 The Hogsett Primary Bridges Program was presented with the 2025 Grissom Award for Innovation in Special Education at the Kentucky Board of Education’s (KBE’s) Aug. 7 regular meeting. Pamela Hambrick, Maggie Colwell and Jerrica Funkhouser, accepted the award from KBE Chair Sharon Porter Robinson, left, and Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher, right. Photo by Myles Young, Kentucky Department of Education, Aug. 7, 2025
(FRANKFORT, KY) – Jefferson County’s Kimberly Chevalier and Hogsett Primary School’s Bridges Program were presented with the 2025 Grissom Award for Innovation in Special Education at the Kentucky Board of Education’s (KBE’s) meeting on Aug. 7.
Chevalier – who serves as chief of exceptional child education for Jefferson County Public Schools – was recognized for transforming the largest special education program in Kentucky during a time of state-directed corrective action.
“I am proud to celebrate this recognition of innovation in special education,” said Chevalier. “Jefferson County Public Schools serves nearly 14,000 students with disabilities. We know how much creative, student-focused work changes lives – and this award shows what’s possible when we put kids first.”
The Bridges Program, a resource classroom at Hogsett Primary School (Danville Independent) for preschoolers with significant language and social delays, was recognized for bridging the gap between a resource classroom and a general education classroom.
“Hogsett Primary prides itself on meeting the unique needs of all students,” said Hogsett Primary Principal Pamela Hambrick, “and I am excited for our school to receive the recognition this award brings for the hard work and dedication our staff demonstrate each day.”
Maggie Colwell, Hogsett Primary preschool teacher, said winning the award is a “great honor” for the school.
“As a team, we saw a need for change in instruction and curriculum model for our youngest learners with moderate to severe disabilities and developed one,” she explained. “We stepped outside the box and created a program that focuses on teaching fundamental skills in a sensory-based learning environment. “
The Grissom Award is given each year to Kentuckians or a Kentucky organization to honor outstanding dedication to improving student achievement for students with disabilities. The award recognizes those who exhibit leadership, commitment and service to promote high student achievement through instructional equity and in closing the achievement gap for all children.
Kentucky Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher offered his congratulations to the recipients and thanked them for their commitment to Kentucky’s students.
“On behalf of the Kentucky Board of Education and all the staff here at the Kentucky Department of Education, I want to personally thank you for your exceptional dedication to the education of all students,” Fletcher said. “Your efforts and enthusiasm in the work you do for the students shows you are ‘all in’ when it comes to Kentucky’s students.”
Jefferson County’s Chevalier
Chevalier’s leadership not only “steered the district out of corrective status by 2020, but laid the foundation for sustainable, systemic improvement,” her nominator Jackie Williams, JCPS executive director of exceptional child education and special programs, wrote in her nomination letter.
“Chief Chevalier’s approach is rooted in equity, innovation and a deep personal commitment to children,” Williams wrote. “She often reminds her team, ‘We are working for a child, not a checklist,’ and her actions mirror this belief. … She has reimagined compliance as a gateway to improved outcomes – putting meaningful supports and accountability systems in place that empower staff while centering student needs.”
Under Chevalier’s guidance, JCPS’s special education department adopted a data-driven infrastructure that ensures students with learning and behavior differences are supported through personalized instruction, progress monitoring and targeted interventions, Williams wrote. She has championed professional development that is practical, inclusive and aligned with best practices, equipping educators with the tools to meet diverse needs in real time.
“Her insistence on functional systems – not just short-term fixes – demonstrates a rare commitment to a lasting change,” wrote Williams, adding that Chevalier listens to staff, families and partners with school-based teams to co-design solutions that work. This direct engagement has fostered trust across the district and led to “notable improvements in academic progress, inclusive practices and postsecondary transition planning for students with disabilities.”
Danville Independent’s Bridges Program
Before the creation of the Bridges Program at Hogsett Primary School, resource services for preschool were provided in the general education classrooms, but teachers did not feel some students were making sufficient progress on their Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals and objectives, wrote the program nominator, Danville Independent Chief Academic Officer Suzanne Farmer.
“The bridge is individualized,” she wrote, “and when a student gains the social skills to be able to play with others, share and functionally play with materials or gains the language skills to be able to get wants and needs expressed without tantrums or aggression, then a student can bridge some successful time into the general education preschool classroom.”
All of the students served in this resource room are also enrolled in a general education classroom. The time spent in the resource room depends on each student’s individual needs. The classroom focuses on sensory needs and includes a sensory corner that can be changed regularly with different materials, like light covers. The program allows students the opportunity to sit and focus because there is less visual and auditory distraction.
The classroom is capped at 10 students, compared to a general education classroom capped at about 20, wrote Farmer. There are three adults in the resource classrooms, allowing more individualized instruction.
Representatives from Kentucky Autism Training Center, with whom Hogsett Primary partners, visited the classroom to provide feedback to help design the room.
The classroom opened about a year and a half ago. At the end of last year, some students were able to transition into their general education classroom full time and other students who needed the services were added to the program.
Behavior management strategies in the Bridges Program include sensory bins that feature items like fidget toys to calm students down, a routine change of resources in the sensory corner that depend on student needs and a sensory room next door to the classroom that is fully accessible to the students.
“The data confirms that we’ve seen a lot of good success with this classroom model,” wrote Farmer. “We’ve been able to meet a lot of IEP goals and have students bridge more successful time into the general education classroom. Students who participate in this program have an opportunity to begin their school experience in a very supportive and individualized way and it is proving to be very beneficial as an important first step toward positive outcomes for our youngest exceptional learners.”
“We are truly honored to have the Bridges Program recognized with the Grissom Award,” said Jerrica Funkhouse, Hogsett Primary assistant principal and preschool director. “Receiving this award highlights the commitment and unrelenting effort of our team, and it inspires us to continue building meaningful programs that support our students.”
The Grissom Award for Innovation in Special Education was established to honor the work and dedication of the late, long-time Kentucky Department of Education associate commissioner for the Office of Special Instructional Services. The late Dr. Johnnie Grissom was employed by the department from 1993 to 2010. She previously served as a director at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and as a teacher of special needs and gifted students in Red Springs, N.C.
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