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For Trigg County Students Innovative Distinction Creates Flexibility, Changes at School

After being named a District of Innovation, Trigg County Schools are seeking to lift several regulations that could include changing how many years high school students take language arts and math. Now Trigg County High School students must study those subjects all four years.

Trigg Superintendent Travis Hamby says being an innovative district means he can apply for exemptions from regulations. He’s asked for eight.

“While we don’t anticipate we will get every single one of those waivers, what we do anticipate is a very collaborative process with the department of education and some other organizations that can help us work through some of the barriers that we’ve encountered over the last 12 months or so as we’ve tried to really think about how we can transform our learning environment to better prepare our kids,” Hamby said.

Some of those other waivers include removing a regulation that penalizes the school system for graduates who take more than four years and allowing a student to be part of the system’s governance, much like a student regent for public universities.

The Kentucky Department of Education awarded Trigg County the distinction this week.

Hamby says the district had focused on more than typical classroom learning. He says the high school students have put together distracted driving campaigns that were presented to the public and are now working on a project on recyclables.

“We’re trying to do some real authentic tasks connecting it back to the content to really engage our students in some problem solving, some critical thinking skills,” Hamby said. “Really trying to build their creative skills, trying to help them communicate better, such as those presentations of learning. And just learning that critical skill of collaboration, how important it is to work together as a team to really solve those real world, authentic problems.”

Other Districts of Innovation for 2014-2015 include Owensboro Independent and Owsley County schools.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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