October 2022

Welcome to Connections, Hopkins County Schools' parent/community newsletter!

Planning Underway for Auxiliary Gyms/Storm Shelters

The design process is underway for the new auxiliary gyms and storm shelters planned at Madisonville North Hopkins and Hopkins County Central High schools. We’re excited to share the artists renderings of the preliminary designs by Sherman Carter Barnhart Architects.

This district is using federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds for the project. 

Each addition will include a full-sized basketball court, spectator seating, storm shelter, locker rooms, restrooms, and a multi-purpose area. The multi-purpose area at Madisonville North Hopkins will provide space for classrooms, storage, and athletic training. At Central, this area will offer space for the cheer and dance teams with a specialized floor system.

The MNHHS addition is planned for the back of the school, where the old tennis courts are located. The Central addition would be at the back of the school near the current gym entrance. The projects are in the later design phase and there is no timeline yet for construction.

The Kentucky Department of Education has released annual School Report Card data from the 2021-2022 school year. This includes the assessment results for students who were in grades 3-8 and 10-11 in spring 2022. 

This is the first time since 2019 that accountability status is being reported by the state. These results have been released as part of a new system that looks different than the one to which the community was previously accustomed.

More Information

School Report Cards

Several schools were recognized with the presentation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support awards during the Hopkins County Board of Education meeting on Oct. 17. The Division of Student Success recognized these schools for their efforts implementing PBIS during 2021-2022.

Bronze Status schools are Hopkins County Central High, Pride Elementary, Hanson Elementary, West Hopkins School, James Madison Middle, and Earlington Elementary. Silver Status schools are Jesse Stuart Elementary, Grapevine Elementary, Southside Elementary, Madisonville North Hopkins High, South Hopkins Middle, and Browning Springs Middle.

A Mental Health Roundtable sponsored by Hopkins County Schools brought together different resources to help the district best support our students and families.

Representatives of several area organizations provided valuable information to school counselors, assessment coordinators, and district administrators on the Hopkins County Suicide Prevention Council, the Continuum of Treatment: Residential Treatment, and the Role of Court Designated Workers.

We appreciate the participation of the Hopkins County Health Department, Lincoln Trail Behavioral Health System, Cumberland Hall Behavioral Health Hospital, Mountain Comprehensive Care, Hopkins County CDW, and U.S. Rep. James Comer’s Office.



The information shared will help district staff connect students and families to the most appropriate resources for each situation.

As a part of the New Teacher Mentoring program, new teachers in Hopkins County Schools participated in a recent workshop based on classroom management.  The session was led by Michael Griffin, assistant principal at Browning Springs Middle School and Jennifer Hibbs, assistant principal at South Hopkins Middle School.

New teachers were given the opportunity to network with each other, ask questions on how to handle common behavioral situations, and how to build rapport and relationship in their classroom.  New teachers will participate in two additional workshops later this school year. The workshops were designed to address the most common needs of our new teachers based on their needs assessment.

Superintendent Amy Smith is starting Superintendent Advisory Councils to get input and ideas from district stakeholders. The first meeting of the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council was held this month with representatives from Hopkins County Central and Madisonville North Hopkins.

Run for the Hungry, a fundraiser for Christian Food Bank of Hopkins County, will be held Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, Nov. 24. The event will be held at Mahr Park Arboretum. The 5K run/walk will start at 8:15 a.m. and a ¼-mile kids run will start at 8 a.m.



Individuals can also sign up for a virtual 5K.

For more information and to register, go to https://runsignup.com/Race/KY/Madisonville/RunfortheHungry.

Our elementary students enjoyed visits recently with Cornbread & Tortillas, a collective of Appalachian and Latino artists who shared their art, music, dance, and cultural heritage.



The group, which did a residency at Glema Mahr Center for the Arts, visited all of our elementary schools, presenting a mix of assemblies and focused workshops on the topics of Appalachian clogging and flatfooting, Andean folk culture and instruments, and the folk dance of Mexico. This residency is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council. Additional support is provided by the Juanita Badgett Performing Arts Endowment.

Hopkins County Schools 2nd graders enjoyed Fall on the Farm recently at Madisonville North Hopkins High School! The event, organized by MNHHS FFA and sponsored by Tyson Foods, let kids pick a pumpkin, pet animals, launch a water balloon at unwanted pests, and learn more about agriculture.

Students caught a glimpse into a variety of future job possibilities during the Career Fair at Jesse Stuart Elementary School. It was a fun way for kids to consider what kind of job they want when they grow up! 

Fourth graders at Earlington Elementary School have been exploring energy. They have learned about different types of energy, energy transformation, and energy transfer. To conclude the unit, students engineered solar ovens and then got to test them by cooking s’mores! The kids were amazed to create their own working ovens!

Scott Moore has been selected as director of child nutrition for Hopkins County Schools. 



He has served as Earlington Elementary School instructional leader for the past nine years. Moore began his career in education in 2006 as a 5th grade teacher at Earlington Elementary. He formerly worked at Madisonville Community College and Lear Corp., and served in the U.S. Air Force.

To learn more, go to https://bit.ly/3sHxLtM. 

Madisonville North Hopkins boys and girls cross country teams are KHSAA 3A Regional Runners-Up. Both MNHHS teams qualified for the state meet on Oct. 29. In individual results, Madisyn John placed 2nd, Katie Gillette 4th, and Joy Alexander 10th. In the boys competition, Drew Burden placed 2nd, Dakota Evans 4th, and Lucas Offutt 5th.

Two Hopkins County Central cross country runners, James Adams and Tucker Young, also qualified as individuals in the 2A competition and competed Oct. 28.