Winter 2023

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

Hopkins County Board of Education has approved the school calendar for the 2023-2024 school year.  We plan to operate under the traditional calendar and will only use the variable calendar under an emergency situation.



www.hopkins.kyschools.us/schoolcalendar

Hopkins County students are required to attend school in their assigned attendance school zone. As a reminder to parents, school attendance zones for the 2023-2024 school year have changed. The updated maps are available at this link. Parents may also visit www.hopkins.kyschools.us/SchoolZones to determine the school zone to which their address belongs.

Students wanting to attend outside of their assigned school zone may only do so if they are approved through a special permission transfer request during the specified window.

The district will accept Special Permission Transfer requests for schools operating at less than 90% student capacity. Families do not have to submit a new application for special permission students if their student has previously received special permission to attend the same school. A new application will be needed if the student will be transitioning to a new school. 

Applications may be submitted for the following schools: Hanson Elementary School, Hopkins County Central High School, Jesse Stuart Elementary School, South Hopkins Middle School, and West Hopkins School. Current Madisonville North Hopkins students who are affected by the boundary changes and indicated during the survey that they wish to remain at MNHHS will also need to complete a special permission form. MNHHS is at capacity and, therefore, cannot accept additional requests.

Applications for schools with availability will only be accepted Feb. 1 through April 1, 2023. The form will be available Feb. 1 on the district website, www.hopkins.kyschools.us. Applications may also be picked up at the Board of Education’s Central Office starting on that date. Completed applications must be mailed or hand delivered to the Central Office; applications will not be accepted at the school level.

They will be processed in the order received by the Central Office Department of Pupil Personnel, 320 S. Seminary St., Madisonville. Applications will be reviewed by the DPP Office and the requested school on an individual basis. Approval or denial letters will be mailed by May 1.

For more information, contact Hopkins County Schools Department of Pupil Personnel at (270) 825-6000.

As Kentucky observes School Board Recognition Month in January, Hopkins County Schools is joining in the celebration! Hopkins County Board of Education members Shannon Embry, Steve Faulk (not pictured at right), Nicholas Foster, John Osborne, and Kerri Scisney are among the more than 850 school board members in the state’s 171 local school districts being recognized this month.

We thank all of our board members for their service!

With love and appreciation, we recognize the many years of service that Bobby Fox gave to Hopkins County Schools. Mr. Fox passed away on Dec. 24, 2022. He was a school teacher, basketball coach, mentor, and member of the Board of Education. He leaves a lasting legacy of service to our community.

Hopkins County Central students on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council led council members from Madisonville North Hopkins on a tour of the building on Jan. 20. They were asked to showcase what they are most proud of at Central. During the next meeting, North students will do the same at their school. After the tour, the students gave input and discussed their ideas with Superintendent Amy Smith.

Independence Bank presented donations of $1,776 to the art departments at both Hopkins County Central and Madisonville North Hopkins high school before the holidays! The donation was a “thank you” for allowing our students to participate in the Horses of Hope Project.

Their horse, Fabric of Love, raised $134,000 in donations, including $100,000 from Casey’s General Store in Dawson Springs and Gatorade. The donations will benefit the youth baseball and softball fields at the Dawson Springs City Park that were destroyed in the December 2021 tornado.

Stop by Independence Bank’s 1776 N. Main St. office in Madisonville, to see the horse at its temporary home. It will eventually be located at the Dawson Springs park after the fields are rebuilt.

A big “thank you” goes out to Keller Williams Elite Realty, which recently presented a $3,000 donation to Hopkins County Schools Family Resource Youth Service Centers for the Backpack Blessings Program. The donation is from the KW Cares Team. We appreciate our community partners!

The Hopkins United project brought a sense of unity to the North-Central rivalry basketball game in December. The Be-YOU-tiful Leaders group, made up of girls from both high schools, took inspiration from the sense of purpose they saw when the community came together after the Dec. 10, 2021, tornado to meet a common need.

Through the Hopkins United T-shirt project, these leaders raised funds to better our community through the Seeds of Hope beautification effort at Barnsley and installation of a communication board for the Rog Badgett All-Inclusive Play Park. They sold a total of 560 T-shirts for the project. Several wore their shirts at last night’s game to demonstrate that we are united as a community!

Students from two of our middle schools participated in a mock state government last month during Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA). James Madison and South Hopkins Middle schools both sent delegations. Students learned about writing bills, research, debate, parliamentary procedure, and voting while serving as either representatives or senators.



Both James Madison and South Hopkins were honored with the Premier Delegation award. This is the first year SHMS has participated, and they also won Best New KYA Delegation award. Outstanding Delegate awards were presented to Westyn Miles of JMMS and Reagan Blades-Utley of SHMS, and an Outstanding Speaker award was given to Brennan Neal of SHMS. This was an awesome experience for these students!

Jonna Gish has always enjoyed driving.

I remember when I was a little girl, I’d watch the school bus driver, and I’d be like, ‘I want to do this someday,’” Gish said. “He was driving with the stick shift and I remember sitting there thinking that looks like fun.”

She added with a laugh, “I’m glad it’s not a stick shift now.”

Gish became a driver for Hopkins County Schools in 1997. She had another job, but it didn’t provide health insurance. Her boss let her drive so she would be provided coverage.

“When my kids were in school, I got to drive them to baseball games, to choir, to basketball,” she said. “I was right there in the middle of it all and I loved it.” After her kids graduated high school, she recalled another dream … to

become a teacher. She learned about the Murray State University education program based in Madisonville and decided to earn her degree. She took the fast track, meaning she had to quit driving, and earned her degree in three years.

She’s now a special education teacher at Madisonville North Hopkins and is in her 10th year teaching.

“Every time I’d see the bus, I’d think, ‘Gosh, I miss driving that bus,’” Gish said. “I thought, ‘They need drivers, so why not?’” She again earned her CDL and got back on the bus. Now, she is both a bus driver and a teacher.

Gish said bus driving is a good option for parents of school-age kids, business owners who work in fields such as lawn care and painting, and early retirees. Other school employees may also want to consider taking on a dual role.

“The kids here just think it’s so fascinating that I drive,” she said. “Right now, you can work as much as you want to. The schools really work well to accommodate me driving. The other teachers are also very supportive. They are very happy I do it.”

Hopkins County Board of Education member Steve Faulk and family gave a donation of baby dolls and other toys to the Hopkins County Schools Family Resource Centers Friday at Grapevine Elementary School. The donation was in memory of his sister, Karen Wilson. This is an annual donation for the Karen’s Christmas Baby Dolls toy drive project. These toys will be distributed through the FRYSCs at our elementary schools.  Thanks to Mr. Faulk and everyone involved in making this generous gift for our kids!

Hopkins County Central High School Lady Storm basketball team won the 2A Sectional Championship! This qualified the team to advance to the 2A State Tournament. Congratulations to the Lady Storm!! 

Hopkins County Central High School High Voltage dance team placed 3rd in the state in Hip Hop in the KHSAA State Competition! Twenty-four teams competed in that division. Congratulations!!

Madisonville North Hopkins High School cheer team placed 3rd in the state in the KHSAA Competitive Cheer state competition! MNHHS competed in the all-girls small division. Congratulations!! 

Several of our dance teams were big winners at the KDCO Regional Championship!

Hopkins County Central High School won 1st place in both large hip hop and large game day and the Best Choreography Award. They were also named Grand Champions for the highest average score in the high school division.

Madisonville North Hopkins High School Maroon Magic won 1st place in small varsity pom and also received the Most Entertaining Performance Award.

James Madison Middle School Stars won 1st place in both medium middle school pom and medium middle school hip hop. They also received “Best of the Best” for the highest average score in the middle school division.

South Hopkins Middle School Dance Cats won 1st place in both small middle school pom and small middle school hip hop.

All of the teams will advance to the KDCO State Championship on Feb. 25-26 at Eminence High School. Congratulations to all the team members and their coaches!