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by Michael Monks
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POLICE & FIRE RESTRUCTURING TO BE DISCUSSED
A public meeting is set for Tuesday inside Commission Chambers at City Hall on the recommendations set forth by Management Partners in regards to restructuring Covington's police and fire departments. The meeting begins tonight at 6:00PM. From the City:
"We want to be open and transparent," said City Manager Larry Klein. "We want to hear what citizens have to say. We, like most local governments across the nation, are trying to manage limited resources while moving our community forward. Our ultimate goal is a better City of Covington. It can be done."
Management Partners issued its final report just recently titled City of Covington Organization Reviews. It can be reviewed online at the City's website,www.covingtonky.gov. The report was paid for entirely by non-City funds which were raised by Covington Mayor Chuck Scheper.
Mayor Scheper announced his C + V = G 10 Point Action Plan for the City in January, 2012, and called for independent reviews of all areas of City operations at that time.
"The V stands for Vision and we need to look outside our boundaries for 'best of class' examples to consider because more of the same will not solve the problems of today and tomorrow," said Scheper.
"Management Partners conducted an independent review of the City's operations," said Scheper. "They have extensive experience analyzing local governments."
The 143-page document is the result of a study of organizational reviews of the City's Police, Fire, Community Development, Code Enforcement, and Administration departments, as well as a review of the City's entire organizational structure.
The primary objective of the study was to determine if there are ways to reduce operations costs while maintaining or improving service quality.
There are 57 recommendations in the report. Substantial savings could be achieved if the report's recommendations were implemented, according to the study.
The River City News will have the most comprehensive coverage of the meeting.
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For background:
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WANT TO FIX THE ECONOMY? FIX EDUCATION
From a column at Huffington Post:
News flash: Do you want to know the best way to solve the economic problems in America? By closing the education achievement gap. That's right. If we fix education, we will fix our economy.Full story: Huffington Post
(snip)For instance, our failure to close the racial achievement gap -- the disparity between the educational results between white children and their African American and Hispanic counterparts has impacted our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by at least $310 billion and as much as $525 billion. Moreover, the growing income achievement gap, the education disparity between all low-income children compared to the education attainment of children not living in poverty, has cost our GDP between $400-670 billion.
(snip)It is imperative that we start putting our kids firsts and taking ownership within our schools and communities. As a nation, to ensure that all of our kids receive a quality education, we must further eliminate the disparities between race and ethnicity, the rich and the poor, and doggedly increase the graduation rates. In addition, it is critical that we take a hard look at what is going on in our schools and in our classrooms. And at the very least immediately begin equalizing instruction, improving teacher quality, and increasing resources so our kids can go on to college and positively contribute to our economy.
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BACK TO SCHOOL KICK-OFF EVENT SET FOR SATURDAY
Help welcome back to school the students of Covington:
Covington Independent School Public Schools is hosting its first "Back-to-School Kickoff," 9:00 am - 7:00 pm on Saturday, August 4, in the Holmes High School Campus. This event replaces the readi-fests that were held at each of our schools.
By combining the readi-fests, our district will be able to offer families a one stop event to take care of all their children's back to school needs. Parents and their children will be able to enroll, pick up free school supplies and learn about community services.
We are reaching out to Covington's neighborhood associations and other organizations because we need your help with school supplies. While many of us have fond memories of back to school shopping, choosing our supplies and new clothing for the year, this is not the reality for all children.
Your donation helps ensure that all our children come back to school ready to learn. If your group would like to participate, the items listed are what we need most:
1) pencils
2) one subject notebooks
3) 2-pocket folders
4) crayons
5) pencil cases
Of course, all supplies will happily be accepted. We can pick up your donations or you can take them to the Instructional Support Center, 212 Levassor Place, behind Holmes High School by July 31. The center is not always staffed so please contact us prior to drop off so we can meet you. Please call Kay McConnell at 392-3182 to make arrangements for drop off or call Tricia Dorman at (859)912-4007 for further questions.
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GROUP: KY SCHOOLS NOT ENFORCING ANTI-BULLYING LAWS
Though Kentucky has no formal anti-bullying law, the Kentucky Equality Federation claims that existing laws serve a purpose to that end and that those laws are not being enforced by school districts:
In Clay, Grayson, Jefferson, Kenton, Lincoln, Pulaski, Whitley, and several other counties, we have received alarming reports from guidance counselors, principals, and other school district staff that they have received no briefings or information about complying with years-old Kentucky regulations regarding bullying in public schools. This lack of information is leading to a lack of enforcement of laws that are already in effect.Full story: KY Equality Federation
"These laws were written to protect students," said Kentucky Equality Federation President Joshua Koch. "We hear cries for more legislation from the public, but we know there are laws in effect already. This is an insult to the visionary legislators who have already passed excellent laws to protect Kentucky's children.
“When we confront these local school districts about their lack of enforcement, we are finding an epidemic of knowledge," Koch said. "These districts don't even know Kentucky has these laws. We have laws and continuing education requirements for a reason. They are there to allow and encourage administrative communication, but that only works when the Department of Education understands the law and communicates it to the 120 counties and their school districts. The Kentucky Department of Education should have ensured all school districts in Kentucky enforced existing school bullying laws when the legislation was passed and especially after the first suicide.
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QUICKIES
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In the aftermath of damaging storms, do not let anyone "top" your trees State-Journal
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Sen. McConnell hails the fall of old media BuzzFeed
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Kentucky Historical Society obtains letters from 19th century that detail lives of slaves and free people in the Commonwealth press release
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Big tips to continue for lucky Kentucky servers WLWT
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UK Basketball head coach John Calipari is ranked third best Nation of Blue
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DON'T MISS MONDAY EVENING'S NEWS!
Family of teen missing from Covington speaks about last week's failed search; A husband-and-wife team from Kentucky file to run for President of the United States (and VP!) together; Plus, what are Covingtonians selling on Craigslist? A coffee shop, for one thing.
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FROM THE EMERGENCY SHELTER OF NKY:
Our annual Run for Shelter will take place on Saturday, October 20th. If we can register 50 people within the next 14 days, Rachael Winters, our Director will race in a skirt! This great down hill race from the top of Devou Park helps us fund our winter season, serving all those in need of a place to go during our coldest months. Register today!Click Here
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VIDEO: HOLMES HIGH SCHOOL DRILL CAMP
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DO YOU EVER WALK AROUND TOWN AT NIGHT?
You should, according to this interesting piece on psychogeography:
If you can, go and walk at night in your city. Do it now, during summer. Observe the day/night contrast, discover new details about your neighbourhood, find things you like and don’t like. Use all of this as a set of tools for becoming more aware of, not only your city, but yourself, and as a catalyst to induce change for the aspects of your city that you would like to see improve. At the end of the day, this place you live in is your home. Embrace it, engage with it and change it for the better.
Full story: Urban Times
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"I'M DRUNK AS SHIT, ANYONE WANT TO GO TO ANCHOR GRILL?"
Spotted on Reddit, an apparently drunken late-night invitation that triggered some funny comments. The original post:
im drunk as shit, anyone want to go to anchor grill
Responses:
"no, no one wants to go to breakfast at 8am on a sunday with a drunk stranger. Go to sleep." "As a fellow drunk stranger who also wants breakfast... I'm also going to sleep." "As a drunk breakfast who wants a stranger... what's sleep?"
Though the guy did get some lukewarm interest:
If I had seen this, i live across the street. . . .. . . .
And:
I will be there today at 420. Metal teeth, dreads and tattoos, cant miss me.
Don't you love the internet? Read the full post: Reddit
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