Latest news with #DaviessCountyPublicSchools
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Gifted DCPS students participate in Insight Academy
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) — A group of gifted elementary students in Daviess County are getting a unique head start on middle school. For the first time in years, Daviess County Public Schools is launching a summer camp called Insight Academy for high-achieving students. It's not your typical summer break for these soon-to-be middle schoolers. At Deer Park Elementary, the Insight Academy offers everything from hands on experiments in kitchen chemistry to navigating history in a titanic simulation. Less than 50 4th and 5th graders across the district were invited to attend based on teacher recommendations. 'Most of the time, I'm like 'okay, I've done this already. This should be easy'. It usually is. This [the camp] it kind of challenges my brain and it's not as boring as school,' says Clayton Collins, a rising 5th grader enrolled in the Academy. The week-long summer camp runs from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.. 'Sometimes, you just want to get to the right processes. This allows kids to have to dig a little deeper to get the right answer, but it just constantly that they have to problem solve and persevere when it's hard.,' says Sarah Appleby, a teacher at the academy and county middle school instructional coach. In those 3 hours, the summer camp is meant to push students to think critically, collaborate with new peers and get a sneak peek of what's waiting from them in middle school. 'Today we're doing Murdle are logic puzzles. They have the riddles, deduction grids, and have to take all the clues and figure out who's the suspect. They have to solve the case,' says Appleby. Experiences include making their own yogurt and evaluating the composition of foods under a microscope. Mrs. Standiford, another academy instructor, waited to hear students questions about the titanic before building the curriculum for the entire week. Tuesday included the construction of a 3D version of the famous ship. 'We are going to look at some of the dinner menus, if you were [in a] different [financial] class, how was your experience different on the ship. We're also going to have to get our water temperature to the temperature of 28 [degrees] so we can see how that would have felt like. We're just gonna have our hands versus your whole body,' says Kristy Standiford. Officials say the camp is a resource they hope to offer to more grades next year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Daviess County teacher selected for Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – A Daviess County Public Schools educator has been selected to participate in the 3rd annual Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship. Beth Ewing is the district-wide Virtual Academy Coach and serves as a regional network lead for the University of Kentucky – Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative. Ewing says the opportunity is an honor, and that she believes the focus will be crucial in understanding the impact of the Holocaust. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation organizes the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship to help equip educators with the knowledge and resources to effectively teach history to their students. The year-long program will include an study trip to Poland to visit Warsaw, Krakow and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Daviess County Public Schools Summer feeding program kicks off
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WRHT) — School may be out for the summer, but Daviess County Public Schools are still showing up for kids and families with meals they can count on. DCPS officials are hoping to continue the fight against food insecurity through their summer feeding program. It offers free meals to kids 18-years-old and under. Officials say the effort is more than just convenience, it's a lifeline. Boat tour sheds light on Pigeon Creek debris The district's kick-off event aims to get families excited and acclimated to one new important change. State regulations now require meals be eaten on site to make sure one meal is served per child. 'They're all congregated sites. You at least have to start eating your meal inside. Like, we'll go on probably before you finish, and you can take it or go. We have to stay on site for the duration,' says Connie Beth Fillman, the food service director for DCPS. Statistics show more than 3,000 children face food insecurity and that number spikes when school cafeterias close. Daviess County High School's assistant principal has worked in the district for 22 years and says one of its biggest benefits is nutrition. '…the availability of whole grains, nutritional breakfast [and] lunch that these kids can get their hands on… something that's going to be nutritious. It's going to fill them up, and it's going to give them energy to want to get out and and do more,' says Paul Howard, the assistant principal of DCHS and a parent of two DCHS students. From now until August 1, the district's food service vans will make pit stops at over a dozen locations like spray parks and neighborhoods. With the exception of holidays like Fourth of July and Memorial Day, three vans will make their way across the county. 75,0000 meals were served last summer and 1,000 kids were served each day.'Hamburgers. And we got apples and chips. Carrots and their milk. And then we're also sampling our fruit slushies. We serve these at high school and have a cup of fruit. So we're letting the kids see those, too.' One rising eighth grader attended the event with his family and says the program makes his battle with celiac disease easier during and outside of school hours. 'I think it definitely helps instead of having to pack my lunch every day. I really like how they made me a gluten free sub sandwich,' says Jack Tichenor, a rising 8th grader at Daviess County Middle School. The school program's second annual kick off at the county high school's football field aims to give families a taste of the new protocol with games and vendors offering free items occupying their time while they eat. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Broughton touts DCPS achievements
With the 2024-25 school year nearing its end, Daviess County Public Schools Superintendent Charles Broughton told DCPS board members the district is creating new programs aimed at gifted students and at aspiring future teachers. Broughton announced the new initiatives as part of his 'capstone' presentation to the board. The capstone is an annual requirement, to show the board the superintendent is meeting Kentucky Association of School Administrators 'Next Generation Superintendent's Effectiveness Standards.' Broughton, who is finishing his first year as DCPS superintendent, told board members about what he'd done to increase communication about district standards to teachers and staff, and had worked to boost academics and 'customer service' interactions with students and parents. 'I'm excited about what's going on in this district,' Broughton said. Broughton said when he was hired as superintendent, he committed, 'that every day I would be collaborating, communicating and I would hold myself accountable.' The district is 'striving in every day' to provide a high-quality education, Broughton said. Board member Tom Payne told Broughton later in the presentation, 'The DCPS board had very high expectations, because we think we are in the top five in the state' among school districts. Payne complimented Broughton's emphasis on student safety, student learning and his communication with the board. 'We expect a lot, and you certainly met our expectations,' Payne said. Broughton announced two new programs planned, with the first starting over the summer and the second during the 2025-26 school year. In June, the district will hold its first summer camp for gifted and talented students, Broughton said. While the district offers services to a wide variety of students, 'at times we forget about those upper-level kids,' Broughton said. '...I want us to offer a camp to support them.' Broughton announced the district would launch a teacher prep academy during the coming school year, for students who are interested in pursuing teaching careers. The academy is being created in conjunction with Western Kentucky University, Kentucky Wesleyan College and Owensboro Community & Technical College, Broughton said. Broughton said the academy will be a way for the district to potentially create the next generation of DCPS teachers. 'Hopefully, they'll come back' to DCPS when they become teachers, Broughton said. The Kentucky Association of School Administrators 'Next Generation' standards range from growing the district academically and helping students prepare for college or careers to providing professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. The standards also focus on superintendents growing as leaders. To foster communication, 'I met with every department within DCPS,' Broughton said. Part of those meetings were to discuss expectations of staff, and also 'what I expected out of myself,' he said. Among the goals the district accomplished during the school year was the creation of an online tutoring service, which operates nightly Monday through Thursday and is open to any DCPS student. Broughton said while the hope is the service will be used by more students, 'it is out there and students are using it.' Some goals for the coming year include completing the renovation of the new central office building on Frederica Street, and the implementation of morphology plans at five district schools. Morphology is the teaching of parts of words. According to a November 2023 article in Education Week, the use of morphology has been shown to have a 'modest effect' on reading, vocabulary and spelling. The district will track morphology instruction in the five schools, with plans to expand to other schools in the future, Broughton said. Regarding customer service, Broughton said the district staff embraced the '12X12X12' initiative at the beginning of the school year, where teachers and staff all worked to have 12 short conversations with 12 students by noon each day. Some students 'may not have an adult look them in the eye and ask them how their summer was,' Broughton said, and that the initiative to actively engage students on a personal level 'set the tone' for the school year. Broughton said that emphasis on customer service extended to the staff, who were instructed to answer phone calls by asking, 'how may I help you?' 'I do believe we are here to serve the community,' Broughton said. 'We are here to serve our students.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
DCMS Newcomers practice language skills through podcast
Students arriving at Danielle Mead's Newcomers class at Daviess County Middle School come from all over the world. That's not an exaggeration: More than 30 languages are currently being spoken in the Daviess County Public Schools system. What all of those students need, of course, is a command of English, and the Newcomers program is a way the district works to rapidly build English skills in students who are relatively or entirely new to the language. 'It's a variety: Some of them have no English,' Meade said in a recent interview. To help build their skills in a new way, Meade and a group of Newcomers students created a podcast, where the students talk to each other about their lives and share their stories. The podcasts were selected, out of thousands of entries, to be judged at the Student Technology Leadership Program state championship later this month in Lexington. 'It's a real celebration of where education and technology merge,' said Jana Beth Francis, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at DCPS. 'We have worked in the district to work the podcast into the curriculum. 'To be a good podcaster, you have to read, write, speak and listen well,' Francis said. DCMS media specialist Kate Albers said one of the ideas behind the podcast was to help the students gain confidence in their language skills. 'A lot of times, they are afraid to speak English because they are still learning,' Albers said. Putting together the podcast wasn't difficult. 'We've had the equipment for a couple of years, so we've done podcasts before,' Albers said. The podcast is hosted by sixth graders Ehsanullah Mohamadi, Jeremiah Kuriakose-Kocheril and Henry Soni, and by eighth grader Fernando Gonzalez. 'I think it was kind of cool,' Gonzalez said. 'I'd never done that before.' A script was prepared beforehand, so the students were prepared for taping. The process was easy, Mohamadi said. 'It was just reading,' he said. The students spend half of each day with Meade, learning English through reading, learning words and concepts, answering questions and by using tools such as videos of Steve Hartman's 'On The Road' series. The students build their vocabulary, learning through written passages that connect to their other classes. The class follows a routine, with students building on their language skill days. For example, the students begin the week by reading a passage and progressing with it to where they are able to discuss the passage's key ideas by week's end. 'Each day the students spend three hours with me,' Meade said in an email. 'In those three hours, everyone has had a chance to speak. It may be a one word response or a two to three sentence response, but in my room we celebrate all speaking that a student (does). When a new student realizes that we are in this together, they will take more risks in my room and each day grow in their English proficiency.' For the remainder of the school day, the students go to their regular classes. Meade said the staff works with the new English speakers to help them succeed. 'When I first got the job, I met with the teachers,' Meade said. 'We looked at how to modify their assignments and how to address their needs.' Fellow DCPS students are also very supportive of kids who are new to English, Meade said. 'Their peers that are English speakers area always able to help them,' Meade said. Meade described the Newcomers class as a place where the students help each other and where they know they have an instructor they can turn to for assistance. 'The first thing I do on day one of getting a new student is just building a relationship with them,' Meade said. 'They quickly learn I am their advocate before, during, and after school hours. I am here to make them feel welcomed in America.'
