Every year in Kentucky, districts and their adjoining school-based decision-making councils are required to deliver a comprehensive annual report back to their public school board — showcasing student growth, successes and shortcomings from the previous academic calendar.
This can come in several forms, but more often than not across the Commonwealth comes as delivered deadpan — droning PowerPoint presentations that simply fail to address curricula, and the students behind the books.
Thursday night at the Christian County Middle School cafeteria, hungry minds took a more creative route — and showcased their campuses for curious administrators, much like young scientists would present their findings at a science fair.
According to Superintendent Chris Bentzel, this has been the CCPS approach for nearly a decade. And for good reason.
Spread across the room were students from Crofton Elementary, Freedom Elementary, Indian Hills Elementary, Millbrooke Elementary, Pembroke Elementary, Sinking Fork Elementary and South Christian Elementary, Christian County and Hopkinsville Middle, Christian County and Hopkinsville High, as well other representatives from the Martin Luther King Jr. Early Learning Center, Gateway Academy and other alternative programs.
A quartet of Cougars — Nila, Gauge, Abby and Mali — had plenty to say about their school, named the best in the district based on last year’s Kentucky Summative Assessment.
Apparently Tuesdays and Fridays are the best because of Taco Tuesdays and Funday Fridays — where positive behavior interventions and supports often leads to unique, educational computer gaming.
Wednesdays aren’t so bad, either.
For Crofton Principal Chris Guier, Thursday was simply a superb snapshot of the school’s efforts in the last year.
Be it reading, mathematics or a student technology leadership program working on making decals for laptops, Freedom Elementary’s Keith Raleigh, as well as Nevaeh and Haven Canadavaniel, have done nothing but simply enjoy their time at school.
Freedom Assistant Principal Jonathan Grabara and School Counselor Amanda Baxter on the growth of their students — and what it was like to observe them in this setting:
For Hopkinsville Middle students like Aiden Riley and Taylor Walton — who both like social studies — and Lia Beckham — who enjoys writing — Thursday night served as a strong middle ground.
It was a place where they could describe how things were going, but also could reflect on where they have been, and where they might be headed in the future.
Andrew Goins, principal for HMS, said this year’s biggest change — aside from location — was the return of sixth graders back into the middle school mix.
And a welcome change, at that.
In a series of questions, Jackson Smith, senior at Hopkinsville High School, unspooled several thoughts about his time with robotics and engineering.
Naturally, Smith is working through the engineering pathway at Gateway Academy.
