Fayette Co. Board of Education Buys Herald-Leader Building
Fayette County Board of Education has voted to buy the Lexington Herald-Leader building for $7.5 million. The district plans to merge the two existing career and technical education (CTE) programs under one roof in the new location off Midland Ave. The purchase won’t be finalized until the district receives final approval from the Kentucky Department of Education.
4-Reading Out Loud
Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk will help launch a new literacy initiative spotlighting African-American authors. 4-Reading Out Loud invites different guest readers to read aloud on Facebook Live. It will air on facebook.com/UlTreLinked/ on Sundays at 4 pm throughout July and August.
Families who register for the event will have an opportunity to receive a copy of the book so children will not only see and hear the stories, but will also build their home libraries.
Upcoming events include:
• July 12: Author Rasheda Smith reading her book, Kiyah’s Cotton Candy Curls
• July 26: Dantrea Hampton reading I Am Enough, by Grace Ayers
• August 2: Author Christine Williams reading her book Chrissy Doesn’t Like Her Hair!
• August 9: Sheila Stuckey reading Brown Sugar Babe, by Charlotte Watson Sherman
• August 16: Ramona Griffin reading Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold
• August 23: Xavier Brown reading Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs
• August 30.: Taureen Smith reading I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes
Girl Scouts Cookies Donated
Girl Scouts of Kentucky donated over $28,000 worth of cookies to God’s Pantry Food Bank. The donation of 7,056 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies were distributed to 12 of God’s Pantry Food Bank’s local partner agencies including Kentucky-based food pantries, programs that serve people who are homeless and a children’s feeding program.
National Merit Scholarship
Congratulations to the neighborhood highschoolers who won a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship for college undergraduate study:
• Bhoomi Shah, Henry Clay
• Wyatt O. Combs, Lexington Catholic
• Jackson G. Spears, Lexington Catholic
• Leena S. Haider, Sayre School
Junior Golf
Lexington’s Junior City Golf Championship will be held on July 11 and 12 at Gay Brewer Jr. Course at Picadome and Kearney Hill Golf Links. This 36-hole championship is open to junior golfers’ (boys and girls) ages 9 – 18 years.
School Sports Returning for Fall
FCPS fall sports at the high school level (cheerleading, cross country, dance, football, golf, soccer and volleyball) resumed on June 29. Middle school sports and other high school sports will resume on July 6.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students and staff, and we believe we have taken all the steps necessary to ensure a safe return to campus,” said Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk.
New safety measures for FCPS athletics include:
- Installing signage for designated work out areas
- Setting up drop-off and pick-up points to avoid congregation of students and families before, during, and after practice sessions
- Adding outdoor sanitizing stations
- Procuring individual water bottles for each athlete
- Ensuring an adequate inventory of face shields, masks and no touch thermometers
- Training coaches
- Developing practice schedules to ensure ad-equate space for teams and social distancing guidelines
Outstanding Special Educator
Amber Ethington of Garrett Morgan Elementary is Fayette County’s Outstanding Special Educator for 2020. The Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative, which canceled its spring awards luncheon amid COVID-19 restrictions, recognized the recipients online in
June. Ethington has taught students with moderate/severe disabilities for six years,
including two years previously at Julius Marks Elementary. “My goal for exceptional
children is that they will live in a more inclusive world where they are pushed to their potential and achieve the unimaginable. These children can do anything as long as they are believed in,” she said.
Superintendent’s Scholarship
One Frederick Douglass High School student picked up more than just his diploma during his school’s drive through graduation ceremony in June. Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk awarded Bilal Chhadh a $2,500 scholarship.
When Caulk was named the 2019 Kentucky Superintendent of the Year, part of his award
included a one-time student scholarship funded by American Fidelity. When he announced the 2019 winner during last year’s state of the schools address, Caulk pledged to personally fund an annual scholarship as long as he serves as superintendent in Fayette County Public Schools. 
Chhadh will attend the University of Kentucky this fall and major in neuroscience on a pre-med track. “This scholarship from Superintendent Caulk will certainly help a lot, but it means a lot more than just the monetary value,” Chhadh said. “Receiving it from someone as courageous and hard-working as Superintendent Caulk is very humbling for me and has changed the way I view my impact on the community. It encourages me to do well in my future so I can follow his example.”
A Letter from FCPS Superintendent Manny Caulk
Dear Fayette County Public Schools Families:
A broad-based committee of students, families, teachers, health officials, principals and district leaders has been working for months to develop plans for the 2020-2021 school year. Although the spread of COVID-19 in our community remains a constantly changing situation, you can be certain that our commitment to safeguarding the health, safety and
well-being of our students, families and employees remains constant.
Every decision we make will be in accordance with guidance from federal, state and local health authorities including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kentucky Governor’s Office, Kentucky Department for Public Health and Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.
This afternoon, Gov. Andy Beshear, Kentucky Interim Commissioner of Education Kevin Brown and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman released the new “Healthy at School” guidelines. We are actively in the process of reviewing the new information to ensure that our planning is aligned with the expectations and best practices they announced today.
I expect to be able to share more detailed information about our current thinking with you soon, but I do want to let you know what we are certain of at this time:
- We will not return to school in July. In May, districts were advised to develop calendars that would allow for an early start in late July, a normal start in August, and a delayed start after Labor Day. We are confident that we will not return to school in July.
- We are committed to providing in-person instruction in some form. Students learn best when they are in class with their teachers and peers and we are doing everything possible to safely make face-to-face schooling a reality.
- We are actively working to develop robust distance learning options for families seeking an alternative to on-campus instruction because of health considerations and in the event that Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) has to be implemented again.
- Collaboration with families will be critical to the success of any school reopening scenario. Schools are a reflection of the communities they serve and we will need your help to safely launch the 2020-2021 school year.
Thank you again for your continued support as we work to do what’s best for students.
Your Partner,
Manny Caulk
Fayette County Public Schools
Superintendent
This article also appears on page 16 and 17 of the Summer 2020 print edition of Hamburg Journal.
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