Before Kelly Craft keeps yelling about ‘woke’ schools, she should try visiting some. | Opinion
This column is part of an occasional series about the gubernatorial race and issues in Kentucky. Previous columns can be found here and here.
Kelly Craft, the least serious gubernatorial candidate since Matt Bevin played pattycake with the press a few months back, has quadrupled down on her claims that Kentucky’s schools are “woke” parasites preying on our children.
She’s traveling across the state talking to empty chairs and big money Republicans, along with putting out ads about southern borders and purple-haired parachutists. (Even dumb ads cost money, which is why she’s had to lend her campaign $7 million to pay for them.)
The erstwhile diplomat, however, does not appear to have visited our public schools or talked to any of our hard-working educators. If she had, neither she nor some of her competitors would make such silly, shameful claims about one of this state’s best attributes.
For example, in Greenup County, educators are turning away from just test scores to a more comprehensive approach to student success.
“We think every kid has a future and that future should be based on their strengths,” said Superintendent Traycea Moresea. “If that’s academics like English, history or STEM then we will prepare them for that. If their passion is putting things together, they could be an engineer or go into construction — we are trying to expose them as early as possible so we can give them the tools they need to move on and be successful.”
No, this approach to education not as sexy as picking on transgender kids or denying racism. But it does have the added novelty of being real.
Students to citizens
Greenup High Principal Anthony Thompson has been in education in the tri-state area for a long time, and has watched several different trends that afflicted numerous rural communities in Kentucky— the disappearance of traditional jobs in steelworking and railroads, alongside a push to get all kids to college whether they wanted to be there or not. Not coincidentally, students whose families lost their livelihoods have gotten poorer while the cost of college has skyrocketed.
He and his staff were tired of the public having only one measure: test scores, which are largely tied to economic background. “We would like to be held accountable for how much progress we make,” he said. “When you only look at state test and ACT scores, you’re saying there’s a portion of your kids who don’t matter as much.
“We want to operate from common sense.”
So he and Moresea and others started a series of meetings with the Greenup community to find out what they wanted to see. Turned out they had other values, too, like communication and workforce skills, a sense of community and giving back, or a sense of personal responsibility and integrity. They want people who show up to work, whether it’s at robotics or nursing, and then become citizens.
Every student has to now adopt the Great 8, a plan that outlines their plans after high school, along with demonstrating things like life skills and community service.
The idea that not everyone wants to go to a four-year college right out of high school has also also given career and technical education, which has been neglected in both funding and attention, a new prominence at the high school and the adjoining area technical center, whose principal is Thompson’s wife, Stacey Thompson.
“This program allows our students to choose the path that suits them best, and then keeps them on it,” explained Kameron Greenslate, one of three guidance counselors.
Ask anyone at GCHS about issues of “wokeness,” whether it’s critical race theory or transgenderism, and you’re liable to get a blank stare.
“Those have not been our issues,” said Thompson flatly.
‘Practical and real’
Take a peek at agriculture teacher Carrie Davis’ classroom, total chaos of the very best kind. Davis is kind of harried because the morning was spent trying to harness a bee swarm from the hives outside the school, while inside, a small group of students is getting a class in flower arranging. Senior Brooklyn Scarberry gives Miss Annie, a long-haired chihuahua, her summer clip, as three guinea pigs add a chorus of squeaks behind her.
Dog grooming is one of the skills taught here, and then offered as a low-cost service to the community. Scarberry also works as a dog groomer outside of school as she prepares to go to Morehead State University to study veterinary science.
Davis loves the new emphasis on the Great 8, a more holistic approach to education. “This is practical and real,” she said. “We have to look at the whole person. Test scores are important, but there’s so much more to these kids.”
There’s so much more to what’s going on in Greenup, too, and not enough room in this column to properly explain all the cool ways they are integrating work skills into education. In Jerry Guinn’s small motor class, students can start their Mercury Marine certification, which will continue with the company after graduation and almost certainly guarantee a job.
Sharon Pence and Brandy Hunt are teaching students who might want to go to nursing school to get certified in fields like phlebotomy and EKG, so they can work and pay for more school.
Ag teacher Gary Blevins designed a turkey call out of wood and slate, which students are trying to place in sporting goods stores, but they’ve already sold about $1,000 worth of them so far. That money is then used to buy more wood and slate.
Electronics teacher Clay Couch got certified to teach the first year of an intensive four-year apprentice program of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. When they graduate, they can join the IBEW 575 in Portsmouth for the rest of apprenticeship to turn them into journeymen electricians sent all over the tri-state area. Thanks to recent legislation, KEES money can now be used to buy equipment students might need.
“I never wanted to go to college, so this saved me,” said senior Wyatt Perkins, who is in the IBEW program. “I like hands-on approach, so I’d rather go and work.”
And he will, given the current demand for electricians and welders and automotive repair. And doctors and nurses and teachers and engineers.
“The paradigm has to shift to what benefits our county and our kids,” Anthony Thompson said.
So if anyone (especially gubernatorial candidates) out there is listening, here’s what schools need: They need more guidance counselors, more equipment, more space, more teachers, better pay. The teacher shortage was supposed to be addressed in this past legislative session, but most education discussion turned into frenzied discussions about transgender kids led by people like Sen. Max Wise, Craft’s running mate.
Or go and visit. They’d love to show you all the things they’re working on.
Our schools need our support. What they don’t need is to be considered Public Enemy No. 1 by people like Kelly Craft and some other candidates who may not have a keen appreciation of what education requires these days.
“We want our kids to be part of the solution,” Superintendent Moresea said. “We’re staying focused on what they need.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 8:44 AM.
