Summary of recent Kentucky newspaper editorials:
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Dec. 7
Lexington Herald-Leader on standards for earning a Kentucky high-school diploma:
Reality collided with ideology, and reality won as Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis wisely retreated from unreasonable demands for earning a Kentucky high-school diploma.
Here’s hoping the backlash revealed to Lewis and state Board of Education Chairman Hal Heiner the necessity of enlisting stakeholders in big decisions from the start.
More squabbling over under-baked ideas that were whipped up in the dark won’t help Kentucky as it keeps losing hard-won ground in education to other states.
What Kentucky needs is support for expanding pre-school, better teaching, quick help for students who fall behind, a high school experience that’s meaningful for more youngsters and affordable higher education.
Until the recent outpouring of opposition, it seemed not to have dawned on Lewis that his graduation requirements would have disadvantaged students in smaller, poorer school districts that cannot afford to offer all the options he had proposed for proving diploma-worthiness.
To his credit, he recognized the inequity and other problems when they were pointed out and scaled back his proposal, which the state Board of Education approved Dec. 5.
Lawmakers, especially those who represent poor districts, may have helped educate the commissioner. The legislature will have the final say and should keep asking questions such as the unintended consequences of demanding “basic competency” when the future will demand something beyond basic, and whether the new graduation requirements will promote academic rigor, or, as the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence fears, “create an unintended ceiling for student outcomes.”
Lewis’ original graduation proposal seemed tailored to make public schools look like failures - a boost for the charter schools dear to the ideology driving Heiner and Gov. Matt Bevin, whose put-downs of teachers and the liberal arts have alienated educators and educated.
Fortunately, public schools enjoy support from most of the Republicans who control the legislature; they can learn from other states, which right now are far outpacing Kentucky in, among other areas, early childhood education.
Lewis’ agency recently released data showing almost half of young Kentuckians start kindergarten already behind. Lewis said “research is clear that brain development begins very early, with much of it complete before kids enter kindergarten. … An essential element of improving education, workforce and the life outcomes for Kentuckians is focusing on kids’ early learning and readiness for kindergarten.”
Yet, since 2008, Kentucky has fallen from 24th to 41st among states in 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool. No wonder we’re also losing ground in fourth grade reading and math. The rankings are from a recent update of data by the Prichard Committee.
A bright note, since 2008, despite plummeting state support for higher education, Kentucky moved from 44th to 38th in percent of adults, age 25 to 34 with a bachelor’s degree or higher, a sign that earlier reforms worked. It’s admittedly slow progress, but when elected leaders are serious and consistent about improving education, success follows.
All Kentuckians should have the rich educational opportunities envisioned by Lewis. Instead, schools are struggling to pay for basics, such as transportation. This is hardly the time to siphon funding from existing schools into starting up charters.
Online:
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Dec.9
The Bowling Green Daily News on a bill that would ban corporal punishment in all Kentucky public schools:
State Rep. Steve Riley, R-Glasgow, has filed a bill for the upcoming session that would ban corporal punishment in all public schools in the state.
Riley’s bill, if passed, would remove corporal punishment as a form of discipline in all schools and church-related, privately operated child-caring agencies or facilities.
State law does not mandate the use of corporal punishment. Instead, school districts can individually determine policy. Currently, 17 school districts in Kentucky still use corporal punishment. During the 2016-17 school year, there were 334 incidents of corporal punishment in these districts.
Under Riley’s proposal, “school administrators, teachers or other certified personnel, office staff, instructional assistants and coaches and extracurricular sponsors who are employed by a school district shall not use corporal physical discipline, including the use of spanking, shaking or paddling, as a means of punishment, discipline, behavior modification, or for any other reason.”
It is obviously Riley’s prerogative to file this bill, as he filed the same legislation last session. The legislation he filed last year went nowhere during the 60-day session.
While we respect Riley - who was a career educator before entering politics - and admire him for some very good things he has done in the legislature, we just flat-out disagree with him on this particular issue.
We disagree with Riley’s bill for two reasons.
First, we believe there are some parents in this state who simply don’t discipline their kids. They let them get away with too many things and don’t teach their kids any limits. Instead of doing their parental duties, they ship them off to public schools for teachers to deal with. In many cases, teachers have one hand tied behind their backs in dealing with some of these kids who continually cause disturbances in their classrooms, using foul language toward them and showing no respect for these teachers. With continued disturbances in the classroom, administrators should have the option to discipline a student, including by paddling or spanking after several warnings are given to that student. Perhaps after this disciplinary action is taken, the student will think twice about causing disturbances in the classroom or talking back or using foul language to a teacher.
Finally, the decision to allow corporal punishment in schools should be a local decision. Local school teachers and administrators see every day what is going on in their schools better than someone in Frankfort. Local school boards should make the decision to allow or not allow corporal punishment. In fact, the main negative feedback Riley received last session was exactly what we just mentioned.
At the end of the day, we don’t by any means believe administrators enjoy paddling or spanking children, but we do believe that in some cases there is still a need for corporal punishment in public schools in our state. That’s why we support the continued use of this practice in these schools if local school boards make that choice.
Online: https://www.bgdailynews.com/
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Dec. 7
The Richmond Register on tips to remember during a winter emergency:
With the weather dipping below freezing and snow finally hitting the region, it’s time we are all prepared in case of a weather emergency.
The state Department of Public Health highlights three areas - hypothermia, carbon-monoxide poisoning and unsafe food - for tips so Kentuckians can manage without help for at least three days.
Hypothermia happens when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature. It is often caused by immersion in cold water, but can also be a result of exposure to extremely cold temperatures.
If untreated, hypothermia can affect the brain and even lead to heart and lung failure.
The best ways to prevent hypothermia, include wearing appropriate clothing, avoiding consuming alcohol if outdoors, which can speed the loss of heat from the body, and avoiding activities that cause excessive sweat.
When it comes to carbon monoxide, health officials warn that using alternative heating sources like portable generators, kerosene heaters, propane gas stoves and ovens heated with gasoline can lead to carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, invisible gas produced when gasoline, natural gas, propane, kerosene and other fuels are not completely burned during combustion. Breathing in carbon monoxide prevents the body from using oxygen normally, and can result in death.
The best ways to avoid carbon-monoxide poisoning are by installing battery-operated carbon-monoxide detectors in your home, not using a generator or other gasoline/ charcoal-burning device inside your home, not running a car or truck inside a garage attached to your house, even if you leave the door open, and not burning anything in a stove or fireplace that isn’t properly vented.
Often an afterthought is food after when power outages occur in the winter, but food safety is a necessity.
The symptoms of foodborne illness include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache and body aches. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says foodborne illness usually occurs within one to three days of eating the contaminated food, but can also occur within 20 minutes or up to six weeks later.
The best way to insure food safety is to make sure you have appliance thermometers in your refrigerator and freezer. Refrigerated foods should be safe as long as power is out for no more than four hours. And if the thermometer in the freezer reads 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below, or the food still contains ice crystals, the food is safe and may be refrozen.
However, throw out any perishable food in your refrigerator, such as meat, poultry, lunch meats, fish, dairy products, eggs and any prepared or cooked foods that have been above 41 degrees Fahrenheit for four hours or more. Fresh fruits and vegetables are safe as long as they are still firm and have no evidence of mold or sliminess.
Other advice includes having about three days of non-perishable food on hand in case of an emergency, refill medications before the bottle is empty during the winter months, and to make sure to have working flashlights in the home.
“Remember, the first 72 is on you,” said Doug Hogan, spokesman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
And by remembering these tips, there’s a better chance of surviving a winter emergency. All it takes is being prepared.
Online: https://www.richmondregister.com/
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