that put kids first and with our new classrooms coming our building will grow with our enrollment .
KL : Adequate funding for education has been a longstanding issue . The fact that limited revenue increases are not keeping up with the rapid rising costs of education materials , fuel , utilities , etc . make balancing a budget , while providing all necessary educational resources and competitive salaries , even more challenging .
PR : I feel the two biggest challenges facing educational leaders today are social issues and the lack of support of public education from our elected leaders . Educating young people today is more than teaching reading , writing , and arithmetic . Whether it be the distraction of the cell phone and the immediate response to social media or the topics of hot button political topics , to the struggle to meet the need for social emotional support for students , these things are a distraction that takes away from our greatest duty to educate .
Secondly , the waning support for public education in the past several years is finally impacting school systems across the state and nation . This is reflective in the lack of interest in teachers going into the education field , which in return is causing a shortage in quality applicants for our classrooms . Also , the lack of funding for schools and teacher pay is beginning to affect schools as well . The local tax burden can only support modern schools to a certain level and it is ludicrous to think otherwise . The process is multi-faceted , transportation , school safety and SROs ( School Resource Officers ), teacher pay , special education , all of these things take more money year after year , especially as we have seen costs rise associated through the aftereffects of the pandemic . It is time to take politics out of it and do what is best for our children .
3 . What ’ s new in your district this year ? ( Teachers , principals , buildings , initiatives , etc .)
JD : We have added two new classroom teachers , an additional counselor , a new SRO and two new classified staff to our team this summer . We are excited for them to join our family here on The Hill . We will be continuing our Deeper Learning initiative and plan to have increased focus on our RTI ( Response to Intervention ) programs so that we can better meet the needs of all students .
KL : In addition to new teachers at each of the schools , we have a few administrator changes . Mrs . Andrea Keeney has changed positions and will be serving as the Director of Pupil Personnel for the district at Central Office . Mrs . Abby Hall will be the new guidance counselor at Meece Middle School . Ms . Maci Meece is a recent addition to the Youth Service Center at Somerset High School and will be joined soon by a new FRYSC coordinator at Meece Middle .
8 • SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky august 2023