the views of conservative Baptists are about homosexuality.
"This couldn't possibly have come as a surprise for the student involved. He knew what the college's view was when he was admitted."
Cothran said the U.S. military has "a similar behavior code."
"Under the military's 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy, gays are barred from the same thing. How can we then say we're going to cut off funding for any group that has a behavior code that bars homosexuality? Are we going to cut off funds for the military?"
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, successfully pushed for the $11 million in coal-severance tax proceeds for the University of the Cumberlands.
Asked about the state budget funding for the school, Williams said no one will be compelled to go to the pharmacy school and that he thinks it will meet all accreditation standards.
He noted that state money currently is going to the osteopathic medical college in Pikeville for scholarships.
"State money goes to all private institutions in this state through the Kentucky tuition grant program and KEES scholarship program," he said, adding the new budget "is full of funding for non-profit organizations that do public good."
Staff writer Art Jester contributed to this article.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/337107.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/337107.html Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:00 EST
Thirty Fayette County Public School students qualified as finalists in the National Merit and National Achievement scholarship competitions. The winners will be announced in April. The National Merit Scholarship Program, the larger and older competition, was initiated in 1955.

The finalists include:

From Henry Clay High School: Saskia Boggs, Brian Burdine, Elizabeth Riley, Drew Sugarman, Allan Vestal and Katherine Yewell.

From Lafayette High School: Daniel Bacon-Brown, Michael Brown, Daniel Jackson and Laura Menard. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/458768.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/458768.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:57 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Jo Hern Curris to serve as a member of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees.

Curris is director of spouse programs for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. She received a bachelor's in political science and economics degree and a law degree from UK.

She is the wife of Constantine Curris, a former president of Murray State University, University of Northern Iowa and Clemson University. He is now president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington.

The UK Board of Trustees is comprised of 20 members, with 16 appointed by the governor, two faculty representatives, one non-teaching personnel representative and one student body representative. Jo Hern Curris replaces Myra Leigh Tobin, an alumni trustee since 2002. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/456629.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/456629.html Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:07 EDT
At his request, University of Louisville President Jim Ramsey will get the same lump-sum $700 raise that all U of L employees get in 2008-2009.

On top of that, Ramsey has rejected a bonus that probably would have added at least $125,000 to his pay.

With the $700 annual raise, Ramsey's total salary for 2008-2009 will be $456,131, of which roughly 75 percent is from the general fund and 25 percent is from the U of L Foundation.

U of L trustees were effusive with their praise of Ramsey, after they met Wednesday at Lexington's Marriott at Griffin Gate in the first day of a two-day annual retreat. ]]>