When Kenton County middle schoolers return to class Wednesday, Aug. 19, some will have a new option: a skilled trades course run through a partnership with TradesNKY, approved by the school board in March.
It's one of several additions Superintendent Dr. Henry Webb's district is rolling out for 2026-27, a year that also brings seven new mental health service providers into schools, a Dixie Heights High School renovation, and new math curricula.
Webb, now in his 19th year as a superintendent, told LINK nky in a July 28 profile that the work still energizes him. "It's just an honor to be superintendent here," he said.
From eastern Kentucky classrooms to Kenton County
Webb started in education in 1995 as a teacher for visually impaired students at Floyd County Schools in eastern Kentucky. He became Floyd County's superintendent in 2007 and joined Kenton County School District in 2017.
His two standing goals for the district remain unchanged: 100% transition readiness and 96.25% attendance. Transition readiness is the district's own measure of whether a graduate is prepared for college or a career. As we reported July 28, 96.96% of 2025 seniors met that bar. The state's separate "post-secondary readiness" metric put the district at 89.3% for 2024-25.
Kentucky this spring formally changed its accountability rules to allow districts to use their own local models alongside the state system. Kenton County was already doing so through what Webb calls a "community based accountability system."
What's new for 2026-27
The board has approved a slate of changes families in Fort Mitchell, Crestview Hills, Edgewood, Villa Hills, Crescent Springs, Lakeside Park, and Fort Wright will see this school year:
Curriculum: Contracts with Accelerate Learning (Math Nation) and Amplify Desmos Math were approved in board minutes from June 1. The district also purchased Magic School, an AI-assisted tool for teachers, in August 2025.
Skilled trades: The TradesNKY partnership brings a middle school trades course, and the Enzweiler Building Institute MOU continues offering high schoolers construction trades coursework.
Mental health: Seven providers signed MOUs to deliver school-based therapy across all district buildings: Cultivate, Family Care Counseling Solutions, MEBS and Associates, North Key, OneQuest, Ramey-Estep/ReGroup, and SUN Behavioral Health.
Facilities: Renovations are underway or approved at Kenton Elementary, Taylor Mill Elementary, Ryland Heights Elementary, River Ridge Elementary, and White's Tower Elementary. Emboss Design won the architectural contract for the Dixie Heights High School renovation and addition.
Test scores and staffing
On 2024-25 Kentucky Summative Assessments, Kenton County students outperformed state averages at every grade band in reading and math. At the elementary level, 34% scored proficient in reading versus 30% statewide, and 38% scored proficient in math versus 31% statewide.
The district's graduation rate stood at 99.36% by its own measure and 98.4% by the state's count.
Board Chairperson Jesica Jehn and members Karen Collins, Shannon Herold, Erin McConnell, and Brian Remole approved a four-year teacher contract with the Kenton County Education Association on May 4, running through June 30, 2030. That deal locks in stability.
The first day of school is Wednesday, Aug. 19.
