Email Michael
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-River-City-News/244172412265645
@theRCnews on Twitter
Critics have lashed out over a $10,000 pay raise. Citizens want answers over a 4% increase on property taxes. A Louisville-based blog continues with out-of-context attacks. Even an alleged office remodel has caught fire with a handful of posters on Facebook. It has been a busy week for Covington Independent Public Schools Superintendent Lynda Jackson. And today is only the second day of school.
"I'm very passionate about making sure the students have everything they need," Jackson said today in her office during an exclusive one-on-one interview with The River City News. "I'm in the schools daily. I can't apologize for fighting for these kids because they are our children, they live here in this city and they deserve to have what every other child has."
Last week, Covington's school board voted 3 - 1 (with one member absent) to increase property taxes 4%, a move that caused some outcry in the online community and even led one City Commissioner to call for a state audit of the district.
"We are already audited every year as part of the Kentucky Department of Education requirements," Jackson said. "What I'm going to do is put (the auditor's annual report) on the website for people to read." School district budgets are very complex with funds coming from different sources, Jackson said. For example, the general fund comes from tax revenue, there is money from the state dependant upon enrollment numbers, and then federal money is used for free and reduced lunch programs.
The 4% increase is expected to generate a little more than $800,000 toward the overall $16 million that comes from property taxes. Without the full 4% increase, the maximum allowed by state law without direct voter approval, the district would have had to make budget cuts from $140,000 - $612,000, or more with no increase at all.
"Most school districts are only budgeting for 95% of what they need because of the economic shortfall," Jackson said. "We have to make sure that we can continue to provide the services to the students. We felt like we had to take 4% and most districts did take (the increase)."
 |
| Premieres Monday Sept 12 @3PM on FOX 19 |
Most of the criticism toward the district as of late originates at a recent report that shows Holmes High School's ACT scores as the lowest in Northern Kentucky and that its standardized testing numbers have failed to improve and rank among the lowest in the state. With numbers like those, multiple Covingtonians have publicly questioned a $10,000 raise given to Jackson this year. The superintendent said that the board approved the raise to Jackson's salary to a now-$128,000 per year citing that the pay was lower than many surrounding districts. Newport's chief earns nearly $175,000 with half the students of Covington, for example. Jackson said that a recently touted cost-per-child analysis is no way to calculate a superintendent's salary.
And as far as an alleged office remodel for the superintendent, "Last Christmas, the district came in and painted because there was a big crack in the corner and the ceiling was going to start to leak and we purchased some valances," Jackson said. "The total cost was $300. It hadn't been painted for fifteen years."
Another issue that recently surfaced online was the district's renting of space from Covington resident, former state Senator and current Education Secretary to Governor Steve Beshear, Joe Meyer. Jackson explained that the district has rented a space on Pike Street from Meyer since 2005, years before he became Education Secretary. The schools use it as meeting space, which is limited according to Jackson. Dale Meyer, the Secretary's wife, was also paid as a consultant last year. Jackson said that Dale Meyer is a skilled grant writer and that the district actually saves money by outsourcing that role instead of filling a full-time position.
Moving forward, Jackson said that she hopes the district and the City can work more closely together in improving the schools and the overall community. Covington's schools educate more than six hundred homeless children. "It takes everyone when you've got a lot of concentrated poverty. It takes the city recognizing that we've all got to work together and my one hope and dream is that we can start working together to start solving these problems because they're not going away," Jackson said. "These are our students and we love our students."
New initiatives this year to boost academic standards and morale include a program called "Holmes 180" designed to keep students in school and to fulfill "Destination Graduation". "All students need a purpose to come to school so we have every student updated with individual learning plans, and we clustered them to make sure that we are providing career clusters that match not only future jobs but also match what our students' interests are," Jackson said.
Holmes has increased dedication to career-oriented learning with new programs in health science and protective services which include the school's lauded ROTC program. "We're also working on early college intiatives. (Gateway College President) Ed Hughes and I want to make sure that our students have fifteen college credits by the time they exit grade 12," Jackson said.
Holmes also has a new library and cafeteria, featuring a professional chef. Jackson acknowledges that there are many issues still plaguing the district and Covington at large, but remains optimistic about the future. "If there were just one thing, we could work hard toward fixing that," she said. "You can't have a vibrant city without a good school district, but you can't have a good school district without a vibrant city. That's why we have to work with the city more closely. We've been blessed with community involvement. We have over two hundred mentors. 'Mentor a student, change two lives' is what we say here. We need more mentors, more people that are willing to take an hour a week to help a child. We need more citizens engaged."
I emailed Superintendent Jackson in July regarding the continual airing every month, during the past school year, of the initial August meeting 2010. Each month I expected to learn something new, only to again see the repeat of the August 2010 meeting. I received a reply from her two days later acknowledging that they were not aware of the continual airing of the same meeting every moth. I expressed that as a Covington resident and past member of the school board, that I was interested in seeing progress that was being made during the enire year. I felt that the Public Relations needed to be stepped up. She told me that she contacted TBNK and asked them to stop airing the same meeting. She thanked me for bringing this to her attention. Evidently, I must have been the only one that took notice. Where was the interest that no one else noticed the repeated showing. I told her that our city is desperately trying to move in a positive progressive direction and that the educational system must be a intricate part of it. We need to see that the five year strategic plan that they adopted is working. No better way to show that progress then to take advantage of the media access. I appreciated her personal response and will be looking forward to seeing the next Covington Independent School board meeting on TBNK.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't televised the meetings for a while...may be the reason no one cared to notice. I know I don't look for the meetings for that very reason.
ReplyDelete