School Day

LIBERTY - Three minutes will be added to the day when Casey County students return to classes this fall. Dale Wilson, director of pupil personnel, told the Board of Education Monday that classes are scheduled 6 hours and 12 minutes per day to have time in reserve for days missed for weather. Classes at the high and middle schools will begin at 8:10 a.m. The high school will end at 2:58 p.m. and the middle school will close at 2:53 p.m. Classes in the three elementary schools will begin at 8:05 a.m. and close at 2:40 p.m. The opening day for fall classes is Aug. 13 for teachers and Aug. 14 for students.

After early snow in December and persistent wintry weather in January shut the doors of schools for many more days than anticipated, the Kentucky Department of Education has granted districts some flexibility in how to make up instructional time for the remainder of this year. Jessamine County may take advantage of the option to extend school days to make up time lost to snow days. Jessamine County Schools had eight make-up days in its original schedule, with the last day of school falling as late as June 3. The combination of eight and a half snow days and the Jessamine County Board of Education’s request to remove Memorial Day from the school schedule will likely leave the district with at least a day and a half to make up in addition to the scheduled make-up days.

Kentucky School for the Deaf students will be in class for an additional hour each day during the upcoming school year. Principal Rodney Buis said the school day will be from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. in order to work on language attainment. "We are going to be doing an English language unit that will be required of all students," he said. â?¨ KSD SCHOOL CALENDAR Aug. 4: Flexible professional development day Aug. 5: Flexible professional development day Aug. 6: Professional development day Aug. 7: Professional development day Aug. 9: Opening day Aug. 10: Student's first day Sept.

HARRODSBURG - The day-care center at Mercer County High School has been closed, but students who need day care for their children may still receive it. The center was begun about five years ago and established to encourage students with children to remain in school and it has worked, according to Superintendent Bruce Johnson and high school Principal Terry Yates. In part because of limited space in the school system, the students' children are provided with day-care services in local day-care centers.

There is a heavier police presence than normal at East Jessamine High School on Friday morning as officers were responding to a possible threat that was written on one of the girls' bathroom walls. “Yesterday afternoon the SRO (school resource officer Billy King) was told that there was something written on the bathroom stall door,” Nicholasville police Sgt. Scott Harvey said. “So he went in there and it said, 'May 17, school shoot-up day.' That was obviously something that we wanted to look into.

Teachers in Jessamine County schools can buy sugared soda from vending machines again after the school board affirmed an administrative decision Monday night. A state law enacted in 2005 prohibits selling sugared drinks to students during the school day, but it was a local decision on the part of the Jessamine County Board of Education to restrict the vending machines in teachers' lounges. “The board said, 'If the kids can't have sugared pop, then they can't sell sugared pop in the teachers' lounges, either,'” superintendent Lu Young told the current board at a Monday work session.

Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, Danville Christian Academy will offer two types of kindergarten programs, full-day and half-day classes. “After doing some research, we realized there was a need,” said Debbie Lucas, headmaster at Danville Christian Academy, a private school focused on “molding Christ-like scholars, leaders and servants.” Lucas said some parents and others in the community had asked about such a program and the school officials began looking into it, only to discover that half-day kindergarten programs were uncommon, especially in the area.

STANFORD - It's a Wednesday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. and most people have left school for the day. But in the cafeteria and gymnasium at the McGuffey Sixth-Grade Center, several clusters of middle- and high-school students are just getting started on some unique projects. Sophomore Ethan Lasure pulls the line taut on his bow and fires a bolt into a bullseye target in the gymnasium, where more than a dozen students are practicing archery. Sixth-grade student Haylie Pevley sits with four other girls in the cafeteria, painting some personality onto clay vases.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' 105th birthday, students across the country celebrated "Read Across America Day" in many different ways. Students, teachers and staff at Hannah McClure Elementary celebrated by dressing as their favorite book character and enjoying 20 minutes of silent reading at the end of the school day.

To highlight the availability of the School Breakfast Program, Clark County Public Schools participated in the National School Breakfast Week campaign. Every school day the CCPS  breakfast program offers students the healthy foods they need to be prepared for a busy school day. Every school breakfast served meets federal nutrition standards limiting fat and portion size. During the “School Breakfast - Go for Gold” campaign, cafeterias offered fun activity sheets to help students warm up their brains.

There is a heavier police presence than normal at East Jessamine High School on Friday morning as officers were responding to a possible threat that was written on one of the girls' bathroom walls. “Yesterday afternoon the SRO (school resource officer Billy King) was told that there was something written on the bathroom stall door,” Nicholasville police Sgt. Scott Harvey said. “So he went in there and it said, 'May 17, school shoot-up day.' That was obviously something that we wanted to look into.

Teachers in Jessamine County schools can buy sugared soda from vending machines again after the school board affirmed an administrative decision Monday night. A state law enacted in 2005 prohibits selling sugared drinks to students during the school day, but it was a local decision on the part of the Jessamine County Board of Education to restrict the vending machines in teachers' lounges. “The board said, 'If the kids can't have sugared pop, then they can't sell sugared pop in the teachers' lounges, either,'” superintendent Lu Young told the current board at a Monday work session.

Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, Danville Christian Academy will offer two types of kindergarten programs, full-day and half-day classes. “After doing some research, we realized there was a need,” said Debbie Lucas, headmaster at Danville Christian Academy, a private school focused on “molding Christ-like scholars, leaders and servants.” Lucas said some parents and others in the community had asked about such a program and the school officials began looking into it, only to discover that half-day kindergarten programs were uncommon, especially in the area.

It was a colorful performance in the West Jessamine High School auditorium Friday night as students from all five elementary schools presented music they've been working on all year - Dr. Seuss' “My Many Colored Days.” The 19 gifted students had gathered five times throughout the year on the afternoons of early-release days to rehearse, and they spent a majority of their school day Friday preparing in the West Jessamine High School auditorium for...

Upon reading about the legislators changing the age that students may leave school from 16 to 18, several memories came to mind because I spent 25 years working with students as a teacher and then working for students as an administrator.  It is admirable that Governor Steve Beshear and his wife want to help students secure their future by graduating from high school. In my role as the last one to see those who were dropping out as I signed their dropout paper, I believe it will not eliminate all student dropouts.

I am a bus driver. I am the first face of the school system your child sees each day and I am the last face of the school system they see each evening. Often, I am the first smile your child has seen that day. I am a nurse. I am the one who puts a bandaid on the ouchie, feels for a fever,  passes tissues to the snotty nose and soothes the child who doesn't feel well. I am a referee. I break up the fights, calm the arguments, and separate the combatants. I am a maid. I clean up the trash, discarded papers, bad report cards and vomit that gets left on the bus. I scrape up the food and gum that is not allowed to be eaten on the bus but somehow is. I am a mechanic.

MAPP to discuss obesity, substance abuse Friday Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships will meet at 9 a.m. Friday  at the Clark County Cooperative Extension Office. The topics of discussion will be obesity and substance abuse. Accelerated placement testing scheduled All fifth grade students in the Clark County School System will take a qualifying test to determine accelerated placement in the middle school academic program for the upcoming school year on Tuesday, Feb. 26, during the school day at the school your child attends.

I just wanted to say I am so thankful the haunted house in Hustonville did not fall on a Saturday, when all the little league basketball games were going on at the school. That would have been a nightmare - a big nightmare. Why did the property owner not think about the danger his property posed to others? Is he going to leave the rest of that monstrosity up until it happens on a basketball day, or any school day when the elementary school is full of our most prized family - our children?

I just wanted to say that I am so thankful that the haunted house in Hustonville did not fall on a Saturday, when all the little leauge basketball games were going on at the school! That would have been a nightmare, a big nightmare. Why did the property owner not think about the danger his property posed to others. Is he going to leave the rest of that monstriosty up until it happens on basketball day, or any school day when the elementary is full of our most prized family, our children.

As president of the teacher's association in Jessamine County, I have been asked to “sign off” on an educational-reform grant proposal called Race to the Top Round Three (RTT3). More likely than not, teacher-association members will support a “sign-off,” as teachers long for new initiatives that provide meaningful learning opportunities to their students. And we long for reforms to provide exciting and effective change that will turn around our precious public schools fraught with systemic issues that hold us back.