GoTeachKY names 21 new ambassadors for 2024-2025 school year

(FRANKFORT, KY) – The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has named the new class of ambassadors for the GoTeachKY initiative.

The mission of GoTeachKY is to ensure that all students across the Commonwealth have equitable access to effective educators. GoTeachKY seeks to recruit the next generation of teachers in Kentucky, helping remedy the critical teacher shortage that affects every state in the U.S.

Ambassadors in the GoTeachKY initiative have three main goals:

• Communicate with and inspire students in high school and college to consider teaching as a career.
  
• Communicate with potential and current teachers to promote the rewards and opportunities associated with a career in teaching.
  
• Support and promote the central focus areas, programs and organizations of GoTeachKY, such as Educators Rising Kentucky and the Teaching and Learning career pathway.

Ambassadors were selected from a pool of applicants from across the state who answered the call for educators interested in supporting the initiative and helping promote the teaching profession.

The 2025 GoTeachKY ambassadors are:

• Jennifer Brown, Menifee County
• Natalie Canizal, Fayette County
• Brooke Coffman, Shelby County
• Hayley Dant, Boone County
• Jessica Dawn Thrasher, Wayne County
• Zach Fisher, Jefferson County
• Preston Graves, Simpson County
• Michelle Gross, Spencer County
• Melissa Hall, Breathitt County
• Amber Hinkle, Bell County
• Madeline Janel Morgan, Williamstown Independent
• Allison King, Paintsville Independent
• Rachel Maxwell, Scott County
• Sadie Rice, Fayette County
• Ryan Scott Johnson, Barren County
• Ashley K. Smith, Jefferson County
• Alicia C. Thomas, Fayette County
• Pennie Thomas, Boyd County
• Sarah Wallace, Anderson County
• Sarah Webster, Boone County
• Crista Williams, Warren County

Ambassadors must hold or have held a teaching position in a Kentucky public school and have at least four years of experience as a teacher, principal or other certified school staff member.

Each ambassador has a unique story that brought them into the teaching profession and their stories will be featured on social media as examples of the different pathways available to future educators.

Ambassadors also will represent GoTeachKY at career fairs and other speaking engagements.

For more, visit the GoTeachKY Ambassador Program webpage or e-mail KDE Program Consultant Justin Edwards.

Paintsville Independent Hires Superintendent 

Kentucky School Advocate
October 2024

The Paintsville Independent Schools Board of Education has hired Bryan Auxier as the district’s next superintendent. 

Auxier graduated from Paintsville High School in 1991, and he has earned degrees from Ohio Valley University and Morehead State University. Auxier has spent the past 28 years working at the district. He served as an elementary school teacher for 10 years and has spent the last 18 years serving in various administrative roles including both elementary and high school principal, innovation coordinator and, most recently, as head start director, food service director and elementary school vice principal. 

“I feel like I’m prepared, in a sense, in that I know our school district very well,” Auxier told the Paintsville Herald. “I know the community. I live right here in town. I walk to work, and I’ve done that for years. I think what prepares me best is my relationship with our community, with our parents, with our kids, with our faculty. I think the education business is all about relationships anyway.”

Auxier, who began his new role Oct. 1, said he plans to use the school district’s seal, “In Search of Excellence,” as a starting point for his administration.

“I’m going to try to make decisions with that thought in mind,” he said. “Is this decision going to help us in search of excellence or is it going to take us away from that?”

Article Source by Kentucky School Boards Association – Follow the link for more by KSBA https://www.ksba.org/protected/ArticleView.aspx?iid=6YAUPUI&dasi=1B

STEPHANIE HAMMONDS NAMED SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Morehead State University’s quality education programs are known for consistently producing educators who are some of the best in the state. A recent alum from the Volgenau College of Education received recognition for her work in special education. 

The Council for Exceptional Children recently selected Stephanie Hammonds (Class of 2022), an exceptional child instructor at Carl D. Perkins Job Corps in Paintsville, as its 2023 Special Education Teacher of the Year. She received this honor at the State Council for Exceptional Children Conference in Louisville.  

Originally from Topmost but currently residing in Oil Springs, Hammonds’ journey in special education began when she discovered her passion while tutoring students with dyslexia after graduation.  

“That was the first time any educator had ever taken notice of my efforts and made me feel like I had a purpose and I mattered,” Hammond said. “I started class that fall knowing 100% that I would one day be a special education teacher and that every student that entered my classroom would exit knowing how special they were and how much they mattered.”   

A first-generation college student, Hammonds earned a Bachelor of Arts in Learning and Behavior Disorders (LBD) from Pikeville College (now University of Pikeville) in 1994 and enrolled at MSU to earn her Rank II certification in 2022. The program provided substantial preparation and the flexibility she needed to continue her education while raising a family.  

“MSU helped me become the educator I am now by continuously challenging me,” Hammonds said. “I enjoyed my field experience and was able to witness some of the best teachers in the state in their element and took the strengths I observed and incorporated them into my teaching practices.”  

“Stephanie has been an excellent student at MSU, and her professional achievements reflect her leadership and caring nature,” said Dr. April Miller, dean of the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education. “We are very proud that she has been recognized by Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children (KCEC) as the Special Education Teacher of the Year.”  

She has been with the Carl D. Perkins Job Corps for the past two years. Previously, she taught as an LBD instructor at Paintsville High School, Betsy Lanye Elementary School, Betsy Layne High School, and Adams Middle School in Floyd County.  

In her 30th year of teaching, Hammonds said she would make her remaining years in teaching count and invest the same amount of time, effort, and energy into her students.  

“The biggest benefits of being a special education teacher has always been being a small part of helping students reach their individual potential and goals,” she said. “The most fulfilling part of my job is the population I work with and being privileged to witness their individual success.”  

Source: https://www.moreheadstate.edu/news/2024/02/eagle-alum-named-special-education-teacher-of-the-year

Jami Ward earns this years KDPP Award

With her hard and outstanding work, Paintsville Independent would like to congratulate our very own Director of Pupil Personnel, Mrs. Jami Ward, for being named the Kentucky Directors of Pupil Personnel 2023 DPP of the Year! Congratulations!