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GRREC Names Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) Team Members

 

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky - The Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC) is pleased to announce the appointment of five regional educators to serve teams within its 45 public school districts through a grant from the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). 

Chase Goff has been appointed CRRSA Director to lead a team that will collaborate with school districts to develop comprehensive systems of support to accelerate learning and address intervention needs following the Coronavirus pandemic. The team will provide high-quality professional learning, coaching, and technical assistance to administrators and staff, and develop long-range action plans designed to improve outcomes for students.

Mr. Goff has a diverse background in education. He began his career in Warren County as a special education teacher and department head, curriculum coordinator, academic interventionist, and athletic director. He was later named principal of Caverna High School, leading his team to significant improvements in student achievement scores and staff culture. He currently serves as the Director of Student Leadership and Learning and the Director of Community Health and Engagement for Nelson County Schools. Throughout his career he has led teams to boost efficiency, culture, learning, and student achievement.

“This is our chance to rethink education and help schools dream big about what's possible for students in the 21st Century. I am excited to join the incredible team at GRREC and help support districts across the region in this endeavor. It's an exciting time to be an educator and I'm grateful for this opportunity,” said Goff.

Joining Goff is Dr. Audrey Harper in the role of CRRSA Learning Acceleration Specialist, with a focus on literacy. Harper received a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from WKU in 2017, focusing on policy implementation and teacher beliefs. She has more than 16 years of experience in education, serving in Warren County Public Schools as a middle grades writing teacher, high school English teacher and interventionist. Harper also served as an Effectiveness Coach for the Kentucky Department of Education for four years supporting districts in Western Kentucky on implementing Kentucky Academic Standards, teacher leadership, and assessment literacy, before returning to WCPS in the role of District Reading and Writing Consultant and directing the $1.2M Striving Readers Grant. In her new position she will support districts in planning and providing the necessary supports to accelerate learning for students and close achievement gaps. She will also work with regional and district CRRSA Team Members to co-design each district’s action plan and provide feedback regarding the measurement of goals and plan implementation. 

Regarding her role, Dr. Harper stated, “I am excited about the opportunity to join an amazing team as we strive to support and learn from districts in the GRREC region as they plan for the upcoming school year.”

Kaylee Crowder will serve as the CRRSA Learning Acceleration Specialist, focusing on math. Mrs. Crowder is currently the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) Coordinator and district math coach for Russellville Independent Schools, and has ten years of experience in education. She serves as a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Coach and recently served as a Summit Learning Fellow. In 2021 she was recognized by the Kentucky Center for Mathematics award for Teacher Leadership, and is a two-time recipient of the Campbellsville University Excellence in Teaching Award. 

Reflecting on her career, Crowder said, “Professional development opportunities provided by GRREC helped grow me into the educator that I am today. I am thankful for the opportunity to join the team and I am eager to use my skills to assist schools across the region as we navigate these unprecedented times in education.”

Rounding out the team as the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Specialist is Sherlyn Bratcher. Mrs. Bratcher is a twenty-year veteran of education and is currently a counselor at Butler County High School. She has also served as a counselor at the middle school level and trains educators in the areas of Trauma Informed Care for Educators and Social-Emotional Learning. She is active in the Kentucky School Counselor Association as the Public Relations/Technology Coordinator, and received the organization's Linda Morse Leadership award in 2020. In her role, Bratcher will support districts with planning and providing the necessary Social Emotional Learning (SEL) supports to address the wide array of social, emotional, and mental health needs of students, and coordinate with SEL Specialists at the state’s other regional cooperatives.

“I am extremely excited to join GRREC and be included on the CRRSA team as the SEL Specialist,” said Bratcher. “I believe that teaching students social/emotional skills will help them with their academics, their future career, and in their personal lives.” 

Supporting the CRRSA team, as well as other GRREC team members, is Ms. Kate Wintuska. Wintuska, who is in her ninth year as an educator having taught in Boyle County and Warren County Schools, will serve as the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Specialist. Her varied experience includes teaching Kindergarten, first, second, and fifth grades. Over the past three years, her role has focused on building capacity in classroom teachers through job-embedded professional learning while serving as Literacy Consultant for the district’s $1.2M Striving Readers Grant. Her current interests and research explore the impact of multi-tiered supports on student learning, as well as establishing sustainable systems to enable all students to access grade-level content. She has a master’s degree in Literacy Education from WKU, is finishing her Master’s degree in Principal Leadership, and has K-6 Reading Program and Teaching Reading endorsements. 

 

“I am looking forward to joining a phenomenal team of professionals as we serve GRREC districts to ensure that students have the just-right academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports to be successful in and out of our classrooms, while simultaneously ensuring sustainability for classroom teachers, school administrators, and district leaders,” said Wintuska.

GRREC Executive Director, Bart Flener, said, “These talented and dedicated educators will join a high performing culture here at GRREC to serve our school districts and ultimately, our students as they accelerate their learning to come back from the pandemic “better than normal” moving forward. We are so thankful for our partnership with KDE and the other Kentucky educational cooperatives in this vital effort.”

The Kentucky Department of Education, under the leadership of Commissioner Dr. Jason E. Glass, designated $8M over a period of two years to be distributed equally to each of Kentucky’s eight educational cooperatives for the CRRSA positions. These funds were derived from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) II Fund under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, approved by Congress in December 2020. Goff, Harper, Bratcher, Crowder, and Wintuska will begin their new roles on July 1, 2021.

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