Education

Four finalists vying for the presidency of Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College will visit the Bowling Green campus this week for interviews and public forums. 

Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College Provost Phillip Neal is the only in-house candidate. Dr. Lynn Moore from Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon is Vice President for Administrative Services and Student Development. Dr. George Sehi is Executive Director of University Relations from the Warren and Butler County, Ohio Educational Service Centers, and Dr. Ralph Sony is the publisher and editor of the North Carolina Community College Journal. 

Current Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College President Nathan Hodges is retiring after eight years at the helm. Under his leadership, the school change its named from Bowling Green Technical College to reflect an expansion of the school’s offerings and reach. 

Hodges’ successor will be named by July first.

Officials at Henderson Community College want to increase campus safety.

The college's dean of student affairs Patty Mitchell said a new team's purpose is to identify any person on campus who is exhibiting threatening behavior toward themselves or others. Mitchell says school employees will be trained in how to determine whether behavior is threatening. She said those who witness such behavior will report it to the behavior assessment team, which will then deal with it in a manner appropriate for the situation.

Officials say shootings do happen at community colleges, noting a deadly one at Hazard Community College in January.

The Jefferson County Board of Education has voted in favor of a resolution calling for an increase in the dropout age.

The Courier-Journal reports the board voted on the measure that supports raising the dropout age to 18 despite concerns from member Linda Duncan that it wouldn't "cure out-of-control kids and keep them in school."

A formal vote on the issue won't come until July, and the policy wouldn't go into effect until the 2015-16 school year.

Duncan says she hopes that is enough time to address her concerns.

According to district officials, 768 JCPS students dropped out of this school year as of January, including 188 who were 17.