After a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas left 19 students and two teachers dead and spurred questions about law enforcement’s response, the legislature’s Interim Joint Education Committee on July 15 heard an update on school safety in Kentucky.

Jon Akers, executive director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety, and Ben Wilcox, state school security marshal with the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training, discussed how school security in the state has improved in the three years since the passage of SB 1 (2019) the School Safety and Resiliency Act.

Today schools in the state are safer than they were three years ago, Wilcox said.

“By going in and doing these risk assessments and seeing where the numbers are, our numbers are very, very good,” he said. School districts are nearly 100 percent compliant with the bill’s mandates including having secure vestibules at school doors, he said.

The office will release its next report in August.

The Kentucky General Assembly also passed House Bill 63 this year to require a school resource officer (SRO) at each school by Aug. 1 and allows school districts to establish police departments.

Districts that cannot have officers in place by August, either because of budget constraints or ability to find officers, must work with Wilcox on a plan. There are 523 SROs across the state and another 600 are needed to fulfill the state’s requirement, Akers told legislators.

The May 24 shooting at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School was on the minds of lawmakers as they asked Akers and Wilcox questions.

“Is there anything that we’ve done, Senate Bill 1, the previous bills that we’ve worked on or passed? Is there anything there that we have in place that could have prevented what happened in Uvalde?” asked committee co-chair Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville.

Wilcox said Kentucky already has a lot of safety measures in place.

“The School Safety and Resiliency Act requires exterior doors to be controlled access,” Wilcox said.

Schools also practice “layered security,” where interior doors at schools remained locked and have lockdown drills.

“We’re at 99.7% compliance with closed, locked doors during instructional time and exterior doors as well,” he added.

SROs are trained to immediately respond at the first report or sound of gunfire, even if an SRO is the only officer on the scene, Wilcox said. SROs in Kentucky undergo 120 hours of specialized training, which includes active shooter training.

Akers said while many school shooters are young, white males, there is not an easy way to determine who might be a threat.

“That’s why we have the tip lines out there,” he said. “Somebody might know that (a person is a threat). We may not know that.”

Akers added that anytime law enforcement receives a tip about potential violence, they’re trained to investigate and take it seriously.

As a founding member of the new 22-state, non-partisan national Consortium of State School Boards Associations (COSSBA), KSBA is excited to announce the consortium's first event, the Urban Boards Alliance Inaugural Symposium: Best Practices for Students and Schools in Challenging Environments, Sept. 8 & 9 in Atlanta. Board members from systems of all sizes will benefit from sessions covering model programs and reforms, school safety, student discipline, student achievement and much more. We encourage you to register today and help ensure Kentucky school boards are well represented at this exciting inaugural event!

View/download an event packet, complete with program breakdown, keynote bios, instructions, etc. Space for the symposium is limited to 300 participants, so interested board members and administrators are encourages to register online as soon as possible.

About the Urban Boards Alliance: COSSBA’s Urban Boards Alliance (UBA) provides resources to support school board members in creating educational strategies and sharing best practices that address and improve the educational outcomes of students within challenging environments. UBA recognizes that these challenging environments and issues are not unique to urban school districts and encourages participation from rural and suburban school districts as well. UBA strives to address issues important to all school boards such as equity, literacy, student achievement barriers, broadband access, drug and alcohol abuse, and school violence.

The Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) approved an emergency administrative regulation for a new expedited alternative teaching certification pathway, referred to as Option 9, at its July 11 special meeting.

House Bill (HB) 277, sponsored by Rep. Walker Thomas, amended KRS 161.048 to create Option 9, an expedited certification. Under Option 9, an EPSB-approved college or university may partner with a school district or educational cooperative to develop an expedited certification program that results in a bachelor’s degree and initial teaching certification within three school years. The program must:

Candidates will be required to meet the admission requirements for an undergraduate initial certification educator preparation program and be enrolled in the program. The district will assist the Option 9 individual in meeting the field experience hours during the first two years of employment. In the third year of employment, the candidate is required to be placed in a setting that is consistent with the certification sought.

Option 9 was developed in partnership between Kentucky legislators, Christian County Public Schools, Murray State University and the West Kentucky Educational Cooperative in order to address teacher shortages and improve Grow-Your-Own programs.

Because of misinformation about the Option 9 program, KDE has developed this fact sheet on Option 9.

2022 Program overview: School safety remains a focus of districts across the country. Following the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, leaders at the local and state levels are assessing every aspect of their plans, procedures, training, facility security, mental health, the roles of law enforcement, etc. KSBA welcomes our friends from the Office of the State School Security Marshal (OSSSM) to explain their mission and the supports available to Kentucky districts in maintaining compliance with state regulations and best practices. This interactive session will include roundtable discussions facilitated by KSBA and OSSSM staff, focusing on the important role of school board teams. Insights shared by members will directly inform future KSBA resources and trainings.

See KSBA’s regional meeting page for details on meeting dates, host contact information and more. As with previous years' regional meetings, dinner is provided by the host district for a fee. Instructions for regional meeting registration will be provided along with invitations to be sent electronically in the weeks preceding each meeting. View/download a sharable regional meeting flyer.

Regional Chair elections: Six of KSBA’s regions will elect new Regional Chairs this fall. If you reside in one of these six regions and are interested in more actively serving the association and its members, consider submitting a Regional Chair nomination form. Elections for regional chairs will be conducted at your assigned regional meeting, but nominations must be received in advance. Nomination forms and their respective deadlines will be communicated to all members and available on KSBA's website in early August.

If you are unsure which region your district belongs to check KSBA regions. For questions about KSBA's Regional Meetings, please contact Beth Pritchett at (502) 783-0063 or via email.

Nearly 300 board members, administrators, district staff and education industry leaders came together in Lexington this past weekend for KSBA’s 2022 Summer Leadership Institute. Session topics ranged from finance and superintendent evaluation to deeper learning and effective governance.

KSBA welcomed Phil Gore, director of Board Services for the Vermont School Boards Association, as keynote for Friday’s opening session. In his address, Gore combined his vast expertise in board team development with his love of mountain climbing.

Saturday morning’s plenary session featured Kentucky Commissioner of Education Jason Glass. The audience learned about the Kentucky Department of Education’s new initiative, “United We Learn.” In addition to informative breakout sessions, attendees networked with more than two dozen exhibitors and sponsors.

SLI coincided with the 17th Annual Summer Conference of the Kentucky Organization of Superintendents’ Administrative Assistants (KOSAA), where attendees heard from the Kentucky State Police on finger print background checks.

The KSBA Educational Foundation board of directors convened on site during SLI. Five of the nine-member board completed terms of service. Outgoing members were recognized for their service: former Elizabethtown Ind. Schools board member Joe Brothers, Peggy Sue Downs of Marion Co. Schools, Steve Becker of Danville Ind. Schools, Linda Duncan of Jefferson Co. Public Schools and Becky Burgett of Gallatin Co. Schools. New foundation board members will be introduced in the weeks ahead.

With the start of the new school year just around the corner, it is important for districts to have updated policies/procedures and handbooks in place for the board, students, staff and the community. Additionally, KRS 160.340 requires that board policies be kept up to date by filing annual amendments by Aug. 15. If your district has not yet done so, please send the update checklists to KSBA as soon as possible so that we may process your local board’s policies and procedures for use by your district. (Policy reference 01.5)

Check out the July issue of KSBA’s Policy Connection. 

KSBA’s 2022 “Learn and Earn” monthly webinar series offers school board members pertinent topics good for state-mandated training credits. Sessions are scheduled for noon – 1 p.m. (ET) on the second Wednesday of each month at a cost of $50 per session. All Learn and Earn webinars count for one hour of state-mandated training credit.

Register for this webinar. (Pre-registration is required, and space is limited.)

KSBA's 2022 series is sponsored by the Kentucky Center for School Safety (KCSS).

Because of the unique roles school boards play in matters of policy and education trends, KSBA is often called on by media outlets to weigh in on important school-related issues and provide background.

Campbell Board of Ed. to redraw maps after federal court decision – Link NKY (July 19, 2022)

Mirroring national push, 'parents' rights' candidates make play for JCPS board – Louisville Courier Journal (June 23, 2022)

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