Last night the community came out to hear from the two men vying to be the next leader of Jefferson County Public Schools.
Jess Clark with the Kentucky Center For Investigative Reporting asked staff, parents, activists, lawmakers and students what they think No. 1 thing the next superintendent of JCPS has to get right. Click the audio player above to hear what they had to say.
TRANSCRIPT:
Kate Schiavi, with the Louisville Free Public Library : "I think just student success."
Sydni Gordon, social studies teacher at Knight Middle School: "Academic rigor."
Michelle Patrick, former education chair of the Louisville NAACP: "Transparency."
Ebonnae Bradley, JCPS Crosby Middle School parent: "Community."
Melissa Hagan-Nelson, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth: "Just involving community, period."
Michelle Pennix, retired JCPS principal and current education chair of the Louisville NAACP: "Our students have to learn how to read, write and compute."
Rob Fulk, JCPS Chief Operations Officer: "Ensuring racial equity in the district, and also pairing that with an infrastructure plan that supports that for the next 40 years."
Liam Gallagher, Legislative Director at Americans for Prosperity Kentucky: "Not raising taxes."
John Hodgson, Republican State Representative: "I think they have to get the discipline right."
Raymond Burse, President of the Louisville NAACP: "Close the achievement gap."
Chris Harmer, Alliance to Reclaim our Schools: "Focusing on academics for free and reduced lunch."
Carol Behringer, Indivisible Louisville: "Having transportation for students."
Olivia Pfeffenberger, JCPS District Behavior Specialist: "There are still a lot of exclusionary practices being run through schools, especially affecting students of color disproportionately."
Ebonnae Bradley: "The schools have different markers, and it's just extreme from one school to the next. So I would just love to see him create some kind of system so we can see a unified front in each school."
Austyn Pryor, 10 year old student at Lincoln Elementary: "Making sure that like all people are treated the same way, and that everybody has the same opportunities at each school."
