Academy @ Shawnee principal says comment about not opening school was 'taken out of context'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- JCPS said students will fill the halls at The Academy @ Shawnee for the first day of school.

This comes after a remark the principal made at a community meeting in the Shawnee neighborhood earlier this week, saying the school doesn't have enough staff to open this fall.

Smith said the comment that had parents worried was 'taken out of context.'

"How it came out was more so a hypothetical, as if school started today, would the school be fully staffed?" Smith said in a news conference Friday.

The Academy @ Shawnee, which is a middle and high school, is 25 teachers short. The district website said there were 31 vacancies, more than any other JCPS school.

"It never was intentional to talk about the vacancies but more so to solicit the help of the community members and the members that are invested in this school so that we can not only just hold JCPS accountable but hold everybody that has stake in this school accountable to make sure that we actually get to excellence," Smith said.

JCPS staff said there is a normal fluctuation of open positions throughout the summer. They said the shortage at Academy @ Shawnee is just a part of that.

They said they are conducting interviews weekly, talking to teachers already working for JCPS through June 21. Then, they will start focusing on external candidates.

"There's a lot of movement within and out the district, so a school could see folks transfer out or transfer in and that's the ebb and flow that I'm talking about," Aimee Green-Webb, JCPS Chief of Human Resources said. "You see a lot of mobility, because our teachers do have that choice and ability to do that but then we're also entertaining and recruiting external folks, recruiting graduates, recruiting experienced teachers."

There are accelerated programs to become a teacher for JCPS if you aren't already qualified.

The 2024-2025 school year starts Aug. 8.

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