Education

The Bank of Kentucky has committed the first-ever million-dollar donation to Gateway Community & Technical College. The $1 million donation to Gateway’s affiliated foundation will go to help develop Gateway’s Urban Campus in Covington. The college and the foundation already are spending up to $17 million on the campus, which eventually will spread over about six square blocks in Covington.

A University of Kentucky police officer has been fired for inappropriate contact with a student after entering the student's dorm room. Officer David Thompson was terminated Wednesday after the Saturday evening incident at Haggin Hall, according to a statement by UK Police Chief Joe Monroe. The incident was investigated by the police department, and "the officer, as a result, was in violation of a number of university employment policies," Monroe said.

Kentucky Protection and Advocacy has asked the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence to include special education information for participants in next year’s parent leadership institutes. KPA is a federally mandated state agency that protects persons with disabilities. KPA attorney Leslie Jones says the agency spends a lot of time working with students.

Summer camps are nothing new, but some of Kentucky’s most enterprising youth are applying to be chosen for a spot in the Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs. The school, to be held June 9-29 at Georgetown College, is a residential summer camp where high school students work in teams, expand on their ideas and create business models for their projects. It is patterned after Kentucky Governor’s Scholars and the Governor’s School for the Arts, according to the governor’s office.

The State Board of Education has acted to take over operation of the Breathitt County school district.  The board Wednesday also moved to implement state assistance in the Monticello Independent school district.   In November, the Department of Education completed a management audit of the Breathitt County schools.  The findings indicated a significant lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the district’s management and governance.

Midway College this morning greeted its new president. A little rain didn’t dampen the fanfare for Doctor John Marsden.   Members of the Midway College community lined what’s called the ‘Path of Opportunity’ which links the campus to the city of Midway.  Accompanied by bag pipes and professors dressed in their academic gowns, Marsden and his wife Margaret proceeded along the path to a podium at Pinkerton Hall.

A former high-ranking researcher at the University of Kentucky has been penalized by federal investigators in a scientific misconduct case that spanned a decade and included allegations that he falsified data in at least 10 papers and numerous grant applications. Eric J. Smart, who was an associate professor and vice-chairman of the UK Department of Pediatrics and the Barnstable-Brown Chair in Diabetes Research, resigned from UK in May. He now teaches at Bourbon County High School.

As the number of immigrants coming to central Kentucky grows, the demand for English lessons also increases.  But, there are not enough instructors here who can teach English-as-a-Second-Language classes.  Lexington’s Multicultural Affairs Coordinator Isabel Taylor says ‘the numbers’ tell a big part of the story.  Taylor says data gathered from the Fayette County School System shows about 15 hundred non-English speaking children were enrolled in 2005.  By last spring, she says that number had almost tripled.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced Monday he’ll make a concerted effort to support the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership offered by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. Prichard has hosted the program for several years, educating and mentoring hundreds of parents to become involved in their child’s education.

Martha Raddatz, ABC News Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent and moderator of the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate at Centre, will be the featured speaker at Centre’s 190th Commencement Ceremony on May 19. Raddatz has held her current role at ABC since 2008. Previously, she acted as the network’s State Department and senior national security correspondent. She and others at ABC News were recognized for their coverage of Sept. 11, 2001, with a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award.

In its campaign against hazing, Eastern Kentucky University expects student clubs to police themselves.  The E-K-U Men’s Rugby Club was suspended Thursday night for freshmen initiations that included a paddle.  The club cannot practice, play games, or even meet until August of 20-14.  Eastern Vice President of Student Affairs Mike Reagle says the university does not have enough staff to closely monitor such organizations.

Four Kentucky universities will begin using a standardized financial aid letter aimed at helping students and parents better understand the costs of higher education. The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that the University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Bellarmine University and Louisville's University of Phoenix campus have agreed to use the “Financial Aid Shopping Sheet.”

After investigating alleged hazing on the Eastern Kentucky University rugby team, EKU officials on Thursday announced that they are suspending the team until Aug. 18, 2014; that the team will be on probation until spring classes start in 2016; and that all team members must attend an instructional session on hazing by Oct. 1, 2014.

The search for a new president at Eastern Kentucky University begins in earnest this week.  Members of the E-K-U community can offer their thoughts on the skills needed in the next president.  Consultants hired to help with the search will be in Richmond the next two days to hear from administrators, faculty, students, and citizens.  An open community forum is tonight on the Richmond campus.  Presidential Search and Screening Committee Chair Craig Turner says public comments will be part of the mix

Kentucky school districts are adjusting to a new testing system that ranks almost 70 percent of the state's schools in the lowest category: "needs improvement." The results, released at 12:01 a.m. Friday, may come as a shock to school districts that had generally ranked higher in previous tests. But the system's design automatically ensured that 69 percent of schools and districts would end up in the "needs improvement" classification.

A Pre-Halloween snowfall in eastern Kentucky has kept thousands of school children home.  The snow comes as a spinoff to Hurricane Sandy.  In Pike County, where classes were canceled Tuesday,  Personnel Director Ralph Kilgore says an October snow day is highly unusual.  “I can remember when I was a young man in school, we had snow and we were practicing football in the snow, but that was back in the 60’s.  That’s been a long time.   Since I’ve been in the school system, I cannot remember calling school off in October, for snow,” said Kilgore.