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B OONE COUNTY RECORDER 50¢
New Friends of Northern Kentucky has been around since the 1980s, and the organization has evolved over the years.
Tell us why your mom rocks The Community Recorder wants to know “Why Your Mom Rocks.” We are accepting reader essays under 100 words about why your mother is special. Deadline is Friday, April 27. A selection of essays will be published in the Recorder before Mother’s Day, which is on May 13 this year. Send your essay to ndaly@nky.com or to: Mother’s Day, Community Recorder, 228 Grandview Drive, Fort Mitchell KY 41017. If you like include a photo and you and your mother. Please include your name, community and phone number. Also tell us where your mother lives and give her first and last name. Questions? Call 578-1059.
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving all of Boone County THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012
BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
May Madness to arrive School calendar packed with testing
By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
Thanks to no snow days this year, school is getting out early, but that means the last month of school will be even busier. The last day of school is May 18 for Boone County Schools. Some form of state assessment will be going on in the district for the last 13 days of school. It all kicks off May 2 with the new KPREP testing in the district’s elementary schools. KPREP is the new state assessment that is a product of the education overhaul started by 2009’s Senate Bill 1. Elementary schools will test from May 2-8 and the middle school KPREP will run from May 3-9.
While the tests are new for the elementary and middle school levels, the bulk of the assessments will be taken by the older students. “High school has a variety of assessments,” said Karen Cheser, assistant superintendent for learning support services. High school students will take quality core, also known as end of course exams, May 7-18. During that same span, students taking Advanced Placement courses will be taking their exams. Adding to the pile of assessments during that time, students will be doing their on-demand writing assessments May 7-11. “I think March Madness just got moved to May Madness,” said board of education member Karen Byrd. The jampacked month of May
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By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
Boone County Commissioners Matt Dedden, Charlie Kenner and Charlie Walton use their iPads at the April 10 Fiscal Court meeting. STEPHANIE SALMONS/THE COMMUNITY RECORDER
Going electronic saves money, time and paper ssalmons@nky.com
Published weekly every Thursday. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, KY 41042 ISSN 201108 ● USPS 060-780 Postmaster: Send address change to The Boone County Recorder 3635 O’Hara Rd., Erlanger, KY 41018 Annual subscription: Weekly Recorder In-County $18.02; All other in-state $23.32; Out-of-state $27.56; Kentucky sales tax included
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Edwards Ave. getting water, pavement
By Stephanie Salmons Vol. 136 No. 27 © 2012 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
At recent Boone County Fiscal Court meetings, instead of hefty packets of information, county leaders had iPads lined up and ready to go. In a move to reduce associated costs and improve efficiency, the move to electronic documents seems to be one trend emerging around the county.
iPads more efficient
Boone County officials have made the switch, a decision
they’ve been “evaluating for a while,” county Administrator Jeff Earlywine said. With at least 24 meetings a year, the county was generating “huge volumes of paper,” and county meeting packets were getting “bigger and bigger.” After an analysis, Earlywine said it was concluded iPads would be more efficient and environmentally friendly. Eight iPad2s were purchased, totaling $6,630. According to Earlywine, much of that cost was covered by private donations in a nearly 10-
year-old account earmarked for technology upgrades.
Working efficiently
The technology allows officials to work efficiently, saving time. Earlywine said he saves an estimated 30 minutes a week being able to work remotely. He finds himself doing more work at home and responding to email more frequently. Commissioner Matt Dedden said the technology saves him a “tremendous amount of time.” See PAPER, Page A2
WALTON — Plans are moving forward for two major projects on a Walton street. City engineer Dave Whitacre is finalizing plans to overhaul water mains on Edwards Avenue. The work is needed to ensure proper flow to fire hydrants on the street. Troubles arose after a fire last year and firefighters weren’t able to use hydrants because there wasn’t adequate flow. Since the fire, city leaders have worked on a plan to fix the issue and Whitacre hopes to have a solid plan to present to City Council May 14. Whitacre believes the project will cost around $160,000. Whitacre is trying to get the water main project done because Edwards Avenue also needs repaving and he doesn’t want to tear up new pavement with a sewer project. While planning the repaving project, Whitacre found a problem: the street wasn’t designed to park as many cars as its residents own. The road is currently 20 feet wide and to provide adequate street parking for the number of cars on the street, it would need to be 32 feet, Whitacre said. “That’s beyond the capability of the city,” he said.
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Rabbit Hash has been named one of the world’s funniest town names. Viewpoints, A12
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Want your summer event/ festival included in our Northern Kentucky 2012 summer festival listing? Send the following information to kynews@com munitypress.com by May 9: event title, location with address, cost, contact information, short description of event and full itemized list of all dates and times.
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