International Baccalaureate Students Rally To Save Program That Saved Them

Contact: Carrie Cox

Contact: Carrie Cox FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Telephone: 859-802-1225 01/24/2013

International Baccalaureate Students Rally To Save Program That Saved Them

Covington,KY– A group of International Baccalaureate (IB) Students has rallied around current students at Covington Independent Public Schools to help save the IB program that saved them. Holmes High Schools principal, David Maines, proposed a plan to phase out the program and divert the funds to allow students to attend Gateway Community College for credit.

Former graduates and many teachers don’t feel like this is a wise choice since Gateway credits are often difficult to transfer to other colleges and they have only been “accredited” for the last four years. The IB program has been around for over thirty years with a proven track record of producing students coming out of Covington Independent Schools who went on to attend Yale, Stanford, and many other prestigious universities.

Among the graduates who provided letters of support; two work for the Obama administration, one is working as an AP journalist in Afghanistan, one holds a double PhD/MD from John’s Hopkins University and currently owns his own pharmaceutical company, another is a researcher for Children’s Hospital….their list of accomplishments is vast and impressive. Many of these former students will be present at tonight’s school board meeting and in attendance at the site based meeting on January 29, 2013 where they will have the second reading of the policy change.

These graduates feel if the IB program is eliminated that it will limit the opportunities for future generations of Covington Independent Public School children and may be in direct conflict with some of Kentucky’s educational statutes.

Eighty-One percent of Covington Independent Public School children are living below poverty level. These lower income and minority students will not have the same opportunities to dream a bigger dream if the IB program is eliminated.

For additional information, please see the attached document that contains statistics and personal stories from IB graduates about how the program impacted and in some cases saved their lives.