New Beginnings

Wow, what a week for new beginnings! Our students and staff returned to campus in high spirits and immediately set to work making new friends and learning new lessons. Our school district welcomed a record number of students this year, with an enrollment jump of 466 kids that brings our total enrollment above 34,000 students for the first time. And on a personal note, Kathy and I welcomed our first grandchild into the world on Saturday – there’s just something incredible about holding your baby girl’s baby girl for the first time.

The 2007-2008 school year is already off to a tremendous start, with many new initiatives in place for our students. Six of our schools will be offering Chinese or Japanese this year for the first time and the International Baccalaureate Programme is up and running at Tates Creek High School. This year our students will also have expanded offerings in chess, critical thinking activities, music instruction, extracurricular opportunities and international computer videoconferencing. We have a tremendous year ahead of us as we take our students to new heights.

It’s also exciting that our Board of Education is considering taking a step to move our schools ahead in the area of facilities. As you know, we have serious needs in the area of facilities, with nearly half of our schools in need of renovation or repair projects and a pressing need for new schools in growing areas of Lexington east of I-75 and in the southwest area along the Clays Mill Road corridor. We are asking our Board to pass a "facilities nickel" to meet the need to provide our kids with quality facilities. We will really need everyone’s support as we move this forward. Our Web site contains lots of information about the needs, the proposal and the misconceptions that some people may have. Please take some time to review the following links.