First, a primer:
12/29/2008 – New boundaries leave Shawnee behind – Review more info on the 2008 Decision Here.
One quote in the article from Superintendent Berman indicates there could be a plan to shut the school down in 2018.
Fast forward to 2012:
Having just moved to Louisville, we did what any family is supposed to do. We looked at the “Choices” catalog and narrowed the field of schools down to the few that offered a technical/engineering curriculum. One stood out more than the others, due to its aviation magnet program: The Academy @ Shawnee. Meeting with the staff and touring the building, we knew this was the place for our son. Even though the school had the lowest scores in the state, the turnaround was palatable. And we wanted to be a part of it.
The first year was awesome. Peyton was making new friends and getting tons of leadership opportunities. He had always been the youngest in his class. He was a bit of a lanky late developer on top of that, so he was usually last to be chosen for sports teams and spent most of his “athletic career” on the bench. But he was a great standardized test taker, top 1%, but not the best at staying focused and turning in homework, so he also benefited from the ego boost in an atmosphere that allowed him to thrive, and ultimately graduated as the schools’ valedictorian. At the same time, other students benefited from having high flyers like him because more AP classes were demanded and the school’s scored moved remarkably.
But it still wasn’t enough. The following summer, Dr. Keith Look, the school’s remarkable principal, was forced to resign. The looming threat of a state takeover of the school was being thrown around loosely by district administrators. A “plan” was in the works. A campaign to force it down our throats, while the school was weak and leaderless, had begun.
Please read the piece, Educational Excellence with Equity? that I wrote that goes into more details about the district’s discriminatory student assignment plan.
Below are the significant dates that pertain to our experiences at Shawnee:
10/13 — Dealing with Assistant Superintendent Lynne Wheat was my first rude awakening.
6/4/15 — Petition to give Challenger Learning Center one more year was launched.
7/28/15 — KSC’s Challenger Center Proposal Passed by Board — Here are some of our efforts: https://dearjcps.com/dear-jcps-the-challenger-center-issues/
10/12/15 – https://dearjcps.com/the-academy-shawnee-a-history-of-disparities-never-corrected/
5/11/16 — https://dearjcps.com/our-last-hope/
8-10-15 – Venita Benboe was finally hired to replace principal Dr. Houston Barber, who left under questionable circumstances the previous May.
8-9-16 – “Fool me Thrice” Board Speech by Gay Adelmann
8-23-16 – “Vote of No Confidence” Board Speech by Erin Korbylo
9-29-16 – “Priority Status Concerns” Email and Response
11-2-16 – “Concerned Parent of Shawnee Student” – Anonymous Email to Board
11-4-16 – “Shawnee Suffers from Neglect” – Anonymous Email from Parent
11-4-16 – https://dearjcps.com/student-and-staff-safety/
11-15-16 – Shawnee Garners Support from Community (and retribution from the district)
“The Academy @ Shawnee has been in the news a lot recently, but the truth is not what the district leaders would have you believe. We’ve been begging for their support for years, and instead of flotation devices, they throw us bricks. Students need supports and interventions, they respond with retribution.”
Shawnee gets a $41 Million Investment and 3rd Floor Renovation
Dual Resides option added to Student Assignment Plan