Prichard Committee For Excellence Executive Team Members Visit with MISD Respective Schools
The Murray Independent School District sends a huge thank you to Brigitte Blom Ramsey, Prichard Committee Executive Director, and Suzetta Creech, Prichard Committee Chief of Staff and Development Director, for visiting the Murray Independent School District, Calloway County School District, Murray State University and community.
Since 1983, the Prichard Committee has worked to study priority issues, inform the public and policy makers about best practices and engage citizens, business leaders, families, students and other stakeholders in a shared mission to move Kentucky to the top tier of all states for education excellence and equity for all children, from their earliest years through postsecondary education. The Prichard Committee is committed to engaging Kentuckians on education issues—inspiring and equipping them to act to improve education outcomes at the state and local levels.
Blom and Creech traveled to Murray and visited with the MISD and their stop included Murray Preschool Head Start, Murray Elementary, Murray Middle, Murray High, and Area Technology Center. During the visit Laura Pitman, former MISD board member and member of the Prichard Committee for Congressional District 1, and Robert Danielson, MISD volunteer and also a Prichard Committee member, were able to join Blom and Creech for the MISD tour.
Blom was the featured speaker at today’s Rotary meeting. During Blom’s address to Rotary she complimented both the Murray Independent and Calloway County School districts. “Hats off to MISD and Calloway schools for lifting all our learners and excellence in attention to closing achievement gaps.”
In 2008, the Prichard Committee challenged Kentuckians to move the education system to the top 20 among the 50 states by 2020. This year’s report raises concern that Kentucky’s educational improvements seem to have hit a plateau and some have even begun to slip backward. The most recent data ranks Kentucky 41st in preschool enrollment, with only 41 percent of our three-and-four-year-olds participating in public or private preschool. (That’s a decline from the previous ranking of 24th in the original 2008 Top 20 report).
Blom also indicated Kentucky is fifth from the bottom in poverty in the nation. “It struck us recently that while we’ve increased education outcomes significantly over the last generation, Kentucky lingers fifth from the bottom of the nation in poverty,” she said. “To continue to make progress as a state, we must figure out how to increase family incomes which will strengthen our communities and outcomes in education and our economy.”#murrayschools