A bill that would require Kentucky school boards to offer 15 minutes of public comment at meetings passed the House last week.

The bill, HB 121, filed by House Education Committee Chairwoman Rep. Regina Huff, R-Williamsburg, passed by a vote of 66-24 and will now go to the Senate.

Under current law, school boards are not required to accept public comments, however most boards do.

Huff said the measure is needed because she has heard from constituents who say they have not been allowed to speak at meetings.

“Since filing the bill, I’ve heard from several individuals of various districts that reached out to share the experience of being denied the opportunity to speak,” Huff said while explaining the bill on the House floor.

Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, a former Jefferson County school board member, attempted to add an amendment that would allow the comment period to be suspended for safety reasons. Earlier this year, Jefferson County Schools suspended public comment at board meetings after concerns of violence at the meetings.

“Over the past year there has been a tremendous amount of disruptiveness in school board meetings, not just in Kentucky, not just in Jefferson County, but really across the country,” Willner said. “It’s been widely reported that school board members have had death threats leveled against them, and that there have been times when school board meetings have gotten really out of control.”

Huff noted that school resource officers could be at the meetings to maintain control.

“Think the opportunity to speak without being locked out will go a long way in making it a more peaceful situation,” she said. “I also offer that a lot of the outrage is the result of being denied the opportunity to voice concerns.”

The bill specifies that if no one asks to speak before the start of the comment period, board members don’t have to sit waiting for 15 minutes.

Schools districts that have not placed school resource officers at each school campus would have to explain why under a bill making its way through the legislature.

House Bill 63, filed by Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, initially required districts to have the officers in place by Aug. 1. But Bratcher acknowledged as he presented the bill to the House Education Committee Tuesday that many districts have not been able to hire the officers.

“We know there are not enough officers to fulfil this role,” Bratcher said.

Bratcher changed the bill to require districts to work with the Kentucky Center for School Safety to develop a plan for when the officers for each campus could be in place.

Under Senate Bill 1, (2019) the School Safety and Resiliency Act, districts were required to have an SRO for every school campus as funding and personnel became available. Funding was never allocated for the officers. Bratcher said Tuesday that requiring districts to explain why they can’t fund the positions may spur the legislature to provide the money.

"It will be a great report to get us to the next step of funding the School Safety and Resiliency Act," he said.

In the 2020-21 school year, 43 percent of Kentucky schools had a school resource officer, according to a report from the Kentucky School Security Marshall’s Office. 

KSBA’s 2022 Annual Conference (Feb. 25-27 in Louisville) is just two weeks away. Visit the conference page of KSBA’s website to begin online registration, review a complete conference schedule and to access limited-time conference hotel rates. Districts also have the option of viewing/printing a hard-copy schedule and registration form.

Special conference-rate hotel accommodations are still available at the SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites in downtown Louisville. The $125 per night conference rate expires Feb. 16, so book your room as soon as possible! A link for the special conference rate is available on KSBA's website.

KSBA will once again display beautiful banner artwork depicting the conference theme, “Connect the Dots.” We invite districts to submit student-designed banners for display in conference materials and in the banner gallery area. KSBA will once again collect banner art electronically. View banner instructions and specifications. The banner artwork deadline has been extended until Feb. 14.

Project iGuardian is presented by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Project iGuardian is an HSI initiative “designed to inform youths, parents, and educators about the risks that children face in the online environment” that also “aims to arm parents with knowledge and resources to help protect their children.” HSI, which is the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, partnered with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to create much of the presentation. This session, presented by Homeland Security special agent Theodore R “Derek” Curtis III, will also give example scenarios based on local investigations to help parents, teachers, and other law enforcement better understand how children can become victimized online and what to do if this occurs. Some of the risks discussed in this presentation are online predators and social media, revealing too much, cyberbullying and the dangers of social media apps.

The Kentucky Board of Education is meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, at the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville. The agenda includes an update on the tornado relief efforts for the districts impacted by December’s tornadoes, a discussion on a profile of a graduate, an update on changes to the facility review process and more.

See the full KBE agenda and watch the meeting live.

Last week, our colleagues at the Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASA) released a petition in opposition of the education opportunity account bills that have been filed, as well as any effort to divert public funds to private schools. KSBA opposes these bills – and all new/expanded tax credits/deductions/exemption – that move public school funds to anything outside of public schools. KSBA is grateful to KASA for this effort. Review and/or sign the petition.

Barbourville Ind. Schools board member Jason Reeves – a former KSBA board member – has been appointed to the School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Council (SCAAC). Reeves joins Bullitt Co. board member Debby Atherton and Franklin Co. board member Chuck Fletcher.

​The governor appoints members to SCAAC, created in 2021 to study, audit, review and make recommendations concerning Kentucky’s system of academic standards, assessing learning, identifying academic competencies and deficiencies of students, holding schools accountable for learning, and assisting schools to improve their performance. SCAAC is comprised of 16 voting members representing school boards, administrators, teachers and other education stakeholders. The council’s next meeting is March 15.

KSBA's Superintendent Search Service is currently facilitating searches in the following districts:

Click here for a complete listing of the active searches with which KSBA is involved, including job postings, descriptions and access to online applications.

KSBA's experienced Superintendent Search consultants have worked with local school boards across Kentucky to facilitate more than 300 successful searches.

KSBA will conduct its annual business meeting at the upcoming 2022 Annual Conference, Feb. 25-27 in Louisville. Association President Davonna Page will preside over the meeting at 1 p.m. (ET) during Friday’s Opening Session. During the business meeting, members in attendance will participate in ratification of four directors-at-large to serve on the KSBA Board of Directors, each eligible to serve a three-year term. A selection committee appointed by KSBA's president (and chaired by Immediate Past President Ronnie Holmes) has put forward the following names for ratification:

The Kentucky Organization of Superintendents’ Administrative Assistants (KOSAA) 16th Annual Conference is Friday, Feb. 25 at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, coinciding with KSBA’s Annual Conference. Visit the KOSAA webpage to view additional details or to begin easy online registration. This year's theme is "Lights, Camera, Action!" Attendees will learn about KSBA services, network with fellow KOSAA members, receive a tutorial on the new eMeeting portal and learn valuable tips for meeting agendas and minutes.

The 2022 Spring Meeting of the Kentucky Council of School Board Attorneys (CSBA) will also meet during the KSBA Annual Conference. CSBA will gather from noon until 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25 and from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26. This year’s meeting will take place at the Louisville Marriott Downtown. Visit the CSBA webpage to view additional details or to begin easy online registration. This year's training topics include:

The length of a superintendent's tenure can positively impact student achievement and increase progress toward a district's goals, but Kentucky superintendents are leaving their districts more frequently. Bellevue Independent Superintendent Robb Smith writes about how boards can retain good superintendents and how good superintendents can help their peers succeed in the February issue of the Kentucky School Advocate.

Also in the February Advocate:

This edition of KSBA Aware is made possible in part