November 27, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information, Contact:
Brigitte Blom Ramsey, Executive Director
(office) 859-233-9849
(cell) 859-322-8999
brigitte.blomramsey@prichardcommittee.org
Jefferson County advocate receives Raimondo Leadership Award Recognized by Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
LEXINGTON, Ky. – An education advocate described as a passionate champion for giving every student access to educational excellence is the recipient of the 2018 Beverly Nickell Raimondo Leadership Award presented by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
Judith Bradley of Louisville, the parent of a high school student with special needs, has become a resource and advocate for all students with disabilities and their families.
Her conviction about her son’s potential “had her keeping up with laws on how Kentucky schools are supposed to work, reaching out to university researchers, educating teachers and administrators about strategies for supporting students with special needs and encouraging her son to identify and articulate his needs,” Prichard Committee Executive Director Brigitte Blom Ramsey said in announcing the award.
Bradley’s son, Jack, became the first Inclusion Ambassador for the Prichard Committee’s Student Voice Team where he helped interview students at the Kentucky School for the Blind, participated in strategy sessions, presented at conferences, testified before state and local school boards, and wrote commentaries for the local and national media.
In 2016, Bradley launched JackBeNimble, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the community with tools to, as she describes it, “bridge the empathy gap between students, families, educators and policymakers.”
The award, presented at the committee’s recent annual meeting, recognizes the legacy of Beverly Raimondo, who developed the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership more than 20 years ago. Since its creation, the institute has trained more than 2,500 parents and guardians in Kentucky to effect positive change in schools for their own children and all other students.
One of Bradley’s nominators noted: “If ever there was a person who embodies Bev Raimondo’s vision of a parent leader who understands that success means working to improve the system for all children, beyond one’s own, it would be difficult to find a parent more fitting than Judith Bradley.”
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The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence is an independent, nonpartisan, citizen-led organization working to improve education in Kentucky – early childhood through postsecondary.
