Devin Katayama

Jefferson County Public Schools officials will keep a close eye on school lunches this year as the district implements new federal standards that will make meals healthier.

The standards approved this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture bring school meals into compliance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 

This means more fruits and vegetables and whole wheat and less sodium and fat  in school food. But students need to participate for JCPS to be reimbursed under the National School Lunch Program.

Ten candidates are now running for three open seats on the Jefferson County School Board. 

The most recent to file is 29-year-old Elizabeth Berfield who moved from Illinois four years ago after working as a librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana. Berfield is now a stay at home mother of two.

To be on the JCPS board you have to be at least 24 years old and have lived in Kentucky for the last three years prior to filing.

Berfield said she has anticipated running for the school board and said she'd like to see JCPS administrators adopt a frugal mindset.

Jefferson County Public Schools’ Georgia Chafee Teenage Parent Program (TAPP) is making further expansions to accommodate more children in its day-care program this year.

The district has two schools for pregnant students or those who already have children. Last year, South Park TAPP renovated its facilities to add 10 more daycare spots.

A federal judge is allowing a case challenging the Ohio River Bridges Project to move forward.

In 2009, River Fields and the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit against the Federal Highway Administration. They argued the federal government did not practice due diligence in preparing environmental impact statements and several historical places could be affected by the project.

Western District of Kentucky Judge John G. Heyburn put a stay on the suit in 2010 while bi-state officials reworked the $2.6 billion bridges proposal.

The Kentucky Board of Education has approved regulations strengthening its policies around restraining misbehaving students.

Over the past several years, officials have considered changing the state's education department policies. Several states have laws on the books that regulate restraint. Kentucky is not among them, leaving the education department to set regulations on restraining students.

While Kentucky students as a whole made small gains in graduation rates during the 2010-2011 school year, Jefferson County Public Schools students fell slightly backwards in most major categories.

In all major categories--including gender and race-- JCPS continues to fall at least 7 percentage points behind the state. This has been consistent with the four previous years the Kentucky Department of Education has provided.

The JCPS total graduation rate dropped from 69.3 percent in 2010 data to 67.8 percent in 2011 bringing the number closer to its 2008 rate of 67.7.

A diverse pool of candidates has filed for Jefferson County’s three open school board seats.  The most recent is local radio host Tom Mitchell, who plans on running an anti-student assignment campaign, according to reports by the Courier-Journal.

As the deadline to file nears--Aug. 14--some are hoping interest in the races increases. That idea was included in  former Courier-Journal editor David Hawpe's opening speech at the Louisville Forum Wednesday afternoon.

The University of Louisville's College of Arts and Sciences Dean, J. Blaine Hudson, is taking a leave of absence following cranial surgery.

Hudson sent a message Monday night [below] through assistant dean John Ferre. The e-mail, which was forwarded to college staff, said Hudson had undergone cranial surgery and will now take time to rest. The prognosis remains positive, he wrote, but officials expect him out indefinitely.

“We don’t know how long he’s going to be gone and let me be really clear, we are expecting him back," said U of L provost Shirley Willihnganz.

Jefferson County Public Schools is one of 107 Kentucky school districts that will use screeners this year to improve education for their youngest students.

The state adopted the BRIGANCE kindergarten screener offered by Curriculum Associates, which is being piloted this school year and planned to be implemented in all districts by the 2013-2014 year.

A task force of Kentucky lawmakers is using the next few months to figure out how the state can improve digital learning across all classrooms in the commonwealth.

The General Assembly agreed to form the task force to review possible legislative changes that encourage using more technology in schools.

The goal now is to propose legislation that pairs up the state with successful digital education providers or programs, said task force co-chair Rep. Carl Rollins.