Schools

STANFORD - No one was seriously injured in a nine-vehicle wreck Monday afternoon on U.S. 27 just north of Lincoln County High School. The wreck happened on northbound U.S. 27 just after 4 p.m. near Rowland Cutoff Road, according to Stanford police. Officer Tim Morris, who worked the scene, said the wreck stretched out over a length of about two-tenths of a mile. Eight of the nine drivers were high school students, and the lead car had two passengers who were also high school students, Morris said.

A Winchester man accused of trying to check a child out of Central Elementary School rejected a plea offer Monday to see his case decided by a judge. James Tolson II, 25, of 109 Alabama St., was charged May 2 with attempted custodial interference after the incident at the school. Monday afternoon, Tolson and his attorney Carl Gibson appeared in Clark District Court. Gibson said prosecutors made an offer upon a guilty plea, but they were declining to accept it in favor of a trial before a judge.

LOUISVILLE - Liz Marcinek never pictured herself as a pioneer. For that matter, Marcinek said she never imagined when she took up track and field just over a year ago that she could even compete at the state level, much less contend for a state title. But she made history for her school Saturday when she gave Burgin what is probably its first track and field championship by winning the Class A girls long jump title at the state meet at Owsley Frazier Cardinal Park. There are no records at the school or anywhere else that indicate that any Burgin athlete had ever won a state title before Saturday - it appears no one from the school had even scored a point at the state meet before 2008 - and Marcinek if she is the first champion, she's happy to shine the spotlight on her small school.

A Kentucky High School Athletic Association realignment proposal for track and cross country could drastically change the competitive landscape in those sports, and a couple of local coaches whose teams would be affected say it isn't a change for the better. The change would convert the current three classes with approximately the same number of schools in each to three classes of distinctly different sizes, based on the idea that not all teams are created equal. And the area coaches who disagree with the proposal say that while the concept isn't bad, it creates unnecessary imbalances and inconveniences within each class.

HARRODSBURG - Mercer County students will see changes happening to the high school as soon as July, according to Superintendent Dennis Davis.  Following the months-long process of submitting and approving a plan from the school district's Local Planning Committee, the board heard a presentation from architect Leonard Bowers with RossTarrant Architects in Lexington at a special meeting May 9 for the changes to be made to the high school, which consists...

Ed Jones is no longer the principal at West Jessamine High School. Reached by phone Thursday morning, superintendent Lu Young said Jones' last official day as principal at the school was Tuesday. Jones had been suspended with pay since April 29. Young said she could give no information on whether Jones had resigned or not. "I can't comment on any of the details of the personnel action," Young said. A letter from Young to Jones obtained through an open-records request notified Jones on April 29 that he was suspended with pay. No reason for the suspension was included in the letter except the statement that Young had found a "justifiable need for an investigation of (Jones')

STANFORD - Lincoln County Board of Education has given district Superintendent Karen Hatter a "nearly excellent" rating on an evaluation completed in April. Hatter received a 2.71 rating out of a possible 4, with 4 being "outstanding" and 3 being "excellent. " Board members scored Hatter highest in the "curriculum planning development" area. She also scored highly in the areas of "value and ethics leadership and "student achievement and learning. " Hatter lowest score, which board members noted was still "in the good range," was in "human resources management.

The Clark County Board of Education's scheduled meeting today with the Kentucky Department of Education has been canceled. The reasons for the cancellation are not immediately clear, but board member Michael McGowan requested the meeting be canceled after being told he could not attend the meeting. Originally, Michael Kuduk and Judy Hicks were invited to meet with members of state agencies to discuss the board's recent vote to halt the district's current facilities plan. Kuduk was invited as board chairman and Hicks as a representative of the board's dissenting vote in the matter.

The Jessamine County school district is one of 17 to apply to be “Districts of Innovation.” The distinction would exempt districts from certain administrative regulations in an effort to improve student learning. The Jessamine County Board of Education approved its application at an April 22 meeting, and the Kentucky Department of Education announced the 17 districts who had applied May 6. Jessamine County's application centers on work through the Project 225 (P225) program at East Jessamine High School.

In the fall, two new schools will open their doors for students, and as construction on both buildings nears completion, they also have to be supplied. That job falls to Andy Biggers to oversee as the building relocation coordinator, and it began Tuesday when the staff at the George Rogers Clark High School library began packing up for the move. “This is the start of a long process moving the schools around town,” Biggers, a former principal at Central Elementary, said. Items from the current GRC will be packed up and moved to the new high school building down the road, while equipment and supplies from Central and Conkwright Middle School will have to be moved from those buildings.