2024/2025
Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children
Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children Mission
We are committed to the belief that all children can learn and have a right to quality education.
KECSAC protects and assures this right by accessing resources and providing support to programs that educate State Agency Children.
Those children who do not receive an education of quality cannot realize their greatest potential.
We believe these goals are achieved through the process of interagency collaboration.
To accomplish the mission, all members of this statewide partnership must exemplify and publicly promote collaborative relationships with its partners and other associates.
Interagency Advisory Group
Lalah Brewer, Department of Education
Jeremy Camron, SACSAA President, Owensboro Day Treatment
Lacheena Carothers, Department of Juvenile Justice
Diane Gruen-Kidd, Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities
Shannon Jett, Department of Juvenile Justice
Mark Kopp, Superintendent, Franklin County School District
Sarah Vivian, SACSAA President-Elect, The Academy
Christina Weeter, Department of Education
Lorraine Wilbur, Department for Community Based Services
Angela Winkfield, Department for Community Based Services
“Working
Together to Educate All of Kentucky’s Children”
In accordance with the KECSAC regulations, 505 KAR 1:080, the Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children has a governing structure that includes oversight by an Interagency Advisory Group (IAG) composed of representatives of the state agencies, KDE, the State Agency Children School Administrators’ Association (SACSAA) and a superintendent from a school district that provides education to state agency children. This group is to provide recommendations for policy and procedure development for KECSAC. The independent representatives of the state agencies, including KDE, are appointed to serve on the IAG by their respective commissioners. The president and president-elect of SACSAA serve on the IAG and are elected to those positions by the membership of the independent organization. The superintendent member of the IAG is selected by standing members of the IAG, based on recommendations or nominations by SACSAA membership. All members of the IAG serve without compensation from KECSAC.
A Message from KECSAC Director Dr. Ronnie Nolan
My Fellow Kentuckians,
The Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children (KECSAC) has been actively engaged in ongoing work to address the significant educational needs of children in the care or custody of the Commonwealth. The changing landscape of educational services and partnering agency provisions has required our partnering school districts to seek innovative new ways of providing quality educational services. This is often accomplished through a blended model of learning with both direct instruction and technology assisted instruction during our school days. Certainly, during this quarter and in the months and years leading up to it, we have collaborated with our partners to find solutions to issues impacting our students, including staff shortages within our partnering agencies, behavior management concerns, and ongoing educational gaps for state agency children. We have strived to develop policies and practices to ensure our students receive the highest quality educational services available. With our state agency partners, including the local school districts who lead the way, we have developed many quality programs that serve as models for alternative learning environments and traditional schools alike. However, even with all the great work we have accomplished, and it is significant, there is still so much more to do.
A relatively new initiative that is rooted in our belief that all students can succeed, is the Specialized Program Improvement intervention. This new initiative identified programs that may need some additional support, including onsite technical assistance, funding, and targeted professional development services, is designed to support the work already taking place while building on the strengths of the program. We recognize that in order for our students, and all state agency children, to be successful, we need programs that are equipped with the skills and resources they need. We are committed to bringing our partners together through this process to help all our students achieve at their highest level and ability. After all, if we want to address college and career readiness for state agency children, we have to address their educational needs while they are enrolled in our partnering programs.
This is just one of many issues KECSAC is working on to help our children and youth have a quality, equitable educational experience. Program Improvement Specialists continue to provide monitoring and support to our local school districts and our programs through a comprehensive annual review process. KECSAC also provides additional onsite technical support when requested to programs needing guidance in key academic, social and behavioral management areas. A full review of those activities, and many others, are included within the pages of this report.
You will find enclosed a summary of our work and accomplishments, as well as details related to our ongoing initiatives. The ambitious action agenda we are highlighting here could not happen without the broad base of support we have formed with our state agency partners, our local school districts and the teachers and administrators working on behalf of state agency children. We appreciate your continued support as we work to enhance the educational services provided to our students.
Sincerely,
Ronnie Nolan, Ed. D.
Policies and Ongoing Initiatives
KECSAC Hosts Third Annual Poetry and Essay Writing Contests for Students
KECSAC held its Third Annual Student Poetry Competition this fall, accepting entries from September 13-30, and we announced the winners during the second quarter on October 4. We received so many talented and moving works and were impressed by the skill and creativity of KECSAC students across the state! The winners listed below received both certificates and gift cards for their amazing efforts! The Poetry Contest was an open subject prompt and was broken down into categories of grades 3-5, 6-8 and grades 9-12. The panel of judges were faced with tough choices as all the entries were incredible in their own right. The following is a list of the winners of the Poetry contest in each grade category.
Grades 9-12
First place: J.C., The Ocean – St. Joseph Children’s Home
Second place: C.S., In The Silence I Still Trust – Glen Dale Center
Third place: A.F., Watercolors – St. Joseph Children’s Home
Honorable Mention: J.E., Yellow Fever – Heartland Youth Village
Honorable Mention: A.W., The Circle of Happiness – Eagle Academy
Grades 6-8
First place: A.F., Cry Cry Cry – Heartland Youth Village
Second place: J.S., OW – Purchase Youth Village
Third place: K.Y., It’s Just Me – Heartland Youth Village
Honorable Mention: A.W., Dreams – St. Joseph Children’s Home
Grades 3-5
First place: K.B., Jets and Planes – Purchase Youth Village
During the second quarter we also requested submissions for our third annual Statewide Student Essay Writing Competition from October 25- November 22, and winners were announced December 6, 2024. Students had three categories to choose to enter: persuasive essay, narrative essay, or descriptive essay. Each category was also open to submissions from students in grades 6-8 and students from grades 9-12. The judging panel had a challenging time choosing winners since there were so many great entries that showcased the writing talents of our students, their technical skill, and their depth of reflection. Each winner received a gift card and certificates to honor their achievement. The following entries below were identified as winners in each category. You can also see the list of winners for both competitions on our website at https://www.kecsac.org/news.
6-8 Grade Category: Descriptive
First Place: P.S., “Super Powers,” – Purchase Youth Village
6-8 Grade Category: Narrative
First Place: M.T., “If Apocalypse Could Feel,” – Purchase Youth Village
9-12 Grade Category: Descriptive
First Place: A.F., “Scars Fade,” – St. Joseph Children’s Home
9-12 Grade Category: Narrative
First Place: A.H., “My Path, My Destiny,” – Warren County Day Treatment
9-12 Grade Category: Persuasive
First Place: S.S., “All Students Should Wear Uniforms” – Warren County Day Treatment
Second Place: G.G., “Change of Policy,” – Laurel County Day Treatment
Policies and Ongoing Initiatives
KECSAC Projected Per-Child Rate for 2025/2026
The KECSAC State Agency Children’s Fund (SACF) allocation has been projected for the 2025-2026 school year. This total SACF will be allocated to existing and pre-qualified programs. The SACF rate is determined by the total of funds available and the number of eligible State Agency Children served. Based on the data available, listed below is the projected per child SACF amount for 2025-2026 school year.
As previously noted, the per child amount is only a projection and is contingent upon the total amount of funding available and the final budget allocation provided by the Kentucky General Assembly as well as the total number of state agency children being served in our programs. Please note that new programs may apply for KECSAC funding until the deadline of April 1, 2025. The addition of new programs will decrease the allocation totals for all programs.
The KECSAC State Agency Children’s Fund (SACF) allocation projection for the 2025-2026 school year is approximately $ 7,213 per child
KECSAC Program Improvement Process Updates
As part of KECSAC’s ongoing program improvement process and continual growth model for helping local school districts meet the educational needs of state agency children, KECSAC Program Improvement Specialists perform annual site visits and monitoring of each of the 70 funded KECSAC programs, operating in 46 local school districts across the Commonwealth for 2024/2025. Throughout the monitoring period (which coincides with the school year) programs receive individual in-person visits,virtual visits if necessary,or “team”visits where both of the Specialists conduct a joint monitoring at the same program. At the time of this quarterly report 28 visits had been conducted for the year. KECSAC will continue to use the Program Improvement Monitoring Tool and SIDE document that aligns our monitoring standards to Cognia standards, which KDE uses for their school monitoring. In addition to the Cognia standards, the monitoring tool also includes standards that relate to alternative settings and KECSAC requirements as well. A self-assessment is also used to gauge how programs view their own progress and strengths prior to the monitoring visit.
Census Collection
Preparation for the 2024 KECSAC Annual Census Report collection of data began during the second quarter by offering an online training in November covering how to fill out the census survey document and instructions for confirming the Infinite Campus membership reports. The census collection date for KECSAC programs this year was December 2, 2024 and surveys were due to KECSAC by December 16, 2024. KECSAC census collection is part of the federal Child Find process completed each year. Child Find requires all school districts to identify, locate and evaluate all children with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities. The Census Report is typically published in the spring and provides valuable information about state agency children to stakeholders across the state.
Policies and Ongoing Initiatives
Administrators Attend Local Study Tour of KECSAC Programs
On October 29, KECSAC leadership took a small but intentional cohort of KECSAC school administrators on a study tour of Central and Eastern Kentucky programs. The group visited four state agency programs to learn about commonalities and differences among various educational settings. The first program visit was to The Future Forward Education and Career Center. Future Forward is the education program provided by Franklin County Schools at the Fayette Regional Juvenile Detention Center. They serve up to 60 students. Staff at Future Forward shared all of the innovative programming and outcome data of that work with the attendees. A tour of the campus enlightened visitors about ways to make a school inside of a correctional facility work and feel like a traditional and supportive school environment. Next, the group traveled to Pine Ridge, KY to meet with students and staff at Dessie Scott School. Dessie Scott School provides educational services to children and youth in the care or custody of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. They serve up to 48 students in a residential group home setting. One hundred percent of the students have an identified educational disability and most are working towards developing independent living skills. The students at Dessie Scott were really engaged with the group and described how the innovations and caring staff made them glad to attend school. The participants met that afternoon to discuss and document takeaways and observations from the day. They enjoyed dinner together and lodged at Natural Bridge State Park.
(Above) Study Tour participants got to see the positive incentive room at Dessie Scott School and (below) stopped for a group photo during lunch on the first day of the study tour.
Day two of the study tour involved traveling to Morgan County to visit Woodsbend Youth Development Center. Woodsbend YDC serves up to 40 students in a residential DJJ program. Leadership at Woodsbend showcased the impressive vocational programming available to students. Young men at Woodsbend have the opportunity to learn carpentry and electrical wiring and were proud show off the incredible projects they have produced along with the valuable job skills they have gained. Finally, the group was able to tour Morehead Youth Development Center in Rowan County. Morehead YDC is a DJJ operated program designed to provide treatment and educational services to girls in the care or custody of the Commonwealth. The program serves up to 40 students and provides both traditional educational services as well as vocational training in culinary arts and graphic design. School administration explained the structure of the school day, and described the administrative logistics involved in combining multiple groups of students who are differently involved with the Juvenile Justice System.
KECSAC would like to thank the leadership of each program for hosting an insightful and educational tour of a sampling of the excellent programs in their area of the Commonwealth. Stay tuned for a future study tour near you in the future!
Administrators were able to test out some of the adaptive PE equipment the students use at Dessie Scott School.
KECSAC IAG Meets During Second Quarter
During the second quarter of the 2024/2025 school year, KECSAC’s Interagency Advisory Group (IAG) met once on October 22, 2024 at the Madison County Day Treatment program in the Madison County School District. Dr. Ronnie Nolan opened the meeting welcoming the group’s new SACSAA President-Elect representative Ms. Sarah Vivian. During the meeting the group discussed budget updates, changes in program status, and upcoming monitoring visits regarding both IDEA Monitoring and the ongoing DOJ investigation. Partner IAG members also shared pertinent information from each of their agencies. The group was able to tour the program as well and asked questions about the student population, how the program operated, and how they used innovative strategies to serve state agency children.
KECSAC IAG met on Oct. 22 during the second quarter at Madison County Day Treatment.
