KEDC Staff Reports

Professional Development
Coordinator, Donetta Nall
Summer Workshops:  The 2001 Professional Development Summer Workshops are being planned.  The topics for the workshops were generated from the needs assessment surveys sent to each member district in November.  Each district listed its top three needs based upon its consolidated plan’s action components.  The workshops will concentrate on core content in the subject areas of math, science, social studies and reading; the use of technology in the classroom; writing; arts and humanities; and gifted strategies.  Watch for details on each workshop in our KEDC PD Summer 2001 Booklet coming to your district very soon.
 WebEd :  KEDC and Kentucky’s other educational cooperatives are partnering with WebEd to provide online professional development opportunities to educators.  More information on this initiative will be available soon.

Board Services
Secretary to the Board, Donetta Nall
March Meeting & Ky. High School Sweet 1:  Information was sent to everyone on March reservations for the KEDC Board of Directors meeting and also the Kentucky High School State Basketball Tournament.  KEDC has rooms reserved at the Marriott for those staying one to three nights. Information was also included from KHSAA regarding the reservation of blocks of rooms for a three- or four-night stay.
Salary Scales :  The School Finance Division at KDE, which always supplies us with the salary data information, has made major changes in its system this year.  Because of those changes and adjustments in the division’s collection and storage methods, it is running behind in the accumulation of the PSD data.  The data is still being corrected by the districts.  The division will forward the data to KEDC as it becomes available.

Public Relations
Director, Tom Lewis
Cooperative Performance/Service Report: A performance/service report that details the history, services and recent accomplishments of KEDC and Kentucky’s eight other educational cooperatives is nearly complete.  The 24-page report will include a combined history of the cooperatives, explanations of the structure and local control of the cooperatives and a service report and profile for each co-op.  Once printed, copies will be provided to you, state and local school board members, state and federal lawmakers, state education officials and others with an interest in Kentucky education.  Thanks very much to the superintendents who responded to Stan Riggs’s request for information for this report regarding the benefits that your districts derive from KEDC services. 
Newsletter: We hope you found the December edition of the KEDC Keynoter both informative and entertaining.  We plan to produce a monthly, eight-page newsletter with a balance of information about KEDC, news about member districts and items of interest from other educational agencies and organizations.  We hope to include practical tips for you and your staff members and guest columns from the Kentucky Department of Education, Region Service Centers and other sources. If you have information that you wish to include in the Keynoter or ideas to make the newsletter more useful, please let me know.  Because of the volume of work required to produce the performance/service report, the next Keynoter will be a January/February edition.
Updated PR Material: Nellie Holbrook and I have updated and “cleaned up” the brochures that outline the services offered through membership in KEDC and its consortia.  We have also tried to make our exhibit booth for events, like next month’s Kentucky Schools Boards Association conference, more visually appealing.  If you have ideas for making our booth more user-friendly, please share them with Nellie or me. We will soon be reviewing and updating our packet of grant-support material, and those packets will be distributed to members of the Grants Consortium upon completion.  Again, if you have thoughts on what information would be of most use to your district, please let us know.
Golf Scramble: Nellie has been making preparations with Eagle Trace Golf Course for this year’s MSU Scholarship Scramble, which will take place on
May 7.  We will have more details in the near future.
PR Support to Districts: A goal for this year is the development of a model PR plan that will be easy for member districts to customize for their particular needs.  We hope to provide other PR/marketing support to districts, such as the production of television public service announcements/commercials for districts and perhaps individual schools.  To help us tailor these support services most effectively, please let Nellie Holbrook or me know about your district’s needs.

Bidding and Grants
Director, Terry Hoffman
Electronic Procurement Software:  Bids will be received at the KEDC office on February 7^th. We will review results and have recommendation for February KEDC board meeting. We are having an informational meeting with potential vendors on January 23^rd.
Multi-state bids:  Upon board acceptance KEDC will distribute the results of this Multi-state effort.  Categories that were bid are Vehicles, Carpet, Printer & Toner, Playground Equipment & Roofing.
Food pre-bid meeting :  January 22^nd we will be meeting with potential food service vendors.
Paper bid extension:   We will be extending the current bid for 30 days. This extension will carry through February 28^th. During the month of February we will determine if we are going to conduct a new bid or extend for 11 additional months.
Bidding Committee:  Immediately following the KEDC board meeting on Thursday the 18^th, we will have a statewide bidding member meeting. This will also be the first meeting of the new bidding committee.
Valuation bid:  KDE has asked that we wait until they are through piloting in Warren County before anyone bids for these services. A copy of the e-mail from KDE is in board meeting folder.
Grant Support :  Nellie Holbrook continues to provide technical support to Grant member districts. Some of the grants she is currently providing assistance with are Early Reading, CSRD, 21st Century specific foundations.

Technology Services
Director, Steve Smith
USF Year 4 Filing Window :  The filing window for Year 4 (July 1, 2001 thru June 30, 2002) closes on January 18^th, 2001.  The District’s USF application (471) and supporting documentation must be sent by January 18^th.  As of January 10^th, KEDC has assisted 21 member districts in applying for $2.3 million in materials and services distributed between several USF providers.  KEDC contracts total $1.2 million.  Technology Services staff are assisting districts in developing customized documentation for each project as required by the USF this year.
Cellular Telephone Service Collective Bid :  BellSouth Mobility is providing Nationwide and Regional Cellular Service to KEDC districts.  The Nationwide plan provides service free of roaming and long distance charges and does not restrict you to a particular digital network or carrier.  The Regional plan provides service free of roaming and long distance charges within your region.  Over 65% of KEDC member districts can obtain a local access number for their cell phones.  Several more districts will have local access numbers when the merger between BellSouth Mobility and SouthWestern Mobility is completed later in January 2001.  Procurement of Cellular Telephone Service from this Collective Bid is eligible for USF discounts even if your discount percentage does not qualify you for internal connections.  Contact Darren Ripley at 859-608-0084 for more information.
Free On-site Munis Support :  Munis support is yours for the asking.  If you need assistance in balancing and printing your W-2’s or setting up expanded payroll, give me a call.  Our staff will come to your office to provide Munis support at no charge.  This service is included in your KEDC Board Membership.
AESA Conference Presentation :  Tammy Vonderheide and I made a presentation at the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) Annual Conference.  The presentation was entitled Maximizing Technology With Discounts From The Universal Service Fund.  The session focused on how KEDC works with our member districts to provide computer installation, maintenance, and technology cabling with discounts from the USF.  This was an opportunity to share KEDC’s perspective on how to get the most from the USF Discounts with educational service agencies from other states.
Technology Cabling Personnel Available For Work :  The Technology Cabling Crews have completed the backlog of work generated by the Year 2 USF funding commitments.  Our staff can be on-site in your district providing cabling services in a much shorter amount of time.  Give me a call to schedule your on-site walkthru.  KEDC staff will work with you to design the project and provide a CAD drawing and complete materials list.

Regional Adult Education
Director, Nancy Hackworth
Recruitment: Instructors from Carter, Elliott, Greenup, Martin and Menifee counties recruit adult students year-round. The target audience includes adults, age 16 who have been out of school at least one year, and above. Instruction includes literacy, pre-GED and GED, workplace skills, parenting skills, and time and money management.
Professional Development: All instructors must attend professional development training. Full-time instructors attend at least 18 hours each year. DAEL (Department of Adult Education and Literacy) provides most of the training. Because KEDC has a regional program, instructors also may receive local training, provided by the Director of Adult Education. Regional meetings are scheduled bimonthly. A monthly newsletter, telephone and e-mail also provide information. The latest was Intermediate Computer Training at Ashland Community College, taught by Sharon Fields, a KEDC employee.
Awards: Regional awards were presented to all instructors on their performance for the past year. County newspapers published pictures and articles of their presentations.
State Awards: Dr. Cheryl King, Commissioner of DAEL, presented awards to three counties – Carter, Elliott and Menifee – for their performance in attaining the target number of successful students this past year. These counties reached their goal of the number of students enrolled, GEDs earned, jobs obtained and entering postsecondary education or training.
English as a Second Language: Carter County instructors are working with Cook Family Foods, a food processing plant in Grayson. A number of Hispanics (possibly 100) are now employed at Cook’s. DAEL held a conference this past fall to introduce and train instructors in teaching students with a different language.
Greenup County Base Funding: Greenup County will be receiving additional funds during this fiscal year. DAEL determined Greenup was not receiving enough to enable three instructors to reach their goal, as determined by DAEL. Funding is now based on the number of people targeted for education in the county.

KEDC, 904 Rose Road Ashland, KY 41102-7104
Phone: (606) 928-0205  Fax: (606) 928-3785
For a map to KEDC click here.

For questions or comments regarding this site or KEDC please email: webmaster@kedc.coop.k12.ky.us