FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Bill Walter Director of Public Relations 270.651.3787 Bill.Walter@barren.kyschools.us FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT Amanda Wright Director Barren Academy for Virtual and Expanded Learning (BAVEL) Phone: 270-670-3739 Fax: 270-651-8836 Amanda.Wright@barren.kyschools.us www.bavel.org First Lady Features Local High School as Model for Kentucky (Glasgow, Kentucky) September 17, 2009 – First Lady Jane Beshear held a summit, entitled Graduate Kentucky, at the Civic Center in Frankfort on September 11-12, 2009. The purpose of the summit was to address the alarming number of high school dropouts in Kentucky. A local high school, Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning (BAVEL), which is the one of only a few and the first diploma granting online high school in Kentucky, was showcased at the event. Hundreds of business, community and education leaders from across the commonwealth attended the two day summit. Nationally-known keynote speaker, Mrs. Marian Wright Edelman, founder and President of The Children’s Defense Fund kicked off the summit on Friday night. On Saturday, a variety of break-out sessions took place focusing on successful strategies found in Kentucky’s public schools. BAVEL presented on Saturday afternoon in a best practices breakout session entitled Virtual Interventions. “I was contacted back in July by Tresine Logsdon, SREB Kentucky Online Teacher of the Year, about joint participation in a presentation on the impact of online 1 learning interventions for at-risk students,” said BAVEL Director Amanda Wright. “She said the summit was to be a key initiative of First Lady Jane Beshear and they wanted BAVEL to be a part of it.” “BAVEL is heralded as the leader in successful online intervention,” Logsdon told Wright, “and I would like to see your accomplishments given the statewide recognition they deserve.” So Wright joined the Virtual Interventions team alongside Logsdon, Paula White, KYVS Program Consultant, and Linda Cavalluzzo, Project Director, KYVS Algebra I Hybrid Program. “It was quite an honor to sit around the table with these state-level officials,” said Wright. “I learned a lot and also was able to have some input, as well. In the end, the Summit was a huge success.” In preparation for the presentation, Wright worked closely with Phillip Napier, Barren County Schools Video Production Technician, to create a short video about BAVEL. That video ended up being used as the center piece of the summit. “Your BAVEL video is stunning. It has a wonderfully high production value, perfect pacing, terrific voice over touches and excellent variety of shots and angles,” Logsdon told Wright. “This will certainly be one of the highlights of our presentation.” “I was proud to be able to represent Barren County Schools and our community by being a part of First Lady Beshear’s initiative,” Wright offered. “We have students from all over the state enrolled in BAVEL, so our students can be proud of the school which they are attending and many who have already graduated. People notice success and want to be a part of it, so BAVEL is growing in popularity, and that’s good.” For more information about the 2009 Graduate Kentucky: A Community Approach dropout prevention summit, please visit www.graduate.ky.gov. To access more information about the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning, visit www.BAVEL.org. ## 2