http://www.kentucky.com/142/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Education 60 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:01:16 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/949/story/518507.html http://www.kentucky.com/949/story/518507.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:28 EDT try{f_cbload("c8521000c7c5e0d7h4g6j0c6c5b9","http:");}catch(v_e){;}
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Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage . ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595085.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595085.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:50 EST
COLUMBUS, Ohio . Chinese students are enrolling in U.S. universities in record numbers, encouraged by aggressive recruiting combined with China's booming economy and growing middle class.

Their enrollment grew by 8 percent in the fall of 2006 and by 20 percent last year, according to Institute of International Education figures being released Monday.

Individual universities surveyed by The Associated Press also are reporting high growth this year.

Chinese enrollment increased 300 percent this year at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. George Fox University in Newberg, Ore., accepted 65 students from China, more than double its 2007 figure. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595031.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595031.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:48 EST
At least one person on campus has done OK as the economy has declined: Public university presidents' salaries climbed 7.6 percent last year.

Fifteen presidents of public research universities took home at least $700,000 in 2007-08, up from eight in last year's survey, and nearly one-third now earn over $500,000, including the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, according to the annual Chronicle of Higher Education survey out Monday.

The salary increases almost entirely reflect contracts signed before the economy turned sharply downward, and the boards that govern colleges argue that retaining top talent is even more critical during a crisis.

But the latest figures will likely attract more criticism this year because colleges and universities across the country are slashing budgets, with many laying off staff. And despite the troubled economy, public universities increased tuition 6.4 percent this fall, according to recent figures from the College Board. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/589934.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/589934.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:26 EST
FRANKFORT . Soaring tuition is the likely reason Kentucky's public colleges and universities have seen their growth taper sharply in recent years, says a top state education official.

Enrollment growth at Kentucky's colleges was robust during the first few years after major reforms were enacted in 1997 but has dropped off in recent years, Richard Crofts, interim president of the Council on Postsecondary Education , said Wednesday at the first meeting of Gov. Steve Beshear's Higher Education Work Group.

Total undergraduate enrollment in Kentucky's public colleges rose 20 percent from 2000 to 2003, but grew only 7 percent from 2004 to 2007, Crofts said.

This fall, enrollment dropped in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System for the first time since it began in 1998. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/582344.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/582344.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:51 EST
For Joshua Watkins, and Ronald Harrison, racism on the University of Kentucky campus extends beyond isolated incidents . it is an ongoing problem at the school, they say.

Watkins returned to his UK residence hall room last year and found "Die" and a racial epithet scrawled across his door. Three weeks into this semester, Harrison noticed a racial slur written on the wall of the bathroom in his residence hall.

And last week, an effigy of President-Elect Barack Obama hung by a noose from a tree on UK's campus.

"Something that was 'isolated' decided to be 'isolated' again," Watkins said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/574361.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/574361.html Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:01 EDT
When Deanna Boyd graduates in May from Tates Creek High School, she will take classes at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. But her ultimate goal is to attend the University of Kentucky to get a degree in elementary education.

Thanks to a new program announced this week by the two Lexington-based colleges, Boyd and others will be able to do just that and save money to boot.

The program, dubbed BCTC blue+, is one of the first of its kind in the state. It is designed for students who want to complete an associate's degree at BCTC and plan to go to UK for a bachelor's degree.

"It will help me be able to take classes at UK," Boyd said. "And it will save me a lot of money." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/573352.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/573352.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:18 EDT
Hundreds of students and several Democratic officials expressed outrage and embarrassment Wednesday after an effigy of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree early Wednesday on the University of Kentucky campus.

The racist act was emphatically rejected by hundreds of students and community leaders attending a quickly-called campus forum to discuss racial issues Wednesday evening.

"Our time at this university is too short to sit idly by and allow these things to continue," said Tyler Montell, president of UK's student government association. "This is not a concern of any single race. Today, every student is a victim. Every member of our student body must now become part of a greater change."

Meanwhile, UK police and the Secret Service are asking for the public's help in finding who hung the effigy . which wore an Obama mask and had a noose around its neck . in a tree near the Rose Street parking garage. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/572092.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/572092.html Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:51 EDT
When Tyler Doering enters the job market in the next year, his r.sum. will include this little tidbit: Member of a team of students who designed and built a satellite launched by NASA in 2009.

That line, along with his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Kentucky, will probably put the 24-year-old Union native at the top of any recruiter's list of top prospects.

Last week, the Kentucky Space program was notified that the first-ever Kentucky orbital satellite, KYSat-1, has been selected by NASA to fly on an 18-24 month mission sometime in mid-2009.

That's a big boon to the Kentucky Space program, which is about to celebrate its third anniversary. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/570221.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/570221.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:54 EDT
RICHMOND . Laurence Hayes remembers when American Sign Language interpreters like him were needed mainly to interpret conversations that involved medical or legal issues.

Now, interpreters are a vital part of various fields, Hayes says, and the demand continues to grow.

To help address the need, Eastern Kentucky University has established a Department of Sign Language and Interpreter Education, the only such program in the state. EKU officials . including Hayes, the chairman of the department . announced the creation of the department during a news conference Monday at the university.

There are only 34 public and private baccalaureate degree programs in interpreter education in the country, EKU President Doug Whitlock said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/565540.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/565540.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:53 EDT
Kentucky's leading universities will receive more than $22 million to establish research centers examining the connection between diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

The grants are part of $54 million the National Institutes of Health awarded Thursday to five researcher centers across the United States.

The University of Kentucky will receive $10.5 million, and the University of Louisville will receive $11.6 million.

It's no coincidence that two Kentucky universities received the five-year grants, said Lisa Cassis, a professor of nutritional sciences and internal medicine and the lead investigator on the UK grant. Kentucky has high rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, she said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/566312.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/566312.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:24 EDT
A University of Alabama administrator has been named dean of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work.

James P. "Ike" Adams Jr., now dean of Alabama's school of social work, is to start work in Kentucky in July 2009, according to a UK press release.

"The prospect of working at a flagship university with a well-defined business plan, coupled with a college of social work with highly competent faculty, made the offer very attractive," Adams said in a statement.

Adams will succeed Kay Hoffman, who served as dean and the Dorothy A. Miller Professor in Social Work Education since 1998. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/563721.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/563721.html Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:52 EDT
FRANKFORT . Saying that no one in Kentucky with the drive and ability to succeed should be denied access to college because of cost, Gov. Steve Beshear formed a 25-member task force Tuesday to study affordability of higher education.

The group will produce two reports with recommendations for Beshear. The first, due by Jan. 15, 2009, will look at ways to reduce costs associated with college.

The second report, due by Sept. 1, 2009, will take a broader look at the long-term issue of how best to create stable state funding for public higher education.

Among other things, the task force will consider whether smaller tuition increases could be proposed in exchange for certain funding guarantees and meeting performance objectives, Beshear said at a Capitol news conference. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/562881.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/562881.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:16 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear is expected to announce a task force to study affordability of and access to higher education.

"No student in Kentucky with the brains and desire to go to college should be denied," he said Monday night at the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County's 40th anniversary dinner. More than 500 people attended the event at the Lexington Convention Center.

In the past five years, the cost of tuition at Kentucky's public universities and community colleges has risen more than 12 percent a year on average.

The high cost of college has already caught the attention of some in Frankfort. The General Assembly's interim joint education committee made it an agenda item over the summer. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/561938.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/561938.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:26 EDT
The Fayette County Schools and the University of Kentucky are launching a joint effort to improve health and physical fitness among students and faculty members in the county school system.

Clays Mill Elementary School and Tates Creek High School, with enrollment totaling more than 2,200, will be the first two schools to join the Physical Activity and Wellness Schools program, or PAWS. Other county schools will follow, and officials hope PAWS eventually will expand to other school systems in the area, possibly becoming a national model.

Problems with obesity and sedentary lifestyles among American youngsters have been widely documented over the past few years. And while American children usually are fairly physically active through the early years of elementary school, national statistics show that they become less and less active as they move toward high school.

Reports also show that the amount of physical education youngsters receive has declined nationally as schools focus ever more strongly on raising academic test scores. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/558396.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/558396.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:09 EDT
Noted educator and administrator Dr. Lauretta F. Byars will be the keynote speaker at the Lyman T. Johnson Awards and Recognition Banquet at 7 p.m. Friday at the Embassy Suites.

The annual banquet is held by the LTJ Alumni Constituency Group to recognize University of Kentucky students and alumni who have made significant contributions to the university and the community.

Johnson, for whom the group is named, successfully sued UK and became the first African-American admitted to the university. He died in 1997.

Byars is the vice president for student affairs and institutional relations at Prairie View A.M in Prairie View, Texas, and was formerly the associate provost for multicultural and academic affairs at UK. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/536372.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/536372.html Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:50 EDT
Two Lexington schools sent letters home with students Thursday following separate incidents: a brief lockdown after fourth-graders allegedly saw a man with a weapon and a high school student's "personal medical emergency."

Millcreek Elementary School was placed on lockdown for about 45 minutes Thursday after some fourth-grade students reported seeing a man with a weapon as they were going inside after afternoon recess, according to a news release.

School district officials and Lexington police determined the facility was safe after a search of the building and surrounding grounds. An investigation continues.

"We are very proud of the students who did the right thing by alerting adults to the situation and we want to remind our kids that anytime they have any safety concerns they should tell an adult immediately," said a news release from the school district. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/527234.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/527234.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:58 EDT
University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. says UK has sufficient safeguards to prevent a scandal like the current one at the University of Louisville over the alleged misuse of federal research dollars and the awarding of an unearned doctorate.

Todd, in an interview before his State of the University Address on Thursday, was specifically asked whether he thought UK had enough safeguards in place.

"I certainly do," Todd said. "I feel very confident."

The UK chief said "we may be bureaucratic, as some people think," but he added that internal procedures, by moving at a moderate or slow pace, provide for thorough review. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/524940.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/524940.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:56 EDT
A month before confronting the Fayette school district superintendent with complaints about Booker T. Washington Academy Principal Peggy Petrilli, a parent urged the principal's critics to compile a list of everything that negatively affected black parents, "no matter how inconsequential it appears."

On July 26, 2007, William "Buddy" Clark forwarded an e-mail to his wife, Alva, and site-based decision making council member Jessica Berry, according to records filed in Petrilli's racial discrimination lawsuit against the Fayette County Board of Education and Superintendent Stu Silberman.

"We need a list of everything that has happened over the past year which negatively affected black parents, students, teachers, or the community," Buddy Clark wrote. "Include everything no matter how inconsequential it appears. Failure to develop black talent will have a future negative effect."

Petrilli's lawyers claim the e-mail is "smoking gun" proof that Petrilli's departure from the predominantly black elementary school was racially motivated. Petrilli, who is white, was principal at Booker T. Washington from March 2005 to August 2007. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519476.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519476.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:58 EDT
For the first time, every public high school in Fayette County has had at least one student named as a National Merit semifinalist. The district's five high schools produced 38 semifinalists, a record number.

The announcement comes on the heels of No Child Left Behind, ACT and Commonwealth Accountability Testing System data that show high schools continually struggling with student achievement.

The Fayette County students named as semifinalists scored in the top 1 percent of the country in the Preliminary SAT test. The 38 are among 16,000 semifinalists nationwide. They will compete for 8,200 scholarships, worth more than $35 million.

The National Merit announcement is a "reflection on our school district from (preschool) through the senior year in high school," Fayette Superintendent Stu Silberman said. "That really doesn't happen overnight. That's from the time a student walks through the doors till the time that they graduate." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519474.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519474.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:23 EDT
Kentucky State University President Mary Evans Sias has been given a four-year contract extension and a 10.6 percent raise.

Sias' annual salary will increase from $216,996 to $240,000, she confirmed.

The new contract takes effect April 29, 2009. If Sias remains at KSU for the entire four years of the pact, she will receive a $75,000 incentive award.

The action was taken last Thursday at a special meeting of the KSU Board of Regents in Frankfort on the campus of the historically black university. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518844.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518844.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:42 EDT
Almost all Fayette County public schools improved over the past two years, according to new data from the state's achievement testing system.

About 94 percent of Fayette schools raised their scores since 2006 on the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.

Those gains helped 58 percent of the county's schools meet their two-year goals, which are used by the state to judge school performance. Two years ago, only 34 percent of schools met their goals.

"As a district we are moving forward with our progress," Fayette Superintendent Stu Silberman said. "Are we where we want to be yet? Absolutely not. But we are moving, and we're moving at a good pace." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518841.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518841.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:35 EDT
Most Kentucky schools are improving, putting a slim majority of them on track to reach their mandated goal of scoring 100 on statewide achievement tests by 2014.

Nearly 8 percent of the state's schools have already reached the goal, more than double the amount from two years ago. For the first time, no school scored below 50 on the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.

Still, state officials remain concerned about high schools, which are generally lagging behind elementary schools.

"I think the results are mixed," State Education Commissioner Jon Draud said. "Our high school scores concern me. We need to refocus on our high schools, and we need to refocus our effort on our lowest-achieving schools." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/589934.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/589934.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:26 EST
FRANKFORT . Soaring tuition is the likely reason Kentucky's public colleges and universities have seen their growth taper sharply in recent years, says a top state education official.

Enrollment growth at Kentucky's colleges was robust during the first few years after major reforms were enacted in 1997 but has dropped off in recent years, Richard Crofts, interim president of the Council on Postsecondary Education , said Wednesday at the first meeting of Gov. Steve Beshear's Higher Education Work Group.

Total undergraduate enrollment in Kentucky's public colleges rose 20 percent from 2000 to 2003, but grew only 7 percent from 2004 to 2007, Crofts said.

This fall, enrollment dropped in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System for the first time since it began in 1998. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/582344.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/582344.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:51 EST
For Joshua Watkins, and Ronald Harrison, racism on the University of Kentucky campus extends beyond isolated incidents . it is an ongoing problem at the school, they say.

Watkins returned to his UK residence hall room last year and found "Die" and a racial epithet scrawled across his door. Three weeks into this semester, Harrison noticed a racial slur written on the wall of the bathroom in his residence hall.

And last week, an effigy of President-Elect Barack Obama hung by a noose from a tree on UK's campus.

"Something that was 'isolated' decided to be 'isolated' again," Watkins said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/574361.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/574361.html Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:01 EDT
When Deanna Boyd graduates in May from Tates Creek High School, she will take classes at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. But her ultimate goal is to attend the University of Kentucky to get a degree in elementary education.

Thanks to a new program announced this week by the two Lexington-based colleges, Boyd and others will be able to do just that and save money to boot.

The program, dubbed BCTC blue+, is one of the first of its kind in the state. It is designed for students who want to complete an associate's degree at BCTC and plan to go to UK for a bachelor's degree.

"It will help me be able to take classes at UK," Boyd said. "And it will save me a lot of money." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/573352.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/573352.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:18 EDT
Hundreds of students and several Democratic officials expressed outrage and embarrassment Wednesday after an effigy of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree early Wednesday on the University of Kentucky campus.

The racist act was emphatically rejected by hundreds of students and community leaders attending a quickly-called campus forum to discuss racial issues Wednesday evening.

"Our time at this university is too short to sit idly by and allow these things to continue," said Tyler Montell, president of UK's student government association. "This is not a concern of any single race. Today, every student is a victim. Every member of our student body must now become part of a greater change."

Meanwhile, UK police and the Secret Service are asking for the public's help in finding who hung the effigy . which wore an Obama mask and had a noose around its neck . in a tree near the Rose Street parking garage. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/572092.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/572092.html Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:51 EDT
When Tyler Doering enters the job market in the next year, his r.sum. will include this little tidbit: Member of a team of students who designed and built a satellite launched by NASA in 2009.

That line, along with his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Kentucky, will probably put the 24-year-old Union native at the top of any recruiter's list of top prospects.

Last week, the Kentucky Space program was notified that the first-ever Kentucky orbital satellite, KYSat-1, has been selected by NASA to fly on an 18-24 month mission sometime in mid-2009.

That's a big boon to the Kentucky Space program, which is about to celebrate its third anniversary. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/570221.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/570221.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:54 EDT
RICHMOND . Laurence Hayes remembers when American Sign Language interpreters like him were needed mainly to interpret conversations that involved medical or legal issues.

Now, interpreters are a vital part of various fields, Hayes says, and the demand continues to grow.

To help address the need, Eastern Kentucky University has established a Department of Sign Language and Interpreter Education, the only such program in the state. EKU officials . including Hayes, the chairman of the department . announced the creation of the department during a news conference Monday at the university.

There are only 34 public and private baccalaureate degree programs in interpreter education in the country, EKU President Doug Whitlock said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/565540.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/565540.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:53 EDT
Kentucky's leading universities will receive more than $22 million to establish research centers examining the connection between diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

The grants are part of $54 million the National Institutes of Health awarded Thursday to five researcher centers across the United States.

The University of Kentucky will receive $10.5 million, and the University of Louisville will receive $11.6 million.

It's no coincidence that two Kentucky universities received the five-year grants, said Lisa Cassis, a professor of nutritional sciences and internal medicine and the lead investigator on the UK grant. Kentucky has high rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, she said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/566312.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/566312.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:24 EDT
A University of Alabama administrator has been named dean of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work.

James P. "Ike" Adams Jr., now dean of Alabama's school of social work, is to start work in Kentucky in July 2009, according to a UK press release.

"The prospect of working at a flagship university with a well-defined business plan, coupled with a college of social work with highly competent faculty, made the offer very attractive," Adams said in a statement.

Adams will succeed Kay Hoffman, who served as dean and the Dorothy A. Miller Professor in Social Work Education since 1998. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/563721.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/563721.html Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:52 EDT
FRANKFORT . Saying that no one in Kentucky with the drive and ability to succeed should be denied access to college because of cost, Gov. Steve Beshear formed a 25-member task force Tuesday to study affordability of higher education.

The group will produce two reports with recommendations for Beshear. The first, due by Jan. 15, 2009, will look at ways to reduce costs associated with college.

The second report, due by Sept. 1, 2009, will take a broader look at the long-term issue of how best to create stable state funding for public higher education.

Among other things, the task force will consider whether smaller tuition increases could be proposed in exchange for certain funding guarantees and meeting performance objectives, Beshear said at a Capitol news conference. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/562881.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/562881.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:16 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear is expected to announce a task force to study affordability of and access to higher education.

"No student in Kentucky with the brains and desire to go to college should be denied," he said Monday night at the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County's 40th anniversary dinner. More than 500 people attended the event at the Lexington Convention Center.

In the past five years, the cost of tuition at Kentucky's public universities and community colleges has risen more than 12 percent a year on average.

The high cost of college has already caught the attention of some in Frankfort. The General Assembly's interim joint education committee made it an agenda item over the summer. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/561938.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/561938.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:26 EDT
The Fayette County Schools and the University of Kentucky are launching a joint effort to improve health and physical fitness among students and faculty members in the county school system.

Clays Mill Elementary School and Tates Creek High School, with enrollment totaling more than 2,200, will be the first two schools to join the Physical Activity and Wellness Schools program, or PAWS. Other county schools will follow, and officials hope PAWS eventually will expand to other school systems in the area, possibly becoming a national model.

Problems with obesity and sedentary lifestyles among American youngsters have been widely documented over the past few years. And while American children usually are fairly physically active through the early years of elementary school, national statistics show that they become less and less active as they move toward high school.

Reports also show that the amount of physical education youngsters receive has declined nationally as schools focus ever more strongly on raising academic test scores. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/558396.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/558396.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:09 EDT
Noted educator and administrator Dr. Lauretta F. Byars will be the keynote speaker at the Lyman T. Johnson Awards and Recognition Banquet at 7 p.m. Friday at the Embassy Suites.

The annual banquet is held by the LTJ Alumni Constituency Group to recognize University of Kentucky students and alumni who have made significant contributions to the university and the community.

Johnson, for whom the group is named, successfully sued UK and became the first African-American admitted to the university. He died in 1997.

Byars is the vice president for student affairs and institutional relations at Prairie View A.M in Prairie View, Texas, and was formerly the associate provost for multicultural and academic affairs at UK. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/536372.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/536372.html Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:50 EDT
Two Lexington schools sent letters home with students Thursday following separate incidents: a brief lockdown after fourth-graders allegedly saw a man with a weapon and a high school student's "personal medical emergency."

Millcreek Elementary School was placed on lockdown for about 45 minutes Thursday after some fourth-grade students reported seeing a man with a weapon as they were going inside after afternoon recess, according to a news release.

School district officials and Lexington police determined the facility was safe after a search of the building and surrounding grounds. An investigation continues.

"We are very proud of the students who did the right thing by alerting adults to the situation and we want to remind our kids that anytime they have any safety concerns they should tell an adult immediately," said a news release from the school district. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/527234.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/527234.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:58 EDT
University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. says UK has sufficient safeguards to prevent a scandal like the current one at the University of Louisville over the alleged misuse of federal research dollars and the awarding of an unearned doctorate.

Todd, in an interview before his State of the University Address on Thursday, was specifically asked whether he thought UK had enough safeguards in place.

"I certainly do," Todd said. "I feel very confident."

The UK chief said "we may be bureaucratic, as some people think," but he added that internal procedures, by moving at a moderate or slow pace, provide for thorough review. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/524940.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/524940.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:56 EDT
A month before confronting the Fayette school district superintendent with complaints about Booker T. Washington Academy Principal Peggy Petrilli, a parent urged the principal's critics to compile a list of everything that negatively affected black parents, "no matter how inconsequential it appears."

On July 26, 2007, William "Buddy" Clark forwarded an e-mail to his wife, Alva, and site-based decision making council member Jessica Berry, according to records filed in Petrilli's racial discrimination lawsuit against the Fayette County Board of Education and Superintendent Stu Silberman.

"We need a list of everything that has happened over the past year which negatively affected black parents, students, teachers, or the community," Buddy Clark wrote. "Include everything no matter how inconsequential it appears. Failure to develop black talent will have a future negative effect."

Petrilli's lawyers claim the e-mail is "smoking gun" proof that Petrilli's departure from the predominantly black elementary school was racially motivated. Petrilli, who is white, was principal at Booker T. Washington from March 2005 to August 2007. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519476.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519476.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:58 EDT
For the first time, every public high school in Fayette County has had at least one student named as a National Merit semifinalist. The district's five high schools produced 38 semifinalists, a record number.

The announcement comes on the heels of No Child Left Behind, ACT and Commonwealth Accountability Testing System data that show high schools continually struggling with student achievement.

The Fayette County students named as semifinalists scored in the top 1 percent of the country in the Preliminary SAT test. The 38 are among 16,000 semifinalists nationwide. They will compete for 8,200 scholarships, worth more than $35 million.

The National Merit announcement is a "reflection on our school district from (preschool) through the senior year in high school," Fayette Superintendent Stu Silberman said. "That really doesn't happen overnight. That's from the time a student walks through the doors till the time that they graduate." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519474.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/519474.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:23 EDT
Kentucky State University President Mary Evans Sias has been given a four-year contract extension and a 10.6 percent raise.

Sias' annual salary will increase from $216,996 to $240,000, she confirmed.

The new contract takes effect April 29, 2009. If Sias remains at KSU for the entire four years of the pact, she will receive a $75,000 incentive award.

The action was taken last Thursday at a special meeting of the KSU Board of Regents in Frankfort on the campus of the historically black university. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518844.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518844.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:42 EDT
Almost all Fayette County public schools improved over the past two years, according to new data from the state's achievement testing system.

About 94 percent of Fayette schools raised their scores since 2006 on the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.

Those gains helped 58 percent of the county's schools meet their two-year goals, which are used by the state to judge school performance. Two years ago, only 34 percent of schools met their goals.

"As a district we are moving forward with our progress," Fayette Superintendent Stu Silberman said. "Are we where we want to be yet? Absolutely not. But we are moving, and we're moving at a good pace." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518841.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518841.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:35 EDT
Most Kentucky schools are improving, putting a slim majority of them on track to reach their mandated goal of scoring 100 on statewide achievement tests by 2014.

Nearly 8 percent of the state's schools have already reached the goal, more than double the amount from two years ago. For the first time, no school scored below 50 on the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.

Still, state officials remain concerned about high schools, which are generally lagging behind elementary schools.

"I think the results are mixed," State Education Commissioner Jon Draud said. "Our high school scores concern me. We need to refocus on our high schools, and we need to refocus our effort on our lowest-achieving schools." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518842.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/518842.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:46 EDT
Nearly half the public schools in the counties surrounding Lexington met or exceeded their goals for the state's two-year testing cycle.

In the results released Wednesday, 38 of the 78 schools in Bourbon, Clark, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Scott and Woodford counties met or exceeded their goal scores for 2007-08.

In 2006, at the end of previous two-year cycle, 35 schools in those counties had met or exceeded their goals in the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.

The schools with adjusted scores above 100 this year were Collins Lane Elementary in Franklin County, Trapp Elementary in Clark County, and White Hall Elementary in Madison County. Schools have until 2014 to reach 100 out of a possible 140. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595085.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595085.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:50 EST
COLUMBUS, Ohio . Chinese students are enrolling in U.S. universities in record numbers, encouraged by aggressive recruiting combined with China's booming economy and growing middle class.

Their enrollment grew by 8 percent in the fall of 2006 and by 20 percent last year, according to Institute of International Education figures being released Monday.

Individual universities surveyed by The Associated Press also are reporting high growth this year.

Chinese enrollment increased 300 percent this year at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. George Fox University in Newberg, Ore., accepted 65 students from China, more than double its 2007 figure. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595031.html http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/595031.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:48 EST
At least one person on campus has done OK as the economy has declined: Public university presidents' salaries climbed 7.6 percent last year.

Fifteen presidents of public research universities took home at least $700,000 in 2007-08, up from eight in last year's survey, and nearly one-third now earn over $500,000, including the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, according to the annual Chronicle of Higher Education survey out Monday.

The salary increases almost entirely reflect contracts signed before the economy turned sharply downward, and the boards that govern colleges argue that retaining top talent is even more critical during a crisis.

But the latest figures will likely attract more criticism this year because colleges and universities across the country are slashing budgets, with many laying off staff. And despite the troubled economy, public universities increased tuition 6.4 percent this fall, according to recent figures from the College Board. ]]>