LINK Kenton Reader Super Issue - Volume 2, Issue 38 - August 23, 2024

By Rebecca Hanchett

MEDUCATION IN NKY

What’s working, how can we improve?

att Baker has seen big changes in Northern Kentucky public education in his six years as superintendent of Walton-Verona Independent Schools.

As with all change, some is positive and some is not. A dichotomy has developed in the region, with school districts ramping up learning and out-of-school options while simultaneously struggling with the needs of an increasingly economically disadvantaged student population.

For an example of what’s going right, Baker mentioned Ignite Institute – a career-centered and highly selective 183,000 squarefoot high school that opened in 2019 as NKY’s first regional public school. More good change cited by Baker is NKU’s Young Scholars Academy, a college immersion program for dual-credit high school students that began in 2020 with Kenton Continues on page 4

Literacy

Organizations

Nontraditional programs pave new paths for students p16

Grandview Elementary school. Hailey Roden | LINK nky

A sample of the offerings at Ripple Wine Bar. Photo provided | Ripple Wine Bar on Facebook

PRESIDENT & CEO Lacy Starling

MANAGING EDITOR Meghan Goth

SPORTS EDITOR Evan Dennison

The LINK nky Kenton Reader is a weekly newspaper. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending, permit number 32 in Covington, Kentucky. The LINK nky Kenton Reader office of publications and the Periodical Pending Postage Paid at 700 Scott St., Covington, KY 41011.

For mailing address or change-of-address orders: POSTMASTER: send address changes to

The LINK nky Kenton Reader: 31 Innovation Alley, Covington, KY 41011 859-878-1669 | www.LINKnky.com

HAVE A TIP? News@LINKnky.com

WANT TO ADVERTISE? Marketing@LINKnky.com

WANT TO SUBSCRIBE?

Send a check for $31.80 ($30 non-auto-renewing rate plus 6% Kentucky sales tax) to LINK nky

31 Innovation Alley, Ground Floor Covington, KY 41011 or scan this QR code below

Love what we're doing? Want to support public-interest journalism in Northern Kentucky? Make a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Scan the QR code below, or mail a check payable to the Northern Kentucky Community Journalism Fund to 50 East Rivercenter Blvd. Suite 431, Covington, KY 41011.

No part of this publication may be used without permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please let us know and accept our sincere apologies in advance.

By Lacy Starling

IIt’s time for every voice to be heard

n my favorite song from the musical “Hamilton,” Aaron Burr sings of his longing to be “in the room where it happens” — where decisions are being made for the future of the United States. Burr is not in that room, and he finds it deeply frustrating.

In Northern Kentucky, like in all communities, we also have rooms “where it happens.” Whether they are official government meetings or groups of business leaders gathering to discuss strategy, decisions are being made every day for the future of our community.

LINK tries to be in as many of those rooms as possible, reporting on what is happening at public meetings. I’m also privileged to be in some of those nonpublic rooms in my role as publisher here at LINK. (I’m rarely the most popular person thereI’ve been not-so-subtly referred to as “the press” more times than I can count.)

In those rooms, we usually find about 200 or so people — active, engaged leaders who I believe care deeply about Northern Kentucky and our future. It may vary a bit from county to county, or issue to issue, but the circles overlap quite a bit.

When I am lucky enough to be invited in, I make the same point over and over again. (People are, I’m sure, sick of hearing me say this by now.) It is great to have those 200 active, engaged leaders in our community. However, we cannot forget the 405,000 other residents of our community, without whom real change will not happen.

No matter how visionary the plan, or bold the strategy, if our community feels like something is being done to them instead of with them, it will fail. In order to move NKY forward, all our voices must be heard and considered, and we, as a community, must agree that’s the direction we want to go.

That’s where LINK comes in. We were created to be the voice of Northern Kentucky. The job of a local newspaper is to not only tell the community what its leaders are doing, but to tell those leaders how their community feels about what’s being done.

We do that any number of ways, from interviewing residents to publishing op-eds and letters to the editor. But in the past six months, talking to one or two people at a time has not felt like enough. The room still feels too small, and we want to take bolder action to bring the voices of our residents to the leadership of our community.

To that end, I’m very excited to announce the first NKY Community Survey. This month and next, we are asking everyone in NKY to hop on their smartphones or computers and take a five-minute survey that covers everything from how likely you are to leave NKY to how you feel about things like crime and housing.

LINK worked with NKU’s Center for Economic Analysis and Development to create

this survey, and our plan is to conduct it ev ery two years as a measure of how things are improving (or not) in our communi ty. We also had it translated into Spanish to help capture the voices of our Span ish-speaking population.

We will share the data gathered with oth er organizations in the community to help them in their decision-making, and will be using what we have learned to direct our coverage over the next 18 months. In 2025, we’re launching an event series called LINK Community Conversations, and the topics and speakers will be chosen based on the survey results.

Not everyone has the time, the ability or the privilege to be a part of community decision-making, but by taking this sur vey, you can ensure that your voice will be heard in the room where it happens.

MAKE SURE YOUR VOICE IS HEARD! Scan the QR code or go to linknky.com/survey and take the NKY Community Survey today

SCAN ME!

Continued from page 3 County Schools. It has since expanded to accept public high school students from the river cities and beyond.

Positive change in performance of the region’s 13 public school districts that serve almost nine in 10 – 87% – of the region’s 68,493 schoolchildren has also been reported, based on comparing state education accountability ratings for the 201819 and 2022-23 school years. Every NKY public school district made at least some improvement in state ratings over the five year period, with the most improvement reported at the high school level in Ludlow and at the middle school level in Southgate.

NKY has also outpaced state elementary and middle school benchmarks as Kentucky’s fourth- and eighth-grade national reading and math scores were on par with scores in most states based on 2022 scores, the most recent available, of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, scores.

In Walton-Verona, overall performance ticked up at the middle school level between 2019 and 2023, state data shows. Baker told LINK the district’s “robust process to identify and track the progress of students who struggle academically” is leading to success.

Disparities also are reported in the region. One is state funding of public schools, an issue recently reported on by LINK. There is also a rise in the percentage of NKY students classified as economically disadvantaged – a term defined by the Kentucky Department of Education as “income eligible for free or reduced-priced [school] meals.” It’s an issue that goes beyond nutrition.

Economically disadvantaged in schools

In its education assessment released in May, EducateNKY, a local nonprofit formed to study and improve the NKY education landscape, made it clear that NKY has consistently outpaced the state in the percentage of students who enter kindergarten ready to learn and other measures.

Educational progress in the region is not exactly equal, however. School districts with a larger percentage of economically disadvantaged (or lower socioeconomic status) students have often fallen behind more affluent districts in overall performance, based on state accountability data from the Kentucky School Report Card, a broad-based school transparency site

maintained by the state Department of Education.

NKY’s highest rates of economically disadvantaged youth, based on 2022-23 data, were in the river city districts, with Covington Independent (at a rate of 89.5%) and Newport Independent (at 90.3%) at the top of the list. Both districts also had the lowest overall state accountability rating for their high schools in 2022-23, per the data, and Newport rated at the bottom for overall middle school performance.

Though the rate is highest in Covington and Newport, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students is on the rise across Northern Kentucky. Boone and Kenton county schools – the largest districts in the region – had a two- to three-percentage point increase in their number of economically disadvantaged students between 2018-19 and 2022-23, according to state accountability data. (Campbell County’s percentage has stayed nearly the same at around 47.5%.) Even more affluent districts have seen an increase; state data shows the percentage of economically disadvantaged students increased from 8.6% to 11% in Fort Thomas Independent between 2019 to 2023.

In Walton-Verona, the rate was 39.8% economically disadvantaged for the 2022-23 school year. While that was the third lowest percentage in the region behind Beechwood and Fort Thomas, it’s historically a big change: 20 years ago that percentage was closer to 5%, Baker told LINK.

As rates rise, NKY has slipped in key education benchmarks like school readiness and eighth grade math and reading, based on EducateNKY’s assessment. Although still outpacing the state overall, NKY dropped 2.6% in the percentage of school-ready students between 2014 and 2023 based on state data gleaned from the assessment and shared below. A 12.5% drop in the average combined NKY eighth grade reading and math proficiency was reported over the same period.

Erosion in the river city districts is more pronounced:

landscape

Covington Independent Schools, including Holmes High School, saw the highest rate of economically disadvantaged students. Photos by Hailey Roden | LINK nky

River city districts, including Dayton’s, saw declines in key benchmarks.

Even more affluent districts, like Highlands in Fort Thomas, have seen an increase in disadvantaged students.

assessment

Tim Hanner retired from EducateNKY in July and served as its president and CEO. He told LINK in May that academic performance in districts with high levels of economically disadvantaged students goes beyond test scores. Test scores reflect systemic barriers to learning, like high absenteeism, housing instability, truancy, workforce barriers, transience (routinely switching schools) and more, he said.

“Down here, when one in three kids in Newport who start the year won’t be there at the end of the year, that’s an issue,” Hanner told LINK. “How do you build continuity? How do we help stabilize communities?”

That’s EducateNKY’s ultimate goal, according to the assessment.

Making education a priority

This fall, EducateNKY is expected to release a strategic plan that addresses the region’s shortcomings. That plan will center on a list of five “strategic priorities.”

• Early learning. A key focus within this strategic priority is kindergarten readiness. Many river city districts, however, are falling behind in that area, as shown in the chart to the right.

A statewide strategic plan already is in place to help students move from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten and more comprehensively from prenatal to third grade. Regional collaboratives overseen by the governor’s office are working at the same time to prepare children for grade school, as are public and private organizations statewide. EducateNKY intends to set new goals to “hold partners accountable to meet goals for kindergarten readiness” in NKY, according to its assessment.

• Family engagement and partnership. Nearly all the river cities districts have parent engagement initiatives that range from dedicated parent-teacher meeting days to new parent outreach and teacher home

visits. But participation is lacking, per the assessment. Recommendations put forward in EducateNKY’s strategic plan later this year will try to change that.

• Mastery learning. The goal, in short, is to make sure students grasp and retain what they are taught. Innovations in personalized learning – reflected in “portraits” of a learner or graduate used in several local districts including Covington Independent – are part of the equation. Statewide, there is also a focus on personalized learning to help students master subjects and content. A new accountability system is being developed by the United We Learn Council to capture that.

• Out-of-school time. Learning goes beyond the classroom, but low socioeconomic status in many districts and a lack of community out-of-school programs has limited access to out-of-school learning in NKY, according to the EducateNKY assessment. Another struggle, reported EducateNKY, is a lack of student exposure to positive new experiences that can be as simple as trying a new food or a hike in the woods.

• Secondary options. NKY has more than a few. Open enrollment in public schools – the flexibility to enroll students outside their assigned districts – is allowed under a 2021 state law. Private schools are plentiful in the region, and there is also the option for home schooling.

EducateNKY would like to see more options – new schools or programs, specifically in the river cities – that would serve students regionally, be open instead of selective and “aim to serve a diverse student population who exercise agency in the decision to attend,” said its assessment.

The ‘spirit of the region’

Replacing Hanner at EducateNKY later this summer is Cheye Calvo, the consultant who developed the landscape assessment. The former Marylander who told LINK that he grew up in an economically disadvantaged family sees a lot of potential for progress in NKY and specifically in the river cities.

“There’s a lot of potential for (districts) to work together, align systems, to collaborate and really kind of grow the river cities as a learning community that cuts across geographic boundaries,” Calvo told LINK in June. “And serve kids who may be moving within the school year and year to year, because there’s a good chance that one kid that is in a district this year may be in another district next year.”

Everyone, not just NKY education leaders, has a role to play to meet goals focused on the five strategic priorities, said the assessment. The report said there’s “something in the spirit of the region that does not settle for the status quo” and that “NKY in recent years has shown remarkable capacity to come together around collective impact.”

Northern Kentuckians seem to sense their ability to rise above state benchmarks in school readiness and other areas is precarious. “They are ready for bold, even disruptive, action that will unlock regional potential and create opportunities held back by unfair circumstances,” said

the assessment.

In Walton-Verona, Matt Baker expressed that same kind of optimism about NKY’s education future. “We have some of the largest and smallest districts in the state, as well as some of the wealthiest and poorest. This diversity can lead to opposing viewpoints and needs, potentially causing poor relationships between districts.

“However, in NKY, the opposite is true. The public districts work extremely well together and support each other at every opportunity. Every district in NKY is focused on working together to maximize opportunities for our students.”

Conner High School.

Beechwood Schools sign.

Newport Primary School.

EducateNKY landscape assessment. Rates reflect percentage of children at the district, state or regional level that meet standards of readiness when they reach kindergarten age.

EducateNKY landscape assessment. Rates reflect percentage of children at the district, state or regional level that meet standards of readiness when they reach kindergarten age.

Parents, educators believers in early childhood education

By Robin Gee

Will preschool give your child an advantage when entering kindergarten and beyond? Anecdotally, many say yes, but recent studies show mixed results.

Parents who have had children in preschool, as well as early education experts, agree early learning can give kids an advantage when it comes to literacy and math skills. More important, early exposure to a school-like setting, as well as experiences interacting with adults and other children, does appear to help young children prepare to enter kindergarten.

Previous studies point to early childhood education as beneficial both academically and socially. Yet a study published in May in Science magazine was less conclusive. The study, done at the University of California Irvine School of Education, looked at preschool program outcomes in Boston and Tennessee. Researchers found immediate benefits were apparent, but the long-term effects of preschool were varied. More research is needed to determine other factors involved, they said.

Parents we spoke with whose children attended preschool, public or private, said they were pleased with the outcome.

Valuable to parents

Alex Berling of Independence sent her son, Felix, to preschool at Easterseals Redwood school in Fort Mitchell.

“We were both working at the time, my husband and I,” Berling said. “But even after, when I became more of a stay-at-home mom, we kept Felix in preschool, mostly because he’s an only child. Because of that social interaction, which I think is crucial for kids to learn – how to share, how to take turns, how to communicate with peers, and to listen – that’s been super helpful, and I would definitely recommend, if people can, to do preschool.

“My son was born premature and had a medical issue for a time,” she said. “He’s healthy now, but that's why we chose Redwood initially, because they do have home nursing staff as well as speech therapy and

other things. But certainly kids that are more typical can go to Redwood as well.... They did a very good job academic-wise in terms of preparing Felix for kindergarten…. He was definitely on track with his peers,” she said.

Felix likes and is good at math and numbers, she added, but the school helped him learn his letters and helped him focus on reading, writing and grammar, things he would work on again in kindergarten. She also said he continued to do well in kindergarten, gaining in his reading scores through the year.

Kat Disney has two children, both of whom went to preschool. She lives in Grant County and said her area was almost a preschool desert. She decided to bring her children to a preschool near her job in Fort Thomas. She found a unique opportunity with Natural Start, a private preschool that emphasizes nature-focused and outdoor learning opportunities.

“My 6-year-old is starting first grade. She went for one school year. My 3-year-old just went last school year.... We live on 50 acres, so my kids are very much outside kids. I was looking for something, especially for my daughter who had been in home child care, that would usher her from the wild and crazy into a daily routine. Natural Start was the perfect gateway, the perfect transition,” Disney said.

Disney’s daughter now attends public elementary school, and she credits that year in preschool with preparing her daughter for kindergarten and beyond. “It helped one thousand percent, not only on the academic side of it, but in the procedures and the social aspect.”

For her son, who is not a “sit down and practice” type of learner, the outside-based program was especially helpful. “He’ll come home and tell me things they’ve learned that he doesn’t even know that they’re learning because it’s such fun,” she said.

Preschool assistance

Both Berling and Disney were able to afford private preschool, but the cost can be daunting for many families. Two programs that would have helped lessen the financial

Brian, left, and Alex Berling with their son, Felix. Photo provided | Alex Berling

Kat, right, and Daniel Disney with their children, Delaney and Deakin who both attended preschool. Photo provided | Kat Disney

burden on families did not make it through the last legislative session.

Gov. Andy Beshear put state-funded pre-K for all 4-year-olds (also known as universal pre-K) in his 2024 budget proposal, but lawmakers didn’t approve it. Another bill to provide full-day kindergarten, sponsored by state Rep. Timmy Truett (R-McKee), vice chair of the House Education Committee, never made it to committee.

Yet there is some relief available to families that qualify. Bill Buchanan is the early learning adviser in the Kentucky Office of Special Education. He noted two programs that help families afford early childhood education.

“The state-funded preschool program is offered by every school district in the state to 3- and 4-year-olds with disabilities and to 4-year-olds based on income, up to 160% of the federal poverty level. And so, for a family of three, that would be an income of $41,312,” he said.

State programs blend with or complement other services, such as area child care providers and the federal Head Start program, depending on how the school district wants to operate them, he added.

The preschool programs have been around since 1990 and are funded through an allocation from the legislature through what is known as a flexible focus fund. Money goes directly from the department to the school districts.

“Low income families have access to free preschool services,” Buchanan said, “and those are high quality, wonderful environments that our school districts provide to preschool students. They receive developmentally appropriate teaching and learning experiences aligned to Kentucky's early childhood standards. They receive instruction and support from a teacher certified both in early childhood education and special education.

“And the classrooms are small. There’s one teacher for every 10 students, a maximum class size of 20 students. So, it’s a really high quality and vibrant learning environment for our kids.”

Finding funding

Dayton Independent Schools offers preschool to all the city’s residents. The district pulls funding together from the state for those students who qualify, and it partners with a Head Start program on site. Much of the funding still comes from the district, though, and that is a challenge.

“We partner with Head Start,” said Nicole Ponting, the district’s director of special education and early childhood learning.

“So we have two preschool classrooms that operate on a half-day program four days a week, and then we have a Head Start program that operates a full-day program in our building.”

“A lot of us in the river cities used to get the Preschool Partnership Grant, and none of us got it this year,” Ponting said. “Since I’ve been here it’s really helped with funding.… It was through the Kentucky Department of Education, and it was based on the needs of the districts.”

The Kentucky Preschool Quality Partnership Grant is designed to provide support for full-day, year-round, high-quality early childhood services to 3- and 4-year-old children. High quality is defined as programs that earn three stars in the state’s Kentucky All Stars rating system. The grant defines a full day as at least six hours, four or five days per week.

A local school district serves as the grant applicant, but it is also required to have at least one licensed or certified child care provider, including Head Start, as a co-applicant.

For 2024 the funds available per district were doubled, but the timeframe was reduced. Districts could receive up to $300,000 but over 18 months instead of three years. The grant was also limited to 15

school districts across the state. Competition for the funds was and remains strong.

“This was a competitive application process,” said GlyptusAnn Grider Jones, academic program manager for the Kentucky Department of Education. “Awards are contingent on available funding and districts/schools meeting programmatic and budgetary requirements.”

Pulling resources together

Dayton Independent Schools offers a host of services and partners with a variety of entities to provide as much support as possible to their families, Ponting said.

“We offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy. We have mental health therapists that work with our stu dents now. The library comes in month ly. We’ve also been able to do really good family engagement field trips with our students. We require our parents to go on field trips with them. And we do a book-ofthe-week program, which has won a state award. Every week our kids get a book.”

The district offers the Science of Reading curriculum starting at the preschool level. The program focuses on reading proficien cy.

“That’s been really beneficial to get them started. I think that’s where we’re going to see the benefits in the next couple years with our kindergarten readiness as well. We’ve also implemented some Spanish speaking programs. It’s an internet-based program that the students really enjoy,” she said.

The district serves about 80 children through Head Start and the two preschool programs. Many of the families do qualify for financial assistance. Staff members do home visits regularly and hold five confer ence days with parents each year.

Ponting said she wishes the state did bet ter tracking of students’ progress. In a re cent trip to London, England, she said she

Barrington

Coldspring

Highlandspring

Felix Berling went to preschool at Redwood School and is now thriving in elementary school.

Photo provided | Alex Berling

Delaney Disney, front, and classmate feel the words in preschool. Photo provided | Kat Disney

met a preschool educator who explained that they check in with new parents from birth to track childrens’ progress every six months before they come to school. The information helps identify needs and provide wrap-around services.

Preschool in river cities

Ponting’s idea, as well as suggestions from other educators across the region, may get a serious hearing this summer. EducateNKY, a nonprofit initiative of the OneNKY Alliance, was formed last year to take a deep look at education in our region with an eye toward “system alignment.”

Tom Haggard, EducateNKY’s vice president, said, “We’re trying to focus our efforts on systems alignment and how do we figure out or break down bureaucratic or pol-

icy barriers that are preventing good work and research-based work from happening at scale.”

“At scale” involves clearing the way to expand successful programs to serve more students across the region.The organization hired a consultant to assess the state of education in our region. The consultant came up with five strategic priority areas, and early learning is one of them.

In early childhood education and kindergarten readiness, the researchers found the region, especially the river cities, has not moved the needle much in over 10 years. This led them to focus their efforts on Ludlow, Covington, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton and Southgate.

“In that universe of about 7,000 public school students, how can we create better

systems so that students living in families in those communities can have access to the same opportunities that may exist in more affluent parts of Northern Kentucky?” Haggard asked.

In the spring, EducateNKY formed working groups of early childhood educators, providers, business leaders and community members to investigate the topic and to provide input and ideas on what is working, what is not working and how to improve outcomes.

EducateNKY plans to release a full report outlining the advisory groups’ suggestions and strategies for addressing the issues this fall. One recommendation already being discussed, however, is adding people who can serve as coordinators and facilitators, helping parents navigate the system and provide more seamless access to in-

formation and resources.

Starting preschool journey

Buchanan, the state special education adviser, said Kentucky provides access to a number of resources to help parents navigate early childhood education. The state publishes a set of early childhood standards along with a series of “family guides” designed to provide ideas and activities to help children meet those standards. Both are offered on the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood website, kyecac.ky.gov.

State education leaders also worked with KET, the state’s public television network, to develop Let’s Learn Kentucky, a program that helps parents and caregivers prepare children to be kindergarten ready.

Continued from page 7

A partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education and KET, known as Let’s Learn Kentucky, provides Kindergarten readiness activities. Photo provided | Kentucky Dept. of Education

Kentucky offers early childhood assistance for 3- and 4- year olds with disabilities and four year olds whose family incomes are under 160% of the poverty level. Photo provided | Kentucky Dept. of Education

Deakin Disney explores the outdoors and examines a bug at Natural Start preschool. Photo provided | Kat Disney

Programs boost family involvement in child’s education

By Haley Parnell

“I thrive on being involved in my children’s life,” said Ashley Barnes, a parent and participant in Brighton Center’s Every Child Succeeds program. “It makes the biggest impact in their well-being, their development, their physical, emotional, all of that. Parent involvement is the most crucial key element in a child’s development, aside from their education and the environment they’re exposed to.”

Barnes’ involvement is an example of family engagement – a partnership among families, educators and community partners to promote children’s learning and development from birth through college and career. Organizations in Northern Kentucky like NaviGo, Learning Grove and Brighton Center have programs that help ensure families are engaged in their child’s learning.

Jessica Schierling oversees a staff of roughly 20 as Brighton Center’s parenting services director. Brighton’s home visitors go into individual homes and provide two home visitation programs, Every Child Succeeds, or ECS, and Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, also known as HIPPY.

“That’s two-generational work, where we’re working with both the parent and the child, getting that family engagement, keeping the family engaged,” Schierling said. “Both [programs] believe that parents are the first and most important teacher the child is ever going to have.”

The ECS program is for moms from before they give birth until their child is 2. The home visitors work with the parents and babies at the same time. Schierling said the model works with the parent and then has them take those activities and work on them with their child through the week. Schierling said this helps build attachment between parent and child.

Barnes used the ECS program 16 years ago for her son and said she had such a good experience that she has used it again for the past two years for her two other children.

The program served 311 families last year, and there is currently no wait list for the program. It is funded through private dollars and state funding.

“We focus on physical development, brain development, language development, social-emotional development and just basic care to make sure that kids are getting what they need,” Schierling said.

Barnes enrolled in the ECS program as a first-time mom. She said her son has a seizure disorder, and her home visitor taught him how to use sign language.

She said her home visitor always brings different socialization skills and tools for her and her children to work on. They work together, and then Barnes can continue the exercises when the home visitor leaves.

The HIPPY program focuses on getting children age 2-5 ready for kindergarten. The program follows the academic year to get families ready for what school is going to look like. It is funded by United Way and grants that Brighton Center finds each year.

The program also works on developmental activities, social-emotional development and learning through play. Last year the HIPPY program had 186 children and their parents or guardians enrolled. HIPPY currently has 175 families interested and only 98 spots available.

Parents are first educators

Dellisa Ford Edwards works with the department’s two early education childcare facilities – Bright Days Child Development Center and Early Scholars Child Development Center. She’s director of family and child development at Brighton Center.

Edwards said she thinks one of the most important things a child development center can do to help engage a parent is to build trusting relationships.

“When they build these trusting relationships, and the parent and the teacher are working together, we know that those children are going to do better in school,” Ford Edwards said. “On the opposite end, we know that those children who don’t have those involved parents may tend to struggle. But, if that ever happens here, we still do everything possible to try to build both relationships and maximize that child’s learning so they will succeed when they get to school.”

Bright Days Child Development Center serves children ages 6 weeks through 12 years. The Early Scholars Child Development Center serves children ages 6 weeks through 5 years, right before kindergarten.

Ford Edwards said the programs mainly serve Campbell County residents but include some Kenton and Boone County families in Northern Kentucky and Hamilton County families in Southwest Ohio. Over 95% of the families in both programs qualify for free or reduced lunches at school.

“When I think of family engagement, I have to realize that the parent is that child’s first educator,” Ford Edwards said. “So what we are doing is in partnership with that parent. In the early education realm, we are providing opportunities for parents to get involved.”

The Bright Days center is licensed for 140 children, but Ford Edwards said she prefers enrollment to be in the 90s. At Early Scholars, they are licensed for 110 children, and Ford Edwards said she likes for enrollment to be in the 60s.

Neither program has an income requirement to participate. Once a child is ready to leave the programs, they typically enroll in other Brighton Center programs or enroll in public or private schools in the region.

Barnes lives in Dayton, and so, as her children age out of the ECS program, they attend Dayton Public Schools, where Barnes said she still works at being involved.

“As a parent, we mold our children into who they are,” Barnes said. “They mimic the things we do. Their emotions bounce off of our emotions.

“It’s very important to be involved in your child’s life. I don’t understand why some people are not, and I’m a working mom. I work two jobs and still make time for my babies no matter what, and I’m a single

mom at that, if that tells you anything,” Barnes said.

“I still go to football games, I still go to birthday parties, I still take my kids out places, I still teach them right from wrong. I’m very, very involved.”

Relationship with the family

Like Brighton Center, Learning Grove offers family outreach programs to ensure families have what they need to succeed.

Learning Grove’s Deanna Lane oversees the family outreach department, Head Start and Early Head Start services as vice president of family and community services. She said Learning Grove identifies the families’ needs and connects them to necessary resources.

“We really just wrap services around the family,” Lane said. “So, in other words, we provide child care, but as an extension of our child care, we really focus on the well-being of families and trying to get them to a place of self-sufficiency.”

There are 32 Early Head Start-funded children enrolled across Northern Kentucky and 153 families on the waitlist. The program’s funding comes from federal and state funding along with some donors.

Lane said that Learning Grove is seeing a high number of children in need of additional services, whether from a social-emotional standpoint or with children struggling academically.

She said one program she works with in Cincinnati’s Lower Price Hill neighborhood has close to half of the preschool classroom in individualized education programs for special services.

“Behaviors are very, very challenging,” Lane said. “It’s the relationship with the family that can really make a difference. It doesn’t necessarily solve it, but, if we can work with families and families can work with their children, then we have a better chance of being successful and getting the child on track. Whereas if we don’t have that family relationship, then it really makes things a lot more difficult.”

Continues on page 10

Working toward self-sufficiency

Family engagement isn’t just about parents being involved in their child’s education but ensuring the families have what they need to be successful. Lane said Learning Grove provides families with things like diapers, a food pantry and clothing, and helps them find employment and housing.

“What we see will happen is that we’ll get families to a point where they’re stable, and then they fall back,” Lane said. “They might lose their job, or they get evicted from their apartment, or something big happens that takes them back to this instability. Then, we will work again to get them to that point of stabilization. It’s challenging to get them to a point where they are self-sufficient.”

Learning Grove offers child care and preschool for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. The centers work with a school’s resource coordinator who looks for children in that age group and connects them to early childhood experiences and needed resources.

Ford Edwards said physical health is also a barrier to a family’s engagement.

Helping immigrants

Lane said they work with a large population of Hispanic families, and Schierling said both Brighton Center home visitation programs serve a high immigrant population.

“When we ask them what are their dreams, they’re not really able to tell us that because it’s really the here and now,” Lane said. “It’s the ‘I just want to make sure I can feed my children.’ I want to make sure that my children have access to early childhood experiences. I want to make sure that I have the financial means to provide for my family.”

Schierling said they have home visitors who speak Spanish, English, French and Arabic, so they can offer the curriculum in multiple languages.

“For our families who are coming here from other countries, Every Child Succeeds, they’ve never given birth here in America or raised a child in America,” she said. “Sometimes they use it as a ‘what does it look like when I go to the hospital and give birth?’ Or ‘what does it look like when I take my child to the doctor?’

NaviGo partners with over 200 businesses to get students into college and career work-based learning experiences while in high school in partnership with their schools. That could be anything from dual credit to paid internships and co-op.

“We think family engagement is about families coming to a center or to school, but it’s really about that co-partnership,” Burkhardt said. “When you want a family member or a caretaker to be engaged, we’re not talking about just showing up for events. We’re talking about being engaged in that child’s educational and developmental journey from prenatal all the way through graduation and when they become an adult to go into their post-secondary options, whatever that might be.”

Burkhardt said they try to work to involve families who may not typically be involved. She said this includes being mindful of things like who contacts families, how welcoming your school and center are, listening to what parents are saying they need, and their expertise on their own children.

She said some families aren’t eating healthfully, so they give children breakfast, a hot lunch and a snack at their centers before they go home. If a family is struggling for food, they bundle services within Brighton with her – with all the kids, honestly.”

Barnes is pregnant and said ECS will work with her and her new baby. When that child ages out, she will have used the program for six years.

Once families are stable, Lane said they can begin working with them on their dreams – whether they want to go to school or pur-

“And then HIPPY, it’s more about the school system, which is going to be completely different than the ones in the country that they’re coming from. This gives them an additional way to see how an American school system works.”

More than involved

Ford Edwards said she thinks that there’s a difference between involved parents and engaged parents.

She said involvement includes volunteering, chaperoning, participating in conferences, and communicating with the teacher, but engagement takes it a step further. Engaged parents are involved in what happens day-to-day in their center. They are surveyed and on advisory committees.

“It is important to us that we hear their voice,” she said. “We call it the customer’s voice, the parent’s voice. So we want them to give their input and take ownership over ideas they come up with in the classroom.”

Family engagement extends beyond early learning. It also includes college and career readiness.

Kathy Burkhardt, executive director of NaviGo, works with public school districts in Northern Kentucky on college and career prep.

NaviGo partners with all NKY school districts through the Northern Kentucky Educational Co-Op and with public libraries to work with children not enrolled in public schools. It is funded by donations and grants.

Burkhardt said a big part of what they do is work with families as their children are in high school to help them prepare for college and careers.

“Right now, we have career camps in partnership with Gateway in all the in-demand career sectors,” Burkhardt said. “A big piece of that in family engagement is that many families or caretakers right now are not always aware of the options that are out there for you in terms of pathways for the future.”

Burkhardt said the key transition periods for a child from early childhood to kindergarten to elementary school to middle school to high school and then post-secondary are difficult transitions because so much is changing.

“Everything’s changing with the child’s developmental level; everything’s changing with the level of support they want and or need,” she said. “But it’s all equally important, and I would say, at the middle and high school level, it continues to be important, but it just looks different along the way. Sometimes people think, ‘Oh, well, they’re in middle and high school. We don’t have to do anything anymore.’ It’s actually quite the opposite.”

Burkhardt said there is a connection between preparing a child for kindergarten socially and emotionally and the skills employers are looking for.

“We do a lot of focus on the social and emotional piece and making sure that children can think critically, that they can problem-solve, that they can self-regulate so that they are prepared when they reach kindergarten,” Lane said.

Burkhardt said those skills in the workforce are called essential workplace skills or soft skills.

“Being able to provide children with those experiences and stressing the importance of that with families – but also providing opportunities for family engagement, not just during school, but outside of school within a community, like a public library.

“Everybody plays a role,” Burkhardt said. “Community organizations, nonprofits –what does a community offer families, because it can’t be all on a school to do that or all on an early learning center. It really is embracing family engagement as a community. What kind of opportunities are out there?”

By Nathan Granger

ILiteracy lays foundation for success

n talks with education professionals, the end of third grade is often treated as the linchpin for future student success, not just academically but economically in the long term. One skill in particular stands out as foundational: literacy.

“Literacy is really the key to unlocking other content areas” said Ginni Fair, former middle school English teacher and current dean of Northern Kentucky University’s College of Education, “That’s why it’s so critical. That’s a skill that’s a lifelong learning skill.”

One often-cited report comes from the legacy children’s nonprofit, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which was published first in 2010 and then updated in 2013. Pulling from national assessment data, the original version of the report “drew a link between failure to read proficiently by the end of third grade, ongoing academic

difficulties in school, failure to graduate from high school on time and chances of succeeding economically later in life — including individuals’ ability to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and the country’s ability to ensure global competitiveness, general productivity and national security.”

So how are our kids doing?

Every year, the U.S. Department of Education assesses a sample of students in certain grades to track their academic performance at key points in their education.

Called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes referred to as the nation’s report card, it can serve as a window into the broad academic progress of American students, both at the national and state levels. It’s the main data source the foundation’s report pulled from.

Statements from the National Center for Education Statistics, which is responsible for analyzing the data gathered from the assessments, suggest the decline coincides with school closures related to the pandemic. Similar declines have occurred in other subject areas.

The most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show Kentucky reading scores at the beginning of fourth grade as roughly in line with national averages and following national trends downward. The trend persists into students’ eighth grade scores.

There are limitations to the insights one can draw from assessment data. Methodologies can differ between geographic areas and organizations. What’s more – as in Kentucky’s case–assessment standards can change at regular intervals, which can

One thing you’ll notice if you look at recent reading assessment data for students who’ve finished third grade – everything’s going down.

be problematic for anyone trying to make comparisons across time.

Even with these caveats, reading is widely held to be the wellspring from which student abilities in other subject areas – social studies, science, even math – flows. If a student struggles to read, they’re likely to struggle with everything else.

In the face of this quandary, Kentucky passed Senate Bill 9 in 2022. Also called the Read to Succeed Act, the bill set out to ensure “all children learn to read well before exiting grade three (3) and that all middle and high school students have the skills necessary to read complex materials in specific core subjects and comprehend and constructively apply the information.” To that end, it mandates what it describes as a structured approach to reading instruction with a heavy focus on “evidence-based reading.”

But what does all of this mean? Where does

Continues on page 12

A summary of how different student groups fare on national fourth grade

NKY stand? And how does it matter for students and their families?

Literacy instruction in Kentucky

There are a handful of reasons why educators hold third grade as such an important benchmark. For one, children’s brain development is ripe for language acquisition leading up to and around that time period. Moreover, third and fourth grades are often times when students begin moving around between classrooms, when they’re asked to act more independently as students. Lastly, school texts tend to become more difficult during this time, moving up from short instructional texts to more complex forms of writing, including both book-length fiction as well as longer form texts in social studies and science (and don’t forget the bane of many students’ existence – math word problems).

All of this overlaps in such a way that, if a student doesn’t have a solid reading foun-

dation by the end of third grade, it’s going to be much harder to catch up.

“As a state, the Commonwealth has really become a lot more intentional systemically around the importance of literacy, especially at the early primary level, so those beginning readers, K-3,” said Shawna Harney, the chief academic officer with Kenton County School District.

Kenton County School District is the second-largest district in the region in terms of number of students after Boone County School District. It scored in the second highest category for elementary school reading and math in the states accountability system in 2023, an improvement from the previous year’s score. Middle and high school assessments did not see the same improvement, instead maintaining their high and medium rankings, respectively.

The district was one of three in Kentucky to speak before the Kentucky Department

of Education’s inaugural “Read to Succeed” conference in June, where Harney shared with the department what they were doing to improve student literacy throughout the district.

Harney described the more structured approach that characterizes literacy instruction at Kenton County Schools after SB 9.

The curriculum now pulls more heavily upon what is now called the science of reading. The terminology isn’t new, and it’s not a specific program but rather a set of general practices that focuses heavily on the mastering of discrete skills early in a student’s education in preparation for more complex reading down the line. As laid out in the statute, these skills are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

The phonetic model of reading instruction, which emphasizes teaching children how to break down words into component characters and sounds – “sound it out,” you

might remember your own teacher saying–is in contrast to another model of instruction often called the whole language model.

Enter the reading wars

Under whole language instruction, reading instruction is focused less on the mastery of discrete skills and more on learning to discern meaning from a text using context clues, quick identification of common recurring characters in words and the cultivation of a classroom environment where books are widely available and accessible.

There are numerous programs based on both a phonetic approach and a whole-language approach (and gradations between), but conflict between the two theoretical frameworks is something that has characterized reading instruction for some time, most recently in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The whole language approach has fallen out of favor these days – Kentucky is one of several states in recent years that have passed laws mandating greater emphasis on a phonetic education – although not all elements of the whole language model have completely disappeared.

“I don’t know that the reading wars ever stopped,” Fair said.

Both Fair and Harney point to some shortcomings when it comes to using a purely whole-language approach.

“Giving kids strategies, such as [telling kids to] ‘look at the pictures in a book’ and [asking] ‘what do you think that might mean?’ there is value in that, certainly, to use context clues,” Harney said, “but kids have to understand how to pronounce and to phonetically break down a word to be able to read and make meaning of what those words are when they put them together.”

“That was the problem with whole language; there wasn’t enough direct instruction,” Fair said, with some caveats.

For one thing, Fair said, phonetic instruction can be inadequate for some students with learning disabilities or neurodivergence, such as dyslexia, so alternative methods may be warranted in those cases.

Fair also admits that it’s possible for the pendulum to swing too far in the oppo-

A chart showing rankings for reading and math scores in Northern Kentucky’s school districts as compared to the previous year.

site direction, toward the phonetic model. With its emphasis on more direct instruction and the short, expository texts it relies upon, this can confound students’ ability to engage with longer, full-length texts, like novels. She also argues that it can undercut students’ enjoyment of reading.

“[Students have] lost their desire to read because there’s been such an emphasis on this very structured close reading,” Fair said. “I think, as a profession – not in Kentucky in an isolated way, but as a profession broadly – we don’t take away from these pendulums the good pieces; we just completely redesign. We just keep redoing.”

Moreover, Fair fears that the renewed fervor around the science of reading could lead to some misconceptions, especially among leaders, and, as such, it’s important to remember that learning to read well is a lifelong process.

“I fear that with the science of reading, there’s this misunderstanding that in the early grades you teach kids to read, students learn to read and then in the later grades, they read to learn, which is not true,” Fair said. “You’re teaching students to read all the way through.”

What schools, parents can do

Beginning in grade 3, students at Kentucky public schools are given mandatory assessments in various subject areas. The test is based on state standards. The state also instituted a new school accountability system in the 2021-22 school year aimed at

tracking changes in districts over time. Rhonda Sims, associate commissioner in the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Assessment and Accountability, admits that there are some holes in the most recent testing data provided by the state. For one, the state began tweaking its accountability system around the onset of the pandemic. This was followed by a year of no testing and then a year of partial testing. As a result, she said side-by-side comparisons in the state’s new “change” measure may not yet be the best barometer for tracking progress.

She points out, however, that many districts also give smaller formative assessments to internally track a student’s progress through a given school year, and these, along with regular communication with a child’s teacher, are “very important” and arguably more useful for parents looking to track a student’s progress.

For districts, Harney said communication and coordination among school staff is key.

Kenton County uses an in-house instructional database to which any teacher has access to ensure data is shared among the district’s teachers. That’s especially important for tracking the progress of students who do not take the state assessments.

The district has also introduced a new instructional position called a literacy leader, a teacher recognized by principals as exceptionally good at teaching reading. Literacy leaders take extra training and serve as advisers to their peers and building staff.

Finally, Fair points out that instructional method is only one aspect of a student’s education and only one factor in their performance.

“There are so many external factors that influence students’ learning,” Fair said.

These factors include things like homelessness, pre-kindergarten readiness and varying cultural expectations around

schools. As such, she said, communities need to work together to solve collective issues.

“We’ve just reached a point where we as an educational community have to acknowledge that simple fixes aren’t available, but community efforts and well prepared and valued educators are the right step in the right direction,” Fair said.

Average 2022 reading scores among fourth grade students in Kentucky compared to nationwide trends. Chart provided | U.S.Department of Education

Organizations offer NKY children affordable summer enrichment

By Emma Balcom

With school not in session during the summer, opportunities for children’s enrichment and learning are pivotal.

Participating in summer programming –particularly those which facilitate learning through fun and engaging summer activities, including field trips and group play –prevents the loss of academic skills in children during their months out of class.

According to the Northwest Evaluation Association, studies as far back as the 1970s show that children can experience learning loss during summer break when children aren’t involved in summer programs that provide academic benefits. The results show drops in test scores in subjects such as math and reading.

While day camps can serve as valuable experiences for summer enrichment, they also can cost hundreds of dollars, an option that isn’t always feasible for families seeking child care, extracurricular activities and learning opportunities.

In some of the region’s most economically disadvantaged cities – including Covington, Newport and Silver Grove – where nearly a quarter of residents are in poverty, according to Be NKY Growth Partnership, organizations are doing their part to give families affordable opportunities for their children.

Brighton Center

The Brighton Center, based in Newport but with locations across the region, has provided afterschool and summer care for children for 58 years. Established in 1966 to help families meet their basic needs –including education, housing, financial wellness and workforce development – the organization has expanded to provide 45 programs serving nearly 25,000 individuals in eight Northern Kentucky counties. Many of those programs provide educational and experiential growth for children. All are free to attend.

“Our youth program really focuses on helping youth figure out what their next step is going to be, whether it’s postsecondary education or career, and what options are available to them,” said Deana Sowders, the Brighton Center’s marketing and communications specialist. “It’s equipping individuals and families at any point in their life to be prepared to take the next step with confidence and have the education and resources that they need to do that.”

One example is the Youth Leadership Development program, which aims to provide middle-school-aged children with opportunities to learn leadership skills through community service projects. The YLD typically functions as an afterschool program for children ages 11 to 15. It’s open to students from schools in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, as well as local community groups, but carries on through the summer.

Fun and engaging summer activities help prevent loss of academic skills during months when children aren’t in school. Photo provided | We Rock the Spectrum

According to Sowders, participating students find community with one another by going on field trips and taking part in service projects with other local nonprofit organizations.

Every summer, for example, the Brighton Center partners students with Magnified Giving – a local nonprofit focused on getting children involved in philanthropy – for its Camp Give program. Camp Give, a weeklong, so-called “kindness” camp, helps children connect and identify their community’s needs and participate in service projects to resolve them, all in a fun camp environment.

Alternatively, for elementary-age children and younger, the Brighton Center also runs two child development centers. They served over 120 children last year.

The Early Scholars and the Bright Days child development centers are located in the west and east ends of Newport, respectively. The centers serve children ages 6 weeks to 12 years, preparing them for their coming school year with classroom-based instruction and providing healthful meals and snacks through the day.

“When it comes to the high cost of child care and everything else families are being faced with right now, there’s a lot that haven’t experienced super tight budgets or need before,” said Sowders. “Knowing where to go for resources is critical to helping those families maintain their housing and their budget and what they need so that they don’t get in a more precarious situation.”

NKY Community Action Commission

The Brighton Center is far from the only organization preparing Northern Kentucky’s youngest for academic success. With 11 locations across Campbell, Kenton, Boone and Pendleton counties, the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission’s Head Start program provides preschool-like instruction for 3- and 4-year-olds in low-income families.

According to the NKCAC, children in Head Start spend the summer preparing to enter kindergarten, at no cost to participating families.

“Children are provided a preschool education so that they can enter kindergarten in the school system on grade level at the same level as children who come from families where they could afford to pay for private preschool education,” said Rhonda Chisenhall, NKCAC’s vice president of community development. “It’s laying that foundation for a successful educational career.”

Education at the NKCAC follows four main components: education, health and nutrition, parent involvement and social services. Children are instructed through play and developmentally appropriate activities in the classroom; provided the chance to serve themselves healthful meals; and engage in meaningful conversation with their teachers. Parents are encouraged to become leaders in their children’s lives and education, and are elected as members of a parents committee to participate in making decisions about the Head Start program’s operation.

Chisenhall added that a majority of the need they experience comes to their more urban centers, including Newport, Covington and Burlington, and that not all families

have the means to transport their children to the program. To accommodate these circumstances, the commission also offers a home-based Head Start program, through which an instructor visits once a week and provides individualized lesson planning to children during 90-minute sessions. The curriculum includes education, health, nutrition and family services.

Boys and Girls Clubs

Open for elementary to high school-aged children, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky serve over 5,000 youths across seven clubs with after-school and summer programming. Three clubs exist in Northern Kentucky –the Clem & Ann Buenger Club in Newport, the Kenton County Club in Covington and a shared space club at Tichenor Middle School in Erlanger.

The organization offers tools to help its members achieve academic success, maintain a healthy lifestyle and serve their communities.

Under the Graduate program, the clubs provide mentorship, tutoring and academic support with incentives for achievement including field trips, games and prizes. In Fit for Life, children partake in 45 minutes of daily exercise, including sports and outdoor playtime, as well as instruction on nutrition and healthy lifestyles. Lastly, Ready to Serve intends to instill a sense of importance in children when it comes to giving back to their communities, helping them connect with service projects such as community cleanups.

YMCA

With locations in Fort Thomas and Burlington, Northern Kentucky YMCAs have long been a resource for children’s enrichment, whether socializing in classrooms or burning off energy on the field. According to Joe Geraci, director of membership and transformation at the Campbell County YMCA, various programs can keep children entertained through the day.

The YMCA offers a summer camp to children ages 5 to 12 every weekday until school starts back up in August. Children play games, participate in team-building activities and challenges, swim daily and attend field trips. The YMCA also hosts beginner-level sports teams – tee-ball, baseball and basketball in the summer, and soccer starting in the fall. Teams are grouped by age and run for eight weeks at a time.

“Sports are usually for kids 3 to 9 years old, member or nonmember, and you don’t have to be from the area,” said Geraci. “You can sign up anytime for any sport, and there’s no requirements.”

Membership on YMCA youth sports teams runs about $85 for members and $170 for nonmembers, and summer camp costs $25 per week for members and $45 for nonmembers. Geraci added that membership discounts can be offered to low-income families through the organization’s Membership For All program, which offers a sliding fee scale designed to fit the financial situation of an individual family.

We Rock the Spectrum

We Rock the Spectrum, a children’s gym in Erlanger, offers a different kind of athletic play. Becky and Joe Stenger, parents of four, including a daughter with autism, opened

the gym to be a public place where children of all ability levels could have fun without judgment.

All of the gym’s equipment improves different skills for children, including balance, motor function, sensory management, social skills, core strength and hand-eye coordination, among other things. It includes classic gym equipment such as swings, crash mats, a rock wall, trampolines and a zipline, as well as a calming room for children to regulate their emotions and reduce negative sensory input, classrooms for private events and parties, an arts and crafts area, and sensory-based toys.

According to Becky Stenger, the facility regularly hosts open play, where children, accompanied by a parent or guardian, can come in and have free rein of the gym’s play equipment. Therapists are also welcome

to accompany families and conduct therapy sessions. Through the month, the gym hosts classes and workshops for children, including yoga, music, dance and sign language.

We Rock the Spectrum is also implementing its new We Rock Care program, a dropin service that allows parents to drop off children with employees for care and playtime during the day for $15 an hour. Similarly, the gym hosts Parents Night Out once a month, a three-hour event where parents can drop their children off to play and participate in group activities.

“We provide that need for community, for having a place for special needs kids, and all kids, to come and feel welcome,” said Stenger. “Our big motto is, ‘Finally, a place where you never have to say “I’m sorry.”’”

Preschool students at Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission. Photo provided | NKCAC

Nontraditional programs pave new paths for students

By Kenton Hornbeck

After graduating from high school, Agnes Vanderputten wasn’t sure about the next step in her journey.

Vanderputten attended Our Lady of Assumption Academy, a small parochial school outside Walton. She knew she wanted to attend college but wasn’t sure what she wanted to study, and she was concerned about the cost of tuition. Like most potential college students, she sought direction and affordability.

“I knew that college was something that I was interested in, but I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to go for, and I knew I didn’t really want to pay a lot for something that I wasn’t really sure about yet,” she told LINK nky.

That’s when Vanderputten discovered Gateway Community & Technical College at a local college fair – and specifically its Gateway2NKU program. The dual-admissions partnership between Gateway and Northern Kentucky University allows enrollees to complete an associate degree at Gateway, then transfer their earned credits to NKU to put toward a bachelor’s degree. Program participation is available to high school juniors and seniors in addition to college freshmen and sophomores.

Vanderputten found the option appealing because the program allowed her to pay

Gateway’s rate for classes, saving her money. Upon earning her associate degree in business administration, she’s guaranteed admission to NKU, which puts her on track to earn a bachelor’s degree, all while saving money on tuition.

Gateway President Fernando Figueroa told LINK that the Gateway2NKU program is just one of the ways Gateway is seeking to make postsecondary education accessible. “As a strategy, community and technical colleges – we’re designed to be affordable, especially in terms of our tuition. We offer opportunities which make tuition a non-issue.”

Like Gateway, other institutions and stakeholders are reshaping the educational

landscape in Northern Kentucky by offering nontraditional programs that are designed to make postsecondary education more affordable and accessible. These programs can provide a lifeline for the region’s most economically distressed students in the face of teacher shortages and college tuition cost increases.

In 2024, EducateNKY, a nonprofit organization focused on new approaches to regional education from prenatal care through 12th grade, published its Landscape Assessment Report, a document that analyzes the state of education in Northern Kentucky. The report found that key educational metrics for students’ educational progress, such as kindergarten readiness and eighth grade combined reading and

math proficiency, have decreased across the region over the past 20 years. The trend is most prevalent in the river city school districts of Covington, Newport, Ludlow, Dayton, Southgate and Bellevue.

Drilling deeper, the river city school districts’ postsecondary readiness rate is 66.3 out of 100, fourteen points lower than Northern Kentucky’s regional rate of 80.3 and nearly 13 points below the statewide rate of 79.1.

The report also found that Northern Kentucky students make nominal progress in elementary school before experiencing a significant slowing of progress in middle school. Then, approximately a quarter of the region’s young people drop out of high school.

To combat these trends, the report identified five strategic priorities: early learning, family partnership, mastery learning, outof-school time and exposure, and secondary options.

One conclusion of the report is that Northern Kentucky institutions should invest more resources in increasing the number of secondary and nontraditional education options for students. Although Northern Kentucky does have options in terms of public school districts and private schools, the report concluded that the choices of schools and school programs in the region are fairly traditional.

A group of Gateway Community & Technical College students works with new welding equipment at the school’s Covington campus. Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky

High school is not the end

The report cites the Ignite Institute as an example of an existing secondary option. It is a public high school in Erlanger that specializes in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – often called STEAM – education.

With enrollment hovering just over 1,000 students, Ignite admits around 250 to 300 new students each year and currently boasts a waiting list of approximately 430 students. Nearly half of Ignite students are from Boone County Schools, half hail from Kenton County School District, with others attending from river city districts.

Despite its popularity, Ignite is the only school of its kind in Northern Kentucky. So far, no plans to bring another school like Ignite to Northern Kentucky have been announced.

Ignite and other institutions like Gateway are collaborating to offer more innovative curriculum options. Ignite students now have the opportunity to earn associate degrees through Gateway before graduating from high school, fast-tracking their path into the workforce.

“We developed such a great partnership with Ignite, and the goal of Ignite was to get people not through high school, but to get them to the next step,” Figueroa said.

During the program’s first year, the 202021 school year, eight seniors earned associate degrees along with their high school diplomas, according to Ignite’s website. Figueroa said that number has grown to over 90 students as of the last school year.

“They’re ready for whatever challenge comes next because of how the program prepares them,” Figueroa said.

The offering is possible through the Kentucky Community & Technical College System’s dual credit program, which allows students to earn credit for their high school requirements while earning college credits.

“It provides a direction post-high school that is going to be needed for viable longterm employment and career development of our citizens,” Figueroa said. “Being able to invest in that bridge to say that being in high school is not the end, being in

high school is one of the steps forward.”

Two-tiered system

Another option for Northern Kentucky parents is nonresident enrollment, a program established by the passing of Kentucky House Bill 563 in 2021. The law requires all public school districts to adopt nonresident student policies and allows Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK, funding to follow enrolled nonresident students without an agreement with the student’s resident district. The law allows districts to charge private tuition to nonresident students.

The report found that, in 2022, 1,743 students enrolled as nonresident students across the three Northern Kentucky counties – only about 3.2% of the total kindergarten through 12th grade population. The report found that Beechwood and Fort Thomas Independent Schools charge approximately $3,800 for nonresident students, while the county districts charge closer to $2,000.

The law has negatively impacted the enrollments of some river city school districts. These districts charge little to no tuition, and other options exist close by. In 2022, around 9.3%, or one in 11 students, crossed district boundaries each day for school. Covington Independent School District had the largest net loss of students, according to the report, with 247 more students transferring out as opposed to coming in – a 7.2% loss in overall enrollment.

Other river city districts, like Bellevue, receive many nonresident students. 30.8% of Bellevue’s students are enrolled as nonresidents, with the largest share coming from

Newport and Southgate, according to the report.

Despite the law enabling more freedom of movement for students, the report ultimately concluded that the law creates a two-tiered system among school districts. More privileged school districts in higher demand can charge tuition and admit students based on selective criteria, while poorer districts, like in the river cities, charge little to no tuition and broadly accept nonresident students. Additionally, affluent families are likelier to be able to afford the tuition payments for more in-demand districts.

More hands-on training

Education in the skilled trades is another viable option for students exploring secondary and nontraditional education routes.

In the coming years, Baby Boomers – the second-largest living generation in the U.S. behind millennials – will continue to age into retirement. In Northern Kentucky, their exit from the workforce may exacerbate existing labor shortages in fields such as plumbing and carpentry.

To bridge the gap, trade education institutions like the Enzweiler Building Institute are aggressively implementing new programs and strategies to recruit and train new talent. The institute provides education in construction trades to adults and high school students. The institute’s Introduction to the Skilled Trades program allows high school juniors and seniors to gain hands-on experience and build skills to prepare them for careers in the building industry. Both Boone and Kenton County

Public Schools offer the program.

Brian Miller, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, the Enzweiler Building Institute’s governing organization, said the institute prefers to use hands-on learning. His rationale is to use these methods to engage students who might be turned off by traditional classroom methods of learning.

“There’s a whole group of people that learn by doing, and, in our high school programs, we are very heavily weighted towards a skills-based program rather than a bookbased program,” Miller said.

One of the Enzweiler Building Institute’s target demographics is students in Northern Kentucky’s river city schools. The institute recently opened a second campus at the Latonia Commerce Center along Winston Avenue in Covington.

“It does stay extremely affordable, and we see it to be a big benefit that somebody can afford their education and [find jobs] upon graduation, especially in the licensed trades,” Miller said.

Miller said the Enzweiler Institute looks forward to investing more in high school students. One way they’re looking to do this is by working closely with the area’s public school systems to expand program offerings.

“We do have plans in the future to offer more specialized training for high school students,” Miller said. “It’s going to take a couple of changes within the education community in order to make that happen.”

As Northern Kentucky expands its secondary and nontraditional education offerings, regional stakeholders prioritize investment in a skilled and adaptable future workforce. Regardless, there is not a onesize-fits-all solution. Students like Vanderputten are examples of this.

“I really think nontraditional education paths are viable,” she said. “If higher education and college are something important to you, then you should definitely not be limited to going for financial reasons. Money shouldn’t be a problem keeping you from doing something you want to. I’m glad there are affordable options out there for people.”

A capacity event for the Enzweiler Building Institute graduating class of 2024. Photo provided | Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky

EDUCATION DIRECTORY

•

•

•

•

• City of Ryland Heights

• City of Silver Grove

• City of Southgate

• City of Union

• City of Villa Hills

• City Of Walton

• City of Wilder

• City of Woodlawn

• Covington Public Independent Schools

• Cresent Springs Board of Adjustment

• Family Dollar Store

• Fort Mitchell Board of Adjustment

• Fort Thomas Independent Schools

• Highland Heights Planning & Zoning

• Keating, Muething & Klekamp PLL

• Kenton County Fiscal Court

• Kenton County Joint Board of Adjustment

• Larry Dillon Boone County Master Commissioner

• Northern Kentucky Port Authority

• Northern Kentucky Water District

• Planning & Development Services of Kenton County

• The Baker Firm PLLC

• The Hidden Chapter Bookstore LLC

DINING GUIDE 2024

Openings, closings change local restaurant menu

By Kenton Hornbeck

The Northern Kentucky restaurant scene has undergone significant changes over the past calendar year, with many eateries opening their doors while longtime favorites have closed permanently.

The region bid farewell to classic restaurants such as Dee Felice Cafe, an institution in Covington’s Mainstrasse neighborhood for nearly 40 years, and Keystone Bar and Grill, one of the region’s most popular spots for comfort food.

It’s not all bad news, though. NKY also has seen an influx of new restaurants, like Cattleman’s Roadhouse and Opal.

As the culinary landscape shifts, we’re highlighting five restaurants that have debuted over the past calendar year and five that have closed.

Openings

Thai Pavilion: 405 Scott St., Covington

The only Thai restaurant in Covington opened its doors in October in the former Chi Maek on Scott Street.

Owners Anya Hoffman and Wun Woon fulfilled a lifelong dream of running their own Thai restaurant. According to Hoffman, Chi Maek proprietor Bruce Kim recommended

the space to her.

As unabashed foodies, Hoffman and Woon use Thai Pavilion to share their love of Thai food and culture with the Northern Kentucky community.

Thai Pavilion’s menu features classics like pad thai, red curry and pad kee mao, along with a variety of noodles, fried rice dishes, wontons and spring rolls.

Cattleman’s Roadhouse: 12910 Frogtown Connector Road, Walton

Cattleman’s Roadhouse, the local franchise of the Kentucky-based steakhouse chain, opened to plenty of fanfare in June. The new steakhouse is located just west of Interstate 75 in Walton.

The franchise is the brainchild of restaurateurs Bill Hisle and Stuart Meredith, who opened the first location in Shelbyville in 2006. The menu features nine steaks sourced from the DemKota Ranch Beef in Aberdeen, South Dakota, plus a variety of burgers, salads and entrees.

Honey Uninhibited: 50 E Rivercenter Blvd., Suite 20, Covington

Former Cincinnati Bengal Carlos Dunlap debuted his newest eatery, Honey Uninhibited, a Southern-style restaurant in Covington’s RiverCenter, in July 2023. The 12-year NFL veteran lived in Northern Kentucky while playing for the Bengals.

Its menu features creative takes on classic

Southern favorites like Gullah shrimp ’n’ grits, lobster truffle mac and cheese, specialty drinks and mimosa kits.

Several restaurants have cycled through the RiverCenter space. Its previous tenant was FIRE, a New American restaurant that closed in March 2020. Before that, Behle Street Cafe occupied the space. It closed in 2013 but has since reopened in Fort Mitchell.

The Covington location is the second Honey Uninhibited in the United States. Dunlap opened the original restaurant in Miami, Florida, his hometown, in 2022.

Opal: 535 Madison Ave., Covington

Northern Kentucky’s newest rooftop restaurant is on the seventh floor of the renovated Republic Bank building in Covington’s Central Business District.

Upon opening, founder Bill Whitlow described Opal as a casual fine-dining experience. Whitlow, a prominent Covington restaurateur, also owns Hangry Omar’s Slider Shack and Rich’s Proper.

Opal’s open-fire Grillworks grill is one of the few within a two-hour radius of Cincinnati. It also features a patio bar, with an extensive cocktail and wine menu.

Bridges Nepali: 11 W. Seventh St., Covington

Nepali-style restaurant Bridges opened its first Northern Kentucky location in June. It’s in the former McK’s BBQ storefront. Bridges was founded in 2015 by Ashak Chipalu and his parents, Rose and Manoj, in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood.

Bridges’ menu includes noodles, rice bowls, samosas and momos – the Nepali version of a dumpling.

There is another Bridges location in Elmwood Place, Ohio, and a fourth location is planned to open in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills neighborhood, according to the restaurant’s website.

Closings

Keystone Bar & Grill: 313 Greenup

Keystone Bar & Grill, a popular comfort food restaurant, closed its doors in September after 16 years in business.

restaurant was founded in

St., Covington

The

2007 by Cin-

A selection of food from Bridges Nepali Cuisine. Photo provided | Bridges Facebook page

Thai Pavilion, located at 405 Scott Blvd. in Covington. Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky

Cattleman’s Roadhouse. Photo provided | Cattleman’s Roadhouse, Schueler Group

The view at night from Opal’s rooftop. Photo provided | Opal

Honey Uninhibited Group celebrating its newest opening in Covington. Pictured from left to right: Scott Karrick, Mario Nocero, Diane Brown Ross, Carlos Dunlap, Joe Meyer, Shannon Smith. Photo by Kenton Hornbeck

David Fessler

Timothy Schneider

cinnati-based Four Entertainment Group. Despite its closure, Keystone’s signature mac and cheese lives on at Keystone’s Mac Shack on Short Vine Street in Cincinnati.

By Golly’s Bar & Grill is set to open in the space vacated by Keystone. By Golly’s menu will feature classic bar food like burgers, wings and sandwiches.

McK’s BBQ: 11 W. Seventh St., Covington

Covington barbeque joint McK’s abruptly closed after six years in business.

McK’s served classic barbeque dishes and traditional sides like collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans. Its meats were cooked each morning in two drum smokers in the alley next door to the restaurant.

McK’s also had a second location in Cincinnati’s Liberty Township. That location has also closed.

Bridges Nepali opened in the Covington space in June.

Baker’s Table Bakery: 1001 Monmouth St., Newport

Newport coffee shop Baker’s Table Bakery on Monmouth Street suddenly closed its doors last October.

The Baker’s Table restaurant across the street remained open and returned its brunch offerings on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, Baker’s Table added immersive cooking classes in its former bakery space, where attendees could make pizzas, pasta and bread. It now also offers artisan sourdough bread for weekly pickup.

Quaker Steak and Lube: 8025 Action Blvd., Florence

Quaker Steak and Lube, a beloved burger and wings joint located near the Florence Mall, permanently closed in January after the national franchise struggled to rebound from the pandemic and was impacted by reduced accessibility from Ky. 18. The Florence location opened in 2012.

Quaker Steak and Lube’s menu features a variety of steaks, burgers, hot wings and sandwiches.

The Quaker Steak and Lube building now sits empty, showcasing the further decline of the Florence Mall area.

Mokka and the Sunset Bar & Grill: 500 Monmouth St., Newport

After over 20 years in business, Mokka and the Sunset Bar & Grill announced its clo-

sure on July 28.

Mokka was regarded for its casual breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. Its dinner menu featured a variety of burgers, sandwiches, salads and other entrees. Some of their most popular breakfast items included French toast, goetta and biscuits and gravy.

The Sunset Bar & Grill also offered a full bar with live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

York Street Cafe: 738 York St., Newport

York Street Cafe, one of Newport’s longest-running restaurants, announced its closure in mid-July. It had been in business for nearly 30 years.

Thanks to its artsy interior decor, the restaurant was a popular venue for weddings, proposals, anniversaries and other special occasions.

Its menu featured several steaks, sandwiches, salads and seafood like its saffron fennel mussels. It also had a standalone brunch menu with dishes like shrimp and grits and wagyu beef sliders. For drinks, the bar served numerous cocktails and offered a wide selection of bourbons.

Baker’s Table Bakery in Newport. Photo provided | Google Maps

McK’s BBQ in Covington. Photo provided | McK’s BBQ on Facebook

Quaker Steak & Lube in Florence. Photo provided | Quaker Steak & Lube

Story and photos by

Maria Hehman

IStreetscapes: The greatest hits tour

’m a lifelong Northern Kentucky resident and self-appointed food and drink connoisseur. I’m also the author of Streetscapes, where each week I choose a street (or part of a street) in Northern Kentucky and write about its restaurants, bars or coffee shops.

I have visited every Northern Kentucky coffee shop (no, truly, try to find a coffee shop where I haven’t downed a large vanilla latte), countless local restaurants and bars, and patronized so many other small businesses in the area that I’ve lost count.

After two years of visiting new spots each week, here are the places I find myself recommending or revisiting most often.

The Green Line Kitchen and Cocktails

We have to start where the series began, in Fort Thomas. For my first Streetscapes, I visited Fort Thomas and fell in love with the community and businesses in the area. I’m always excited to visit the city, so, when I found out there was a new restaurant opening in January, I went the first week it opened.

The Green Line Kitchen and Cocktails strikes the perfect balance between casual and upscale. It’s a place where everyone

can get dressed up a bit without feeling out of place. On either side of the stairs leading to the front door is seating and fire pits to enjoy in warm weather.

The restaurant’s interior has two main dining areas. The front one, which includes the bar, has a more intimate ambiance with dim lighting and cozy seating, ideal for date night or dinner with friends. The second dining area is brighter and more spacious, a great option for families.

Green Line’s menu features classic comfort food, from savory options like a lamb meatball appetizer to a 10-ounce (or 14 if you’re

really hungry) cut of prime rib. Green Line’s meat and cheese board is an excellent light bite to snack on before indulging in an entree, and its curated seasonal menu has options for all diets, including cornmeal-crusted eggplant with goat cheese, arugula and harissa sauce for vegetarians, or gnocchi stroganoff with prime rib, onion and mushrooms in a homemade cream sauce.

There’s a full bar with beers, seltzers, cocktails and mocktails. However, the most extensive offerings – by the glass or bottle – are on the wine menu. Since my first visit, Green Line has added lunch and weekend brunch choices.

Honey Uninhibited

For casual Southern comfort food, there are few better options than Honey Uninhibited. Located in the Towers of RiverCenter, it boasts one of the best brunches in NKY.

Signature dishes are rooted in soul food, with its Sweet Chick a prime example. Consisting of cinnamon French toast topped with fried, breaded chicken thigh and accented with fresh berries, then drizzled with caramel, vanilla and spicy honey, this sweet and savory combination puts an epic, mouth-watering spin on traditional chicken and waffles.

Best Views OF CINCINNATI

Other unique choices include oxtail and grits, hot honey Brussels sprouts and jalapeno honey cornbread. Those with a sweet tooth should opt for the red velvet pancakes or uninhibited pancakes.

The lively atmosphere makes for a great pregame stop before crossing the river for football or baseball games. There’s also ample outdoor and indoor seating. The indoor space is the most instagrammable spot in Covington: With neon lights and greenery, it’s the perfect backdrop to the picturesque food.

Ovation is an urban mixed-use development that sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers in Northern Kentucky. It is a vibrant riverfront destination that bridges the cities in the region, connects residents and the community directly to the rivers, and enables everyone to be transformed by the incredible river views combined with a boardwalk that transcends time and activates all your senses.

The Green Line in Fort Thomas strikes a balance between casual and upscale.

Cocktails are just the beginning of amazing offers from Honey Uninhibited.

Camporosso

In the heart of my hometown, Fort Mitchell, a small Italian eatery has garnered celebrity for its wood-fired pizzas. It’s even been named best pizza in Kentucky. While Camporosso’s pizza has drawn customers from afar, though, it’s always been a reliable, delicious dinner for locals.

The pizzas come either wood-fired or classic American style with a thicker crust. For a true taste of Italy, Margherita pizza pairs impeccably with an Aperol spritz from the bar. For spicy and savory flavors, the soppressata hot honey pizza is the perfect choice. It features crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, soppressata salami and is drizzled with local hot honey.

The prosciutto and fig pizza with gorgonzola and arugula is a great option for a light and fresh meal. Although Camporosso’s pizza is what draws the majority of its guests, its other menu items are as authentic and delicious as the pizzas. With salads, charcuterie and pastas to choose from, it’s hard to come here and order just one dish.

Camporosso also offers a full menu for takeout. Whether you enjoy it on the patio or the comfort of your home, it never disappoints.

La Torta Loca

La Torta Loca is home to two locations in Northern Kentucky, one in Florence and one in Crescent Springs. The new(ish) Florence location on Haines Drive is the perfect place for a casual night out that feels elevated. The vibrant and colorful space is accented with murals, greenery and neon lights.

La Torta Loca is best known for massive tortas. These Mexican specialties strain the definition (and bounds) of a sandwich, placing all the flavors of Mexican cuisine between two fluffy pieces of bread.

The namesake dish, the torta loca, has chicken milanese, steak, carnitas, bacon, melted cheese, grilled onion and jalapeño. (Yes, that’s all on one sandwich.)

Deep fried quesadillas, street tacos and

empanadas are just a few of the other menu items. To pair with those dishes, Torta Loca boasts a full cocktail menu as well as Mexican and American sodas and beers. Start with sweet plantains and a margarita before diving into the main dishes.

The Hive

Whether it’s breakfast, brunch, lunch or something else, the Hive has it. Housed in a historic home in Erlanger, the Hive was thoughtfully designed to use its architecture to create distinct sections in the building.

Guests can dine in the main dining room on the first floor, while the parlor serves as a space to sit and chat over coffee. Upstairs, two areas are designed for folks who want to get some work done. The coffee bar is ideal for those wanting a break from working from home, featuring outlets galore and free Wi-Fi, and there’s also a workspace that can be rented for meetings and larger groups.

The Hive’s menu highlights East Coast flavors combined with local favorites like goetta. The BeeKeeper’s Breakfast Bowl with Glier’s goetta, potato, scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese is one of the most popular items.

The Hive also features an entire biscuit menu, from a simple biscuit or classic biscuits and gravy to a biscuit flight with a sampling of jellies; these make for the ideal breakfast appetizer. On the sweet side,

there are pancakes and waffles in countless flavors. The star of the sweet breakfast show, though, is the Hive’s bourbon spiked French toast. This is Kentucky, after all. If a little bourbon for breakfast is wrong, we don’t want to be right.

For lunch, there are soups, salads, sandwiches and sides. As if an entire coffee bar upstairs weren’t enough, the Hive also offers boozy breakfast beverages, including mimosas and bloody Marys.

Tuba Baking

Tuba Baking, like most spots in Dayton, is endearing and adorable, and a visit always leaves you in a better mood. Maybe it’s my German roots showing, but, between the authentic German beer, pretzels larger than the dish they’re served on and a biergarten, Tuba hits a home run for me.

The menu starts with an offering of brezels, or soft pretzels, ranging from plain to one served with goetta and cheese; these can be either a light snack or a hearty meal. Other popular dishes include currywurst, schnitzel and several different spaetzles (a type of egg noodle).

Don’t let the name fool you – there’s nothing bad about the wurst platter. It’s great for those new to German cuisine. Diners choose from German meats, bratwurst, mettwurst or kielbasa and a side of either

spaetzle, cucumber salad or sauerkraut.

The nostalgic atmosphere inside is ideal for those dining in, but nothing beats the biergarten on summer evenings.

What to Know If You Go

The Green Line Kitchen and Cocktails

Location: 25 North Fort Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas

Hours: Sunday-Monday, closed; Tuesday-Thursday, 4-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 4-10 p.m.

Website: greenlinerestaurant.com Phone: 859-757-4580

Honey Uninhibited

Location: 50 E. Rivercenter Blvd., Suite 50, Covington

Hours: Sunday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

Website: honeyuninhibited.com Phone: 859-261-1222

Camporosso

Location: 2475 Dixie Highway, Fort Mitchell

Hours: Monday, closed; Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Website: camporosso.com Phone: 859-331-0155

La Torta Loca

Location: 8645 Haines Drive, A, Florence, 41042

Hours: Sunday, noon-8 p.m.; Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Website: latortalocaflorence.com Phone: 859-777-7459

The Hive

Location: 480 Erlanger Road, Erlanger

Hours: Sunday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.; Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.

Website: thehiveerlanger.com Phone: 859-495-5655

Tuba Baking

Location: 517 Sixth Ave., Dayton

Hours: Sunday, noon-7 p.m.; Monday-Wednesday, closed; Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m. Phone: 859-835-2171

Hours: Monday- Closed Tuesday-Thursday 11am-9pm Friday-Saturday 11am-10pm Sunday 11am-8pm

Cocktails and coffee from the Hive.

Pretzel and beer from Tuba Baking.

PIZZA TODAY’S 2024 PIZZERIA OF THE YEAR

Where to eat? The LINK team shares its favorites

By Maggy McDonel

There are too many good places to eat in Northern Kentucky to count, so where to head when you want a bite of something new can be a challenge. Fortunately, the people at LINK like to eat (and occasionally drink), and so, as part of our duty to keep you informed, we’re sharing some recommendations.

I asked our team members (and myself, of course, LINK’s digital editor) four questions: What is your favorite NKY…

• Fast food joint?

• Date-night spot?

• Overall favorite restaurant?

• Restaurant to recommend to people visiting the region?

Read on for our answers – with a lot of talk about delicious dishes and fantastic vibes.

Fast food joints

While his favorite NKY fast food spot is no longer around (the Alexandria Gold Star), business reporter Kenton Hornbeck said he would now choose the Dixie Chili off Madison Avenue in Covington. I agree with Dixie Chili, although my favorite is the Newport location. The Cincinnati-style chili joint has three locations (Newport, Covington and Erlanger) and has been around since 1929. It serves classics like coneys, chili cheese fries, three-, four-, fiveand six-ways (the sixth ingredient is garlic), plus some of its own unique dishes like the Alligator, which involves a dill spear, a hot-

dog, mustard, mayo and cheese on a coney bun.

Sticking with the hotdog theme, our CEO Lacy Starling’s favorite fast food spot is Larry’s on Ninth Street in Covington. This neighborhood dive bar offers loaded hot dogs, tater tots, quesadillas and more. Lacy said she likes it because it’s “cheap, quick, and you can get beer or a cocktail.”

Nicole Trimpe, our VP of development, couldn’t pick just one place. Her picks ranged from Clean Eatz in Newport (can fast food be healthful?) to Reality Tuesday Cafe in Park Hills to The Standard in Covington. If you saw her face when she came into the office with a hummus platter from Reality Tuesday, though, you would know that that’s her true favorite.

Date-night spots

favorite date-night spots. This wildly popular wood-fired pizza place was featured in Food & Wine magazine’s “The Best Pizza in Every State” as one of the top pizzerias in Kentucky. In Kenton’s opinion, “People might not want to hear this, but Camporosso might have the best pizza in Greater Cincinnati.”

Knotty Pine on the Bayou in Cold Spring is the go-to for Shelly Braun, LINK’s office and production manager. For over 50 years, this spot has stuck to classic Cajun-influenced dishes like Cajun shrimp boil, oysters on the half-shell, gumbo and more.

“Cheap, quick, and you can get beer or a cocktail.”

– Lacy Starling

A common thread for the LINK team seemed to be good drinks and good (i.e., low) lighting, because … do we really need to see our dates or have them see us?

Recommended as the best place for a date night by both Nicole and Brad Crosby, VP of sales, was Ripple Wine Bar on Pike Street in Covington. This cozy spot features an ever-changing collection of wines, small bites like cheese and charcuterie boards, and what they call “petite entrees” ranging from pierogies to beef Wellington popovers to various flatbreads. Of the space, Brad said, “We love the joyful atmosphere and the big-city vibe it gives off in such a small space. The wine is pretty good, too.”

Staying in Covington, Lacy’s go-to for a date night is Junipers, a gin bar with a robust martini list and a rotating menu of small plates featuring bar favorites like warmed olives and a Deviled Egg Trio. “It’s such a great place to go and get small plates and craft cocktails,” Lacy said. “There are no TVs, and the lighting is SUPER flattering.”

Mentioned by several staff members, Camporosso in Fort Mitchell is a favorite of the LINK team, and it’s one of Kenton’s

Overall favorites in NKY

LINK editorial board member Ashleigh DuBois’ favorite NKY restaurant, Purple Poulet, really piles on the Southern charm. Ashleigh loves the fried green tomatoes, one of the bourbon bistro’s signature dishes. In addition to having over 500 bourbons and ryes, it offers classics like shrimp and grits, fried chicken and waffles, and some unique takes like a peanut butter-crusted pork chop.

Cincinnati-style chili is back on the list with Shelly’s favorite: Empress Chili. Opened in 1922 in downtown Cincinnati, Empress was the original Cincinnati chili parlor. Once a chain, now only the Alexandria location survives. This classic chili joint offers two-, three-, four- and five-ways plus coneys, sandwiches and even a chili pizza. On top of that, Shelly said “their chicken salad is better than any place I’ve tried.”

Kenton’s pick, Kung Food AmerAsia in Covington, is a pan-Asian restaurant serving Chinese, Taiwanese and other Asian cuisines. Rich Chu and his son, Johnny Chu, own and operate the popular dining spot. Kenton said this places offer “good vibes and good food.” Plus it’s close to the LINK office. His go-to order is Singapore chicken noodles, spice level three.

My favorite has to be Mama’s on Main Mama’s was mentioned by respondents in multiple categories, including as an

amazing date night spot and place to recommend to visitors. This red-sauce Italian restaurant with a twist opened in 2022 in Mainstrasse and has an amazing vibe and even better food. I highly recommend the chicken parmesan and, of course, several orders of the focaccia bread service.

Our best for visitors

Three LINK team members, editorial board member Michele Day, Brad and Nicole, all had the same answer: Otto’s. This Mainstrasse classic has been around since 2003 and offers lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. The menu features Southern classics, such as fried pork chops, the BLFGT (bacon, lettuce, and fried green tomato) and Kentucky Hots Browns. Brad said he recommends it because it offers “good food, good people, great location.”

Newport’s La Mexicana Restaurante Cantina & Tienda is where Kenton said he would take a visitor. In his opinion, it’s “the best Mexican restaurant in all of Northern Kentucky.” This place, part restaurant and part grocery, serves up tacos, enchiladas, tamales, fajitas, chilaquiles and more. They offer glasses and pitchers of margaritas plus a selection of Mexican beers.

Because we are south of the Ohio River, we had to have some barbeque on the list. We got it with Shelly’s No. 1 recommendation for visitors: Four Mile Pig in Alexandria. This family-owned spot offers a small but mighty menu of all the best BBQ options, from pulled pork to brisket, plus sides like smoked wings, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans.

A Margherita pizza at Camporosso. Photo provided | Camporosso on Facebook

Some of the dishes offered at Mama’s on Main. Photo provided | Mama’s on Main on Facebook

DINING GUIDE

Story and photos by

DBest date night spots in Northern Kentucky

Maria Hehman

ate night: When you want to go somewhere a little special with your someone special. With so many options in every corner of Northern Kentucky, it can be hard to narrow down the best spots for special occasions, so we did it for you.

The following are among the best restaurants in the area for a date night. Whether it’s a blind first date or you’re celebrating a milestone anniversary, these restaurants will make for an unforgettable evening.

Dressed-up: Opal

Elevated dining is taken literally at Opal. Situated six floors above Republic Bank on Madison Avenue in Covington, it’s an ideal location for a dressed-up date night. The small dining room is upscale rustic, and guests are able to watch both drinks and dinner being prepared at the well-stocked bar and open-fire grill. Those who prefer a less bustling atmosphere and stunning views of both Covington and Cincinnati can opt for the outdoor patio.

Opal’s menu is focused on grilled entrees, with steak, pork, fish and chicken all cooked on their open-fire grill. Vegetarians and vegans need not worry, though, as starters and sides like grilled cauliflower give all guests the opportunity to try the unique flavors offered by the grill.

For an even more romantic evening, time your visit for sunset and enjoy the glow of Mother of God Church in Covington or the Cincinnati skyline with your dinner and drinks. On cool nights, the space is heated, allowing three seasons of enjoyment for the outdoor patio.

Intimate atmosphere: Conserva

To step away from the world for a few hours and just spend time with your date, head to Conserva in Ludlow. This small spot is the ideal space for one-on-one conversation,

shareable dishes and a comfortable atmosphere.

Decorated with mosaic tiles and art, the space invites conversation. The menu is traditional Spanish tapas, and the staff does an excellent job of describing each dish and offering recommendations.

The cream de queso de oveja con higos secos is one of Conserva’s most popular dishes, consisting of warmed baguette slices with sheep’s milk cheese, dried fig and bal-

samic reduction. The tortilla española is a must-order – a flakey quiche-like dish with potato, egg, onion and parsley, topped with a drizzle of aioli.

Guests longing for a Spanish vacation can simply order a sangria or the Spanish 75 cocktail (cava, Mahon gin, lemon juice and simple syrup with a lemon twist) from the extensive wine and cocktail list.

Fine dining: MRBL

MRBL in Bellevue is the place for special occasions and dressing to the nines. Anniversaries, birthdays and relationship milestones are the perfect excuse for a champagne celebration in their luxe dining room.

Dinner, drinks and views create a romantic ambiance at Opal.

Skyline views are just one of the reasons MRBL creates an unforgettable evening.

Delicious cocktails and intimate interior are a dynamic duo for date night at Conserva.

The steakhouse is known for its illuminated views of the Cincinnati skyline at night, but MRBL’s interior is just as impressive. Leather seating, candlelight tables and an art deco Gatsby-esque dining room check all the boxes for a romantic evening.

The menu matched the ambiance for an elevated experience, with steak and sushi as the headliners. Many of the craft cocktails are playfully named to pay homage to the area. The Gincinnati with Cincinnati gin, St. Germain, plum syrup, sage simple and elderflower tonic is a refreshing, crisp drink perfect for sipping while admiring the views.

Something about a prix fixe menu makes date night feel even more special, and the Baker’s Table in Newport does it better than anyone else in Northern Kentucky. The restaurant has been a hot commodity since its debut in 2018, and it has been recognized nationally for its food, service and ambiance.

The Baker’s Table’s seasonal menus are regularly updated to provide the freshest meals. The menu can be ordered a la carte or as a prix-fixe, three course meal. Each course offers three options and, no matter how small the menu may be, Baker’s Table offers dishes for all diets. The menu has vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and meat options that everyone will love.

Some of the summer menu items include stracciatella (no, not the gelato kind) with

peach, blackberry, rye crisp and dill, and creste di gallo, a beef bolognese pasta with fried rosemary and grana. The cocktail and wine menu has selections for any taste along with nonalcoholic options. As the space is on the smaller side, reservations are always recommended. For a curated multicourse dining experience, there’s no place like the Baker’s Table.

Southern hospitality: Tousey House Tavern

For a taste of Southern cooking and hospitality, Tousey House Tavern provides timeless sophistication for your date night. This historic restaurant has an old school atmosphere and decor that gives guests the perfect excuse to dress up.

Start with the fried green tomatoes or peach burrata board for updated Southern classics. With over a dozen entree options, it can be hard to narrow down to just one, but whatever you choose – steak, fish or a Kentucky Hot Brown – there is no wrong decision.

The legendary fried chicken and fried cod are famous favorites for visitors, and the extensive drink menu has libations for every palate and price range. For special occasion date nights they have plenty of high-end wines by the bottle to toast with. Guests can dine inside for a fine dining experience or on the side patio for a more casual evening.

Whether you’re looking to impress a first date in a comfortable environment or to escape from the kids for an evening with your spouse, Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey is a haven for all, offering good food in a laidback atmosphere.

Boomtown reclaimed the idea of “frontier food” – what many would think of as stale bread, canned vegetables and questionably clean water. Instead, the menu takes classic frontier foods and creates contemporary, mouthwatering masterpieces.

At any restaurant with biscuits in the name, it’s a right of passage to order at least one. Boomtown’s Trail Pickins, served with either four or six biscuits and the chef’s choice of butters, jams, jellies and pickles, is a great way to sample the fare and share with your date.

Many entrees also feature biscuits, with their sandwiches served on the soft, buttery rounds and biscuit crumbs topping the Gold Fever, a buffalo mac and cheese mixed with fried chicken, bleu cheese, bacon and scallions.

There’s no shortage of libations at Boomtown, with a full bar that includes over 50 options of whiskey and a regularly-updated mimosa of the moment.

Opal

Location: 535 Madison Ave., Floor 7, Covington

Hours: Monday, closed; Tuesday, 4-11 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 4-11 p.m.; Sunday, 4-9 p.m.

Website: opalrooftop.com Phone: 859-261-0629

MRBL Location: 119 Fairfield Ave., Suite 427, Bellevue

Hours: Monday-Tuesday, closed; Wednesday-Saturday, 4:30-10 p.m.; Sunday, 4:30 p.m.9 p.m.

Website: mrblsteak.com Phone: 859-431-6725

Conserva

Location: 225 Elm St., Ludlow

Hours: Sunday-Tuesday, closed; Wednesday-Saturday, 5-10 p.m. Website: conservatapasbar.com Phone: 859-261-0680

The Baker’s Table

Location: 1004 Monmouth St., Newport

Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 5-9:00 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 5-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday brunch, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Website: bakerstablenewport.com Phone: 859-261-1941

Tousey House Tavern

Location: 5963 North Jefferson St., Burlington Hours: Monday, closed; Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-3p.m.

Website: touseyhouse.com Phone: 859-586-9900

Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey Location: 9039 U.S. 42, Suite H, Union Hours: Monday-Tuesday, closed; Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Website: boomtownbiscuitsandwhiskey.com Phone: 859-384-5910

Prix fixe: The Baker’s Table

The Baker’s Table in Newport offers a calm and comforting environment ideal for any date night.

Historic Tousey House Tavern entrance.

Yukon Biscuit Sandwich from Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey.

Laid back: Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey

By LINK nky staff

IDiscounts for kids to give parents a break

t’s time to answer the age-old (and frustrating) daily question: What’s for dinner?

Finding a convenient place where everyone can get something they like and that doesn’t break the bank is tough for a family. We’ve pulled together locations around Northern Kentucky that offer free meals for kids through the week along with some spots that offer discounts for kids meals.

Mondays

• Buffalo Wild Wings: At the two Buffalo Wild Wings locations in NKY, kids can eat free Mondays with the purchase of an entree. Valid for dine-in meals only.

Locations: 83 Carothers Road, Newport Pavilion, Newport; 3441 Valley Plaza Pkwy., Fort Wright

• Frisch’s Big Boy: Get one free kids meal with the purchase of an adult entree at any of the restaurant’s seven NKY locations. Dine-in only.

Locations: 100 Landmark Drive, Bellevue; 2611 Alexandria Pike, Highland Heights; 20 Kyles Lane, Covington; 5010 Alexandria Pike, Cold Spring; 494 Orphanage Road, Fort Mitchell; 6808 Burlington Pike, Florence; 2112 Declaration Drive, Independence

• Wings and Rings: Kids 10 and under can eat free with a paying adult on Mondays. Dine-in only.

Locations: 2809 Dixie Highway, Suite 6030, Crestview Hills; 8987 U.S. 42, Union

Tuesdays

• Bob Evans: Get one free kids meal with the purchase of an adult entree at any NKY Bob Evans location. Dine-in only.

Locations: 4000 Alexandria Pike, Cold Spring; 489 Orphanage Road, Fort Wright; 8020 U.S. 42, Florence

• Gold Star: On Tuesdays, kids 12 and under can eat free with the purchase of an adult entree.

Locations: 24 Carothers Road, Newport; 47 Donnermeyer Drive, Bellevue; 504 W Fourth St., Covington; 4381 Winston Ave., Covington; 1007 Town Drive, Wilder; 2516 Hazelwood Road, Crescent Springs; 10 Kenton Lands Road, Erlanger; 7649 Mall Road, Florence; 310 Mt. Zion Road, Florence; 2516 Hazelwood Drive, Crescent Springs; 8031 Alexandria Pike, Alexandria; 286 Richwood Road, Walton

• Moe’s Southwest Grill: Tuesdays after 5 p.m., kids get a free meal with the purchase of an entree at Moe’s South-

west Grill. Valid for dine-in and takeout.

Location: 2881 Dixie Highway, Suite 8060, Crestview Hills

Discounted meals

• LaRosa’s

- Spaghetti-A-Plenty: On Mondays and Tuesdays, kids 10 and under can get spaghetti with a meatball plus whole grain sweet crackers and a drink for $4.39. Dine-in only.

- Kids Pizza Night: For $5.99 per child on Wednesdays, kids 10 and under get a one-topping kids pizza, kids

drink and a chocolate chunk cookie or sweet crackers.

Locations: 417 Madison Ave., Covington; 75 Carothers Road, Newport; 2446 Anderson Road, Crescent Springs; 5128 Taylor Mill Road, Taylor Mill; 4757 Alexandria Pike, Cold Spring; 579 Dudley Pike Road, Edgewood; 5880 Merchants St., Florence

• Red Robin: On Wednesdays, Red Robin offers half-off kids meals with the purchase of an entree. Valid for dine-in, carry-out and delivery.

Location: 7250 Houston Road, Florence

MORE THAN JUST A PLACE

A family enjoys a meal at Frisch’s Big Boy. Photo provided | Frisch’s Big Boy on Facebook

By Evan Dennison

TFall sports means far more than football

he fall sports season is one of the most hectic times of the year. If you blink, you’re more than likely to miss some of the action.

While Friday night lights and football take up the scene at the end of the week, what happens Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays can’t be ignored. Don’t worry, football fans, you’ve seen plenty of coverage from us in our online previews and in our print edition on Aug. 16. Now it’s time to focus on the other fall sports.

The word that comes to mind when thinking of fall sports programs in Northern Kentucky is quality. Whether it’s on the volleyball court, soccer field, golf course or cross country course, the schools in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties are usually among the state’s best.

Last season alone netted three team state champions in cross country, a state runner-up in volleyball and two state semifinalists in soccer. Now is the time to look forward to the 2024 season, and here are some of the fall sports storylines below.

Volleyball

11th state title for Notre Dame?

With all but one player returning from a state runner-up finish, it’s hard to fathom Notre Dame won’t be in position for an 11th state championship and a third since 2020. The Pandas finished 33-6 in 2023, went 15-0 against 9th Region opponents and dropped just two sets in the process – both to St. Henry, whose team graduated six seniors.

While the 9th Region provides some of the best volleyball in the state, the Pandas enter as the heavy favorite. They return Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association First Team

All-State member Ava Tilden. Julia Grace made the second team. Ella Goetz, Riley McCloskey and Lacy Hostetler return as key rotational players, with depth added from Lauren Ott, Audrey Dyas, Hannah Dannenberg, Grace Portwood and Lizzy Larkins.

“Across the board we have a lot of experience, some girls playing their fourth year of varsity,” Pandas co-coach Leslie Litmer said. “There’s a lot of leadership to rely on and experience at all of our positions. We won’t need to rely on certain people necessarily, and we’ll be able to spread it around a little bit and build off the success last year.

The usual suspects will offer the most resistance to the Pandas. St. Henry gets Corinne Blackburn into the fold after she had to sit out most of 2023 due to transfer eligibility. Beechwood returns all but two players from a 25-13 season, while Ryle, Holy Cross and Highlands will also be in the mix.

“It’s awesome to see how competitive across the area it has become,” Litmer said. “A lot of coaches help out in club ball and take that to their schools. No game or match will be easy. There’s so many skill sets and challenges. It helps keep us honest and stay focused on what our goals are throughout the season.”

In the 10th Region, expect Scott to be the preseason favorite as it returns nearly everyone from last season’s region runner-up

NOTICE

Please take notice that Duke Energy Kentucky, Inc. has applied to the Kentucky Public Service Commission for approval to revise its Demand Side Management (DSM) rate for gas service and electric service for residential and commercial customers. Duke Energy Kentucky’s current monthly DSM rate for residential gas customers is ($0.010030) per hundred cubic feet and for non-residential gas customers is $0.000000 per hundred cubic feet. Duke Energy Kentucky’s current monthly DSM rate for residential electric customers is $0.001352 per kilowatt-hour and for non-residential customers is $0.003503 per kilowatt-hour for distribution service and $0.000514 per kilowatt-hour for transmission service.

Duke Energy Kentucky seeks approval to revise these rates as follows: Duke Energy Kentucky’s monthly DSM rate for residential gas customers would remain at ($0.010030) per hundred cubic feet and for nonresidential gas customers would remain at $0.000000 per hundred cubic feet. Duke Energy Kentucky’s monthly DSM rate for residential electric customers would increase to $0.001505 per kilowatt-hour and for non-residential customers would increase to $0.003685 per kilowatt-hour for distribution service and would increase to $0.000545 per kilowatt-hour for transmission service.

The rate contained in this notice is the rate proposed by Duke Energy Kentucky. However, the Public Service Commission may order a rate to be charged that differs from this proposed rate. Such action may result in a rate for consumers other than the rate in this notice. The foregoing rates reflect a proposed increase in electric revenues of approximately $0.65 million or 0.15% over current total electric revenues and no change in current total gas revenues.

A typical residential gas customer using 70 ccf in a month will see no change. A typical residential electric customer using 1000 kWh in a month will see an increase of $0.16 or 0.1%. A typical non-residential electric customer using 40 kilowatts and 14,000 kWh will see an increase of $2.78 or 0.2%. A non-residential customer served at transmission voltage using 10,000 kilowatts and 4,000,000 kWh will see an increase of $134.97 or 0.04%. Non-residential gas customers will see no change in their bills from this application.

Any corporation, association, body politic or person may by motion within thirty (30) days after publication or mailing of notice of the proposed rate changes, submit a written request to intervene to the Public Service Commission, 211 Sower Boulevard, P.O. Box 615, Frankfort, Kentucky 40602, and shall set forth the grounds for the request including the status and interest of the party. The intervention may be granted beyond the thirty (30) day period for good cause shown. Written comments regarding the proposed rate may be submitted to the Public Service Commission by mail or through the Public Service Commission’s website. A copy of this application filed with the Public Service Commission is available for public inspection at Duke Energy Kentucky’s office at 1262 Cox Road, Erlanger, Kentucky 41018 and on its website at http://www.duke-energy.com. This filing and any other related documents can be found on the Public Service Commission’s website at http://psc.ky.gov

finish to Campbell County. A 37th District school, which features four NKY schools in Campbell County, Scott, Bishop Brossart and Calvary Christian, has won all but one regional title since 2012 when the current region alignment began.

Simon Kenton came up a couple sets shy of its first 8th Region title, losing the championship game to South Oldham. It returns some key members of last year’s nucleus as it looks for its first state tournament bid since 1999 and first region championship in the 8th Region.

Cross Country

Will NKY’s dominance continue?

There’s no doubt about it: The high quality of distance running in the state comes from Northern Kentucky. In the Class A boys state meet, NKY schools took the top three spots in 2023. Bishop Brossart claimed the championship, while the Class A girls took five of the top nine spots and Beechwood took the crown. Covington Catholic claimed the 2A boys title, while Cooper and Conner finished in the top five of the boys 3A meet and four of the top nine girls teams in 3A came from NKY.

“Northern Kentucky is the place to run right now,” St. Henry’s Jeff Stewart said after the state meet last season. “All the Northern Kentucky schools are stacked; they’re going to be stacked for a long time. That’s across all classes.”

Don’t expect much difference this year with the programs annually producing solid results. Often the best competition for the teams in NKY are found at meets in their own backyards on their high school campus or at a local park with a course.

Soccer

Notre Dame girls, Ryle boys still teams to beat?

Notre Dame’s girls and Ryle’s boys advanced all the way to the state semifinals before seeing their seasons come to an end in 2023. While Notre Dame’s girls return a bunch from the state semifinalist squad, Ryle coach Stephen Collins didn’t stop short from calling this season a rebuild for the Raiders with some star-studded talent gone and the departure of 10 seniors.

What does that mean for the rest of the region? A level playing field, for one.

“The region is pretty open,” Collins said. “Probably potentially six or seven teams that could be there by the end of the year.

There’s not any team head and shoulders better than the others.”

Covington Catholic is the lone boys state champion from NKY, winning it all in 2015. Since 1972, when the KHSAA started to keep records for boys soccer, the Colonels are the only state champ to hail from NKY. Others have been close, including CovCath in 2016 and 2021 and Ryle in 2006 and 2011 with runner-up finishes.

“The 9th Region is super hard, competitive and physical to get out of,” Collins said. “It wears you down. I put the 9th on par with any region out there. There’s a lot of rivalries, close distances between schools and all super competitive. Even if you’re the favorite going in, no one will take it easy on you. It’s a dogfight every night when you play region games out here.”

The girls of NKY have had a lot more success on the state level, with seven state titles since 2004. Notre Dame owns four of them, Highlands has two and St. Henry the other. Speaking of Notre Dame, they upended Highlands in the 9th Region semifinals in 2023, ending the Bluebirds’ run of four region titles over the previous five seasons. Highlands lost a lot to graduation, but Notre Dame is returning a lot of their nucleus, which makes them the undoubted favorite headed into the 2024 season.

Golf

Highlands goes for five

The Highlands boys golf team has won four straight 8th Region titles and looks poised to be atop the region once again, with five of their top seven golfers returning, including back-to-back region champ Hank Shick.

“Every year for the last five or six years, we try and peak at the right time,” Bluebirds coach Bert Richey said. “We play in a lot of tournaments; 80% of our dates are tourneys. That gears us up for the region tournament, and it’s worked out well.”

NKY boys golfers were nearly shut out from the state tournament last season. Newport Central Catholic’s Caleb Eaglin was the lone qualifier for the tournament and is now golfing at Northern Kentucky University.

“Last year was an anomaly. The backside of Kenton County Golf Course is really tough, got in the players heads, and they started pressing a bit and it hurt overall performance,” Richey said. “Don’t expect that to happen again. Our substate is one of the toughest in the state and we just didn’t play well as a whole.”

The NKY girls had solid showings thanks to the Cooper team. With four of the top five Lady Jags now graduated, is it still the team to beat or can Ryle or Notre Dame end the Jags’ run? Ryle returns all but one from last year’s 7th Region runner-up team, while Notre Dame is expected to have its whole team back.

Meanwhile, in the boys 7th Region, Ryle is the reigning champ and returns five of its top seven, while St. Henry is expected to be right in the mix with its top five golfers back from last season and a third place finish in the region tournament.

Beechwood’s Nora Wilke (443) walked underneath the arms of other runners after the Tigers won their second straight girls KHSAA Class A team title. Ray Schaefer | LINK nky contributor

Notre Dame celebrates after a point during the 2023 KHSAA state semifinals with West Jessamine.

Photo provided | Tonia Witt, KHSAA