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Kenton County School District Annual report 2018-19

Mission

The mission of the Kenton County School District is to provide a world class education ensuring ALL students are college and/or career ready and prepared for the 21st Century Economy.

Core Beliefs

  • It’s About All KIDS
  • It is our responsibility to ensure every child reaches their maximum learning potential
  • All students deserve a safe, positive and supportive environment
  • Every student should have an adult advocate in the school setting
  • Students learn best when actively engaged in the learning process
  • Maintaining high expectations leads to higher levels of student achievement
  • All students are inspired to learn when provided rigorous, relevant, innovative and creative learning opportunities in a positive environment
  • Recognition and acceptance of cultural, social, physical, and economic differences creates a healthy learning community
  • Sharing and using results to inform our decisions about instruction, resources, and curriculum leads to higher levels of student achievement
  • Students, educators, staff, families, business, and the community share in the responsibility for creating an environment in which all students can learn and succeed at high levels
  • High Quality Public education is essential to our democracy and economic growth

Goals

  • 5 Star School District
  • Every School 5 Star
  • Transition Readiness Rate (CCR) 95%
  • ACT 22
  • Graduation Rate 95%
  • Attendance 96.25%
  • Students Reading on Grade Level Exiting 3rd-95%
  • Beginning in 4th grade, ALL students will participate in at least one activity providing a meaningful connection to school beyond the regular classroom
  • Remain fiscally solvent/efficient

Message from the Superintendent

Dr. Henry Webb, far right, pictured with students.

As the superintendent of the Kenton County School System, I am honored to be part of this great community and to be able to serve our amazing kids. We are a “System of Excellence” that is committed to continual growth to ensure that Every Child is college and/or career ready and prepared for the 21st Century Economy. We believe in the incredible potential of our students and embrace them as individual learners. Working as a team with our parents, our community and “Team Kenton” we are confident that we will reach all identified goals for kids while becoming a national leader in education. We encourage you to review our 2019 Annual Report. We trust you will find it informative and while reviewing you will learn more about the amazing things occurring in our KCSD.

Our Board

Board Members Carla Egan, Shannon Herold, Jesica Jehn, Carl Wicklund, Chairperson and Karen Collins, Vice-Chairperson
In January, Shannon Herold (right) was sworn in as a new member of the Kenton County Board of Education. Jesica Jehn (left) was re-elected.

Our Schools

With more than 14,000 students, the Kenton County School District is the 6th largest district in Kentucky. We have three high schools, three middle schools, ten elementary schools, one P-8 STEAM Academy and the Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology. We have 1,700 outstanding members of 'Team Kenton' who serve our kids daily.

2017-18 Accountability Data accomplishments

Data is lagged one year due to state reporting timelines.

  • The Kenton County School District schools outperformed the state in almost every area.
  • Elementary schools throughout the district rank 27/173 in the state for student proficiency
  • All KCSD elementary schools rank in the top 45 percent in the state for student proficiency.
  • All KCSD Middle Schools rank in the top 30 percent of the state for student proficiency Rank 46/173 districts.
  • Kenton County School District High Schools rank in the top 10 percent of the state 17/168 high schools for proficiency.
  • Kenton County Middle Schools are in the top 27% for Proficiency, 23% for Growth, and 24 % for Separate Academic Indicator of middle schools in Kentucky
  • Kenton County Elementary Schools are in the Top 20% of Kentucky in every area of accountability: Proficiency, Growth, and Separate Academic Indicator
  • Kenton County High Schools rank 17/168 in the state for proficiency in reading and math (top 10%)

MTSS

This year, the Kenton County School District implemented the 'Multi-Tiered System of Support' in order to help ALL students succeed.

MAP Growth

ACT Data

2019 Preliminary ACT Data

• The exiting ACT mean score for the KCSD Class of 2019 is 21.32.

• Their ACT mean increased from 20.5 in March of their junior year to 21.32 by the end of their senior year.

OECD Data

OECD Data - Dixie Heights
OECD Data - Scott
OECD Data - Simon Kenton

More 2018-19 Highlights

This was the first year for all-day kindergarten in the Kenton County School District. Many instructional changes were made to support teachers in improving instruction and holding students to high expectations for full day Kindergarten. New Curriculum and timeline documents were created with increased expectations, such as the expectation for Sight Words being increased from 50 to 100, and most students met this goal. A new standards based report card and assessment was created and had great feedback from teachers and parents.
• 19.92% increase in students making percentile growth in 2018-2019 with full day in Reading • 18.32% increase in students making percentile growth in 2018-2019 with full day in Math
• 12.85% increase in students who reached benchmark in 2018-2019 with full day in Reading • 14.47% increase in students who reached benchmark in 2018-2019 with full day in Math
The Kenton County Board of Education approved a partnership with the Boone County School District for the establishment of the IGNITE INSTITUTE to inspire STEAM learning and elevate educational opportunities for all students in the Northern Kentucky region. The IGNITE INSTITUTE at Roebling Innovation Center will be an innovative, collaborative high school committed to inspiring creativity and empowering scholars to compete in the workforce of tomorrow. IGNITE is scheduled to open in Fall of 2019.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in September for the renovation at Fort Wright Elementary School.
Phase IV Construction at Scott High School began in the summer of 2018 and is scheduled to be finished by June 30, 2019. This phase of construction involved the complete renovation of the former science classrooms to general instruction rooms. The former Kitchen and Diversion classrooms were transformed in to a new band and choral suite. A new Special Education Department area was completed, and the former Cafeteria/ Commons area was converted into a multi-purpose room along with an outdoor instructional courtyard.
The Kenton County School District participated in the Community Eligibility Provision, which allowed the district to offer no cost breakfast and lunch at five schools this this school year. Free breakfast and lunch were available to students at Beechgrove, Caywood, Fort Wright, River Ridge and Taylor Mill elementaries. White's Tower and Woodland will participate in the program in the 2019-20 School Year.
A District Safety Committee was formed in January to create a safety culture with all stakeholders. This committee is comprised of district administration, principals, teachers, students, law enforcement officers and community members. A district-wide safety training will be held in July for school level safety teams as we continue this important work. KCSD has SROs/armed security in all schools.
The Kenton Therapeutic Program was implemented in every middle and high school across the district. All elementary schools now have KTP social workers.

College/Career Readiness

The Kenton County School District's Class of 2019 has earned $22 million in scholarships....and counting!
AP Data
We had 709 students take 1,034 AP Exams in 2017-18 with a pass rate of 68.6 percent, far above the state average pass rate of 53% and the national average pass rate of 59%. Students earned over 2,000 college credits from AP Exams, which is a savings of over $691,000 for KCSD families. (Based on the cost of a course at a 4-year American public university.)
Dual Credit Data
Our students took over 1,700 dual credit courses and earned over 5,000 college credit hours in 2017-18. This is a savings of nearly $1.7 MILLION for KCSD families. (Based on the average cost per hour of a course at an American 4-year public university)
The total estimated college tuition money earned by KCSD students as a result of KCSD Dual Credit and AP Programs is $2,371,200, meaning KCSD families saved over $2 million in college costs in 2017-18.
We offer around 60 internships with numerous business partners.
Our district-wide 2019 4-year cohort Graduation Rate was 93.5%, which is higher than the state average of 91%.
We offer a number of Career Pathways in our high schools including: Biomedical Sciences, Computer Science, Engineering, Teaching & Learning and Automotive Technology at the Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology; Army JROTC, Cinematography & Video Production, Pre-Engineering, Homeland Security and Pre-Law at Scott High School; Marketing, Interactive Media, Animal Science and Horticulture & Plant Science at Simon Kenton High School; Management & Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Financial Services and Administrative Support at Dixie Heights High School

Fiscally Solvent & Efficient

The Team Kenton Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in 2018 to raise funds for the Kenton County School District, provided assistance for every Family Resource Youth Service Center. The Outstanding Graduate Ceremony, which honored Lt. Justin Wietholter from Scott High School, raised funds for students to take their career certifications.
The Kenton County School District's Student Nutrition Department began a "Going Green" initiative to transition away from single-use plastic. Kenton, Piner, River Ridge, Summit View Academy, Taylor Mill, and Ryland elementaries received reusable bowls to replace single use paper/plastic products previously used.
Student Nutrition received $56,508 in State reimbursement for the 2018-19 school year.
The Kenton County School District has reduced energy usage by 40% since 2008 and has saved over $13 Million in avoided energy costs since 2005. The Kenton County School District has 15 ENERGY STAR certified schools.
The District had expenditures of over $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2019. The Purchasing Department managed over 60 bids, and saved (cost avoided) over $675,000 through bidding and negotiations. Surplus school buses were sold utilizing an online auction process for the first time, capturing more than $30,000.
KCSD continues a tradition of being financially solvent while fully supporting full day Kindergarten, increased health and therapeutic student services. The 2019 General Fund budgeted Contingency is 10 %.

Did you know?

Districtwide, 77% of students in grades 4-12 participate in at least one extra-curricular activity
Our fleet of 174 KCSD school buses run over 140 routes each day. Our buses travel around 2.2 million miles each year.
New Kenton County school bus drivers have consistently scored in the high 80’s and 90’s on pre-trip, skills, and the road test. Our trainees are thorough and well trained.
Our Student Nutrition Department will host Summer Feeding programs at nine different locations this summer, giving students access to a fresh, healthy lunch even when school is out.
Our Student Nutrition Department serves over 11,000 meals per day. Over 1,300 more meals were served during the 2018-19 school year than the previous year.
Over 30 different languages are spoken in our district, and we have a minority enrollment of 13.3%.
Our BornLearning Academies continue to be successful. We offer BornLearning at three schools - Caywood, Beechgrove and River Ridge.
22.1% of our students receive Gifted and Talented services
The district's attendance average so far this year is 95.89%
The Building Operations Staff (Custodial Staff) consist of 101 employees that clean 18 school buildings, complete daily playground inspections, maintain all flower beds, paints interior of buildings, and performs sidewalk snow and ice removal. Routine preventative maintenance work orders are completed by Building Operations staff such as HVAC filter changes, drinking fountain coil cleanings, ground fault interrupter testing, and emergency light inspections.
The Maintenance Staff includes nine staff members that repair and maintain over 2,000,000 square feet of district buildings. Nearly 4,000 total work orders were completed annually by staff and outside contractors. District Staff maintains and manages over 480 acres of land. Large Projects for the 2019 school year included HVAC Server upgrades at 8 schools, a boiler retrofit/replacement at White’s Tower Elementary, a boiler replacement at Central Office South (converted from Fuel Oil to Natural Gas), and turf replacement at Dixie Heights High School.

Staff Accomplishments

We added six new National Board Certified Teachers in 2018 - Adam Abston, Jana Bromley, Kristina Cahill, Georgana Richman, Sally Spencer and Tenisha Webb - bringing our total number of NBCTs to 66.
Amanda Dempsey (center) from the Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology was a 2019 Northern Kentucky Education Council Golden Apple winner.
Simon Kenton High School Guidance Counselor Susan Back (right) was awarded the Northern Kentucky Education Council's Student Services Award
These teachers were selected as our annual "Excellence is Everywhere" winners. Twenhofel Principal Dr. Shannon Gross received the Leslie Holbrook Award for Outstanding Leadership.
Mr. Bill Schwartz from Scott High School was awarded the Kentucky Association of School Resource Officers (KYASRO) 2019 Educator of the Year!
Dixie Heights Media Librarian Shannon Bosley was named the 2019 Outstanding School Media Librarian by the Northern Kentucky Association of School Librarians.
Summit View Academy Psychologist Corri Monks was named a Best Practice Nominee by the Kentucky Association for Psychology in the Schools (KASP).
Melissa Cross, the Family Resource Youth Service Center Coordinator at Simon Kenton High School, was recognized as the 2018 Kenton County Alliance Champion for the work she does with students and the community.
The Kenton County School District's Communications Team took home several OASIS Awards from the Kentucky School Public Relations Association, including first place for print communications, online electronic communications and miscellaneous electronic communications, and second place for informational videos and feature photography. Melody Stacy from Taylor Mill Elementary won first place for her school newsletter, the Taylor Mill Connection.

Student Achievements

This year, we had FOUR students selected for Governor's School for the Arts (Staylie Brunner, Reagan Hamilton, Abigail VanSickle and Sarah Hopper), and 34 students selected for the Governor's Scholar Program (Andrew Reynolds, Esther Osborne, Emily Norvell, John Cooper Meyers, Veronica Lam, Matthew Kane, Drew Howard, Jocelyn Geraci, Ashton Demoss, Tobias Cook, David Clapper, Nick Brown, Meghan Brockman, Natalie Gardner, Caroline Meister, Conner Pattinson, Mia Arnett, Cole Cassidy, Nathaniel Coulter, Loghan Currin, Andrew Drake, Abigail Fortney, Ashley Glover, Peyton Gose, Abigail Lucas, Max McMillen, Lily Miller, Kimberly Pierce, Kyra Renner, Lauren Russo, Austin Shaffer, Jacob Vogelpohl, Brittany Abbey and Kara Wicklund).
Matthew Kane from Dixie Heights High School scored a perfect score of 36 on the ACT.
The White’s Tower E=WISE team won 1st place in the district for the third year in a row!
Walker Smallwood from Dixie Heights won the St. Elizabeth NKY Courage Award. The award is being renamed in his honor.
A combined Kenton County Marching Band performed in the Reds Opening Day Parade.
The Simon Kenton High School Academic Team won their 16th straight District Governor's Cup.
Three KCAIT Academy Scholars signed To “Go Pro” with professional manufacturing companies through Gateway Community and Technical College and FAME. Ethan Manning signed with L’Oréal; Charlie Coggins signed with Safran USA; Gage Dyrstad signed with Krauss Maffei. Each will start between $30,000 to $40,000 a year and have their college paid.
Brianna Hammond from the Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology was named a 2019 Northern Kentucky Education Council Against All Odds winner
Su'Mya Herndon-Jones from the Kenton County Academies of Innovation and Technology was named a 2019 Northern Kentucky Education Council Career and Technical Academic All-Star
Emily Girard was a 2019 Northern Kentucky Education Council Academic All-Star
We had two students named National Merit Semifinalists: Brittany Ashley and Emily Girard from Simon Kenton High School
Governor's Cup accomplishments: Beechgrove Elementary Future Problem Solving (1st in Region); Nolan Thompson, River Ridge (2nd in Region, Language Arts, 1st in Region, Arts and Humanities); Noah McMahan, Taylor Mill (1st in Region and 1st in District, Composition and 1st in District, Science); Emily Girard, Simon Kenton (2nd in Region, Arts and Humanities and 2nd in Region, 8th in State, Language Arts); Dixie Heights High School Future Problem Solving (2nd in Region); Benjamin Hogan, Twenhofel (2nd in Region, Science); Elenor Best, Turkey Foot (1st in Region, Composition); Grayson Beckham, Twenhofel (2nd in Region, Composition); Ben Debban, Caywood (1st in District, Science); Marley Yeager, Caywood (1st in District, Language Arts); Zoey Pierson, Caywood (1st in District, Arts and Humanities); Taylor Mill Elementary Quick Recall (1st in District); Hayden Dirheimer, Fort Wright (1st in District, Mathematics); Nicholas Kopp, Fort Wright (1st in District, Social Studies); Ari Edmonds, Taylor Mill (1st in District, Language Arts); Evan Ralston, Taylor Mill (1st in District, Arts and Humanities); Taylor Mill Elementary (District Champions); Summit View Academy (District Champions); Kenton Elementary (District Champions); Twenhofel Middle School (District Champions); Turkey Foot Middle School (District Champions); Simon Kenton High School (District Champions)
Four Kenton County School District juniors were selected for the 2020 Regional Youth Leadership (RYL) class: Amy Hendrix (Dixie/IGNITE); Brooke Early and Kai Ellison (Scott High School) and Ellie Vaughn (Simon Kenton)
Ashwin Menon from Simon Kenton High School and Alexandra Taylor from Dixie Heights High School were selected for the Gatton Academy at Western Kentucky University.
Cassidy Hayes from Dixie Heights High School was selected for the Craft Academy at Morehead State.
Summit View Academy eighth grade saxophonist Alex Taylor was selected as a Melody Contest winner, presented by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra!
The Dixie Heights Odyssey of the Mind Team won state and qualified for the World Finals.
Dixie Heights student Alexis Suetholz was awarded first place in the Congressional Art Show. Her artwork will hang in the Congressional Building tunnel in Washington DC for the next year.
The Simon Kenton girls soccer team won their fourth straight 8th Region Championship and went on to compete in the 2019 KHSAA state tournament.
The Simon Kenton High School boys track team won the KTCCCA 3A state championship for the second year in a row.
The Dixie Heights girls swim team earned state runner-up at the KHSAA swim meet.
Scott High School wrestler Brendan Pye won the state championship in the 113 class. He had an undefeated season. Pye has signed with Thomas More University's Wrestling Team.
Simon Kenton bowler Jonathan Cummins won the KHSAA state bowling championship.
The Dixie Heights cheerleaders won a KHSAA state championship in the Competitive Cheer All-Girls Large Division.
The Scott High School Girls Cross Country Team won the 2018 KHSAA 2A State Championship, Allison Clemons, Dyllan Hasler and Maddie Strong were named to the All-Region team, and coach Zach Triplett was named co-coach of the year.
The Dixie Heights softball team won the 9th Region Tournament

2019-20 KCSD Growth Strategies

  • Highly effective leadership in all areas of the district
  • Implementation of the MTSS System
  • District Improvement Plan implementation and impact
  • Professional Learning Communities (PLC); as vehicle to build teams and capacity
  • Continuation of building strong curriculum based on standards and sharing best practices across the district
  • Assessment for learning; Formative/Summative with data used to inform instruction
  • Systemic approach to ensure all Kenton County students are transition ready
  • Continued emphasis on efficiency
  • Strong community and family partnerships

Credits:

Created with images by PublicDomainPictures - "tools hammer nail" • MabelAmber - "door handle doorknob lock" • LichDinh - "kids boy glasses" • weisanjiang - "classroom guiyang tables" • Wokandapix - "classroom lecture hall college education university school" • Pexels - "books college cover" • congerdesign - "paper plate barbecue salad" • PublicDomainPictures - "background berries berry" • jplenio - "light bulb lights bokeh" • hbschw - "money dollar currency" • stevepb - "calculator calculation insurance" • AtelierKS - "school bus america vehicles school transport usa" • davidraynisley - "summer camp summer vacation camp" • Wokandapix - "education cafeteria student" • truthseeker08 - "hands teamwork team-spirit" • Kasman - "child boy toddler" • geralt - "learn school student" • Qamera - "camera photo-camera sony" • TeroVesalainen - "thought idea innovation imagination inspiration light bulb"

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