About Harper Kelly

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So far Harper Kelly has created 26 blog entries.

Celebrating Kentucky’s 2020 Graduates!

During this time of change, we want to give a shoutout to all the Kentucky teenagers and young people who will be “graduating” into their next phases of life – especially those who will be receiving their diplomas from high school, college, or career/technical programs. While we realize that there are many who are bemoaning the fact that they are missing out on the pomp and circumstance celebrations, we want to publicly celebrate this major [...]

By |2020-05-06T11:42:14-04:00May 6th, 2020|Blog, Education|

The School Safety and Resiliency Act: A Summary

As the 2019 legislative session wrapped up, a significant win for Kentucky’s children in schools across the Commonwealth was signed into law by Governor Bevin – Senate Bill 1, known as the School Safety and Resiliency Act. Since then, there have been a fair amount of questions among educators, health professionals, students, and advocates related to the details and implied impacts of the bill. When it comes to any issue – and that includes school [...]

By |2019-05-02T20:40:26-04:00May 2nd, 2019|Blog, Education, Health|

General Assembly Bill 1: The School Safety and Resiliency Act

Many of us remember Schoolhouse Rock!’s, “Bill” – the personified bill – “on Capitol Hill.” Poor Bill is a lonely bill with a lot of hope as he admits he has a long journey ahead of him to become a law. Bill realizes he’s one of the few lucky bills that actually gets heard in committee, which is the first positive step towards full passage. There’s a bill right now in Kentucky that, just by [...]

By |2019-02-06T16:42:20-05:00February 6th, 2019|Blog, Education, Health|

Safe Schools, Safe Kids, Bright Futures

Kentucky’s legislative School Safety Working Group (SSWG), made up of bipartisan legislators, stakeholders and other experts in school safety, has met since June 2018 to listen to and discuss proposals to improve school safety across the Commonwealth. While many states across the nation are feeling pressure to provide a quick, reactive solution, the SSWG, co-chaired by Senator Max Wise and Representative Bam Carney, approached these meetings through an intentional process -- hearing what is currently [...]

By |2019-02-06T16:43:00-05:00January 8th, 2019|Blog, Education, Health|

Preventing Dropouts, Building Brighter Futures

October is National Dropout Prevention Month, which calls our attention on increasing awareness of the long-term effects on not only the students, but also the economy and society when students drop out of school. It offers a reminder to us to become better informed about how to prevent students from dropping out of school so that every child has the opportunity for a brighter future that a high school diploma helps ensure. In Kentucky, the [...]

By |2018-10-24T16:12:02-04:00October 24th, 2018|Blog, Education|

Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow

Tomorrow, September 20th, is “High Attendance Day” for all public schools in Kentucky. Districts and schools have been building up to this day by finding ways to award the schools who record the highest percentage of enrolled students coming to school that day. We know that showing up to school is important for every child. It’s so important that for at least two decades, state accountability indexes have included school and district Average Daily Attendance [...]

By |2018-09-19T11:33:20-04:00September 19th, 2018|Blog, Education|

Speaking Up for Health and Physical Education Standards

Early this month, the Kentucky Department of Education announced a request for feedback on the recently developed and revised Health and Physical Education Standards. These standards as drafted, follow the requirements set forth in Senate Bill 1 (2017) and involved educators and other stakeholders from across the Commonwealth. The Department is making one final outreach to Kentuckians as a whole for additional feedback through December 6th. All Kentuckians are able to provide their feedback on [...]

By |2017-11-20T16:40:55-05:00November 20th, 2017|Blog, Education, Health|

Are You Up for the Challenge?

As a parent of three children – two who have graduated from the same Kentucky public high school and one who is just two years away from graduating – the past 16 or so years has been focused on helping them navigate through their educational experiences. There has been nothing more important than being a partner with other parents, teachers, and administrators in ensuring my children are accessing the content areas in a way that [...]

By |2017-06-14T17:30:57-04:00June 14th, 2017|Blog, Education|

Consistency, Communication, and Collaboration: Making School Resource Officers Work Best for Student Safety and Success

School Resource Officers (SRO), or law enforcement officers working in the school, were created to improve the safety of schools in response to school shootings. After years of being in place, we’ve learned what works for student safety and success, as well as pitfalls that create unintended consequences. This fall, the Juvenile Justice Oversight Council (JJOC) discussed ways Kentucky can improve the role of School Resource Officers in schools to address safety needs without unintended [...]

By |2016-10-13T13:45:26-04:00October 13th, 2016|Blog, Education, Youth Justice|

The First Lady’s Youth Leadership Council Kick-Off Event

“So many people don’t know how to recognize abuse that isn’t physical.” “Help kids both within and outside of ‘the system’ to learn healthy methods to cope with their abuse.” “Abolish the rumors others outside of the foster care system start that automatically assume those within the system are ‘bad kids.’  Get kids out in the community doing good things.  Show people the good.” “Work on removing the moratorium and get the financial assistance up [...]

By |2016-08-31T15:14:47-04:00August 31st, 2016|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
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