Staff members with perfect - and near perfect - attendance during the 2nd trimester had the chance to win a prize! The list of winners is posted at the link below. Thanks to all the local businesses/organizations that donated prizes. Remember, you will have another chance to win at the end of the current trimester!

Attendance Reward Winners

We are so excited to share that Hopkins County Schools has received The Messenger Readers’ Choice Award for Best Place to Work for the 4th year in a row! We appreciate your votes! Our employees do amazing work every day for our students, families, and community. The week before spring break, we celebrated with a Spirit Week! We love our #TeamHopkins family!

Meika Brandon added driving a bus to her Hopkins County Schools’ job responsibilities in February. She’s worked for the district for 16 years, serving as lead custodian at Central Office for the past 6 years.

“I decided to drive a bus to boost my retirement,” Brandon said. She drives a preschool route and a regular route in the afternoon as a sub. “I love the preschool route. That’s my favorite. I just like to listen to their stories.”

She enjoys getting to interact with kids again like she did during her time at Hopkins County Central and encourages others to consider being a bus driver.



“I’ve told other people to just go do it,” Brandon said, suggesting they go to the “staff test drive” next week during spring break.

Have you thought about taking on a dual role with Hopkins County Schools by serving as a bus driver? The Transportation Department invites all staff members to see what it’s really like to drive a school bus!

Staff Test Drive:

Monday, April 3, from 9 a.m.-noon at South Hopkins Middle School

Tuesday, April 4, from 9 a.m.-noon at Hopkins County Career & Technology Center

Please bring your employee ID and wear closed-toe shoes with a back or strap on the heel.

Starting on the April 14 payroll, the district will no longer withhold KEA dues. You must set up SmartPay to pay your association dues. Please see the instruction sheet below. You will need your Member ID and Home Zip Code. If you do not have this information, please see your HCEA building representative. If you do not know who your building representative is please email Michael Powers at michael.powers@hopkins.kyschools.us.

SmartPay Instructions

Future career plans of several high school seniors were celebrated March 23 during Hopkins County Schools’ first Career Signing Day! The participants included 13 seniors who signed letters of intent with businesses/organizations that they will be working with after graduation. The full list of participants is available at https://bit.ly/3Zdysce. Congratulations to everyone! We look forward to expanding this event in upcoming years.

Crystal Farmer, attendance secretary at Hopkins County Career and Technology Center, was presented with the Remember Your Why Award at the March 6 Board of Education meeting. She has a huge heart and wants our students to succeed! After hearing that a student did not have a home or caregiver, she took it upon herself to make sure the student’s needs were met. She helped the student find a stable home, food, and clothing. She also helped make sure this student had everything needed in order to take the nursing exams.

She described her “why” as follows: “When I was made aware of the situation, I felt something deep inside telling me I had to speak up and do what I could to help. I have never had that exact feeling before, so it took me by surprise! I am so blessed to be able to make a difference in a young person’s life.”

We wanted to share some photos showing the progress on construction of the new Hanson Elementary School. These images show the exterior front and back of the building, a classroom, media center, and restroom.

The community is invited to two upcoming special events at Earlington Elementary and at Hanson Elementary.

The smell was unmistakable – homemade rolls baking in the school cafeteria kitchen. Just the mention brings back fond memories for many Hopkins County Schools’ alumni.

However, it’s been a while since homemade rolls were on the menu. Last month, child nutrition staff from across the district came together in the kitchen at Hopkins County Central High School to re-learn an old skill.

“I’ve been here for about 20 years,” said HCCHS cafeteria manager Donna Stanley. “At one time, that was my job. At the high school, there were two of us doing the same job. We put out about 1,200 rolls a day, every other day.” Menus changed about 10 years ago in response to USDA rules on salt and calories in school meals.

Current students will soon get to try homemade rolls once a month as part of a new “Throwback Thursdays” initiative, said Scott Moore, child nutrition director.

Full Story

Members of the Be-YOU-tiful Leaders group from both high schools gathered on March 22 for their Spring Conference. The theme “Be Real” was the focus of breakout presentations on goal setting and future planning, yoga, and a personality profile. Keynote speaker was 2023 Teen Miss Earth USA Tayan Stansfield of Kentucky.

Service projects filled the afternoon. These included packaging “Seeds of Hope” to distribute to residents of Barnsley; discussing HCS Teachers on the Move, which will involve members helping box up classroom items for teachers moving to other buildings next year; and making plans to expand Be-YOU-tiful Leaders to the middle schools.

“What this program means to me is girls coming together as strong leaders in our schools,” said Madisonville North Hopkins freshman Anna Sampson. “It’s making us stronger as a whole because we are rival schools, but really, at the end of the day, we’re all teenage girls.”

Hopkins County Central sophomore Abigail Keown said the program has given her confidence.

“This gives us the opportunity to not only reach out to the other girls who are leaders in our school, but really affirms that I need to be a leader in my school,” she said. “Not only does it make me feel more empowered, but I’m allowed to be out of my shell and I’m allowed to go help people in need.”

Parents who do not know their Infinite Campus Parent Portal password should contact their school. You will need to be able to log in to your portal account to complete the Annual Update for Online Registration.

Also, any parent who does not have a portal account should go to the following website to request an account: https://www.hopkins.kyschools.us/domain/72.



OLR/Annual Update will open on Monday, April 24.

Bringing high school students interested in technical/industrial career fields together with local employers was the purpose of the third “Task Force Dinner: Promoting Technical Skills.” Several Hopkins County Career & Technology Center students and their parents were invited to attend this dinner to learn about opportunities for training and employment after graduation.



 The event at the CTC was organized through Hopkins County Economic Development Corp., West Kentucky Workforce Board, and Hopkins County Schools. Groves Electrical Services sponsored the event.

Read Across America Week helped get students excited about reading! The event, celebrated March 2-6, includes the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss. We’re sharing photos from some of the special events in our schools:

• Beta Club members from Madisonville North Hopkins read to young students at Hanson, Jesse Stuart, Pride, and West Broadway Elementary schools.
• The Cat in the Hat paid special visits to Grapevine Elementary and Jesse Stuart Elementary.
•  Southside Elementary students expressed their love of reading by dressing as their favorite book characters.

State Rep. Wade Williams presented six certificates during the March 20 Board of Education meeting. A memorial recognition honored the late Bobby Fox, who was a Board of Education member and a retired teacher/coach. He was recognized for his lifetime contribution to the community. His family accepted the honor.

Those recognized with House of Representatives Citations of Achievement include the following:

• Christakis Agisilaou, MNHHS – Kentucky High School Boys Soccer Association’s Kentucky High School Boys Soccer Coach of the Year
• Cindy Fliehman, Madisonville North Hopkins High School - Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association’s 2nd Region Coach of the Year
• Jeremy Gobin (not pictured), MNHHS - Kentucky Track & Cross Country Coaches Association’s Area 1 High School Girls & Boys Cross Country Coach of the Year
• Ben Prevette, an agriculture teacher at Hopkins County Central, who won the state discussion meet through Kentucky Farm Bureau Young Farmers and advanced to the national competition, where he reached the Sweet 16 round.
• Chris Price, MNHHS – Kentucky Football Coaches Association’s 2022 4A District 1 Coach of the Year.

We’re so thankful for Mr. Fox’s many contributions! Congratulations to all recipients of the Citation of Achievement!

Kentucky Diabetes Family Day will be held Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at University of Kentucky Lewis Honors College. This event will help kids and families deal with Type 1 diabetes. For more information, see the flyers below. Go to www.kydiabetesfamily.weebly.com to RSVP.

Ky Diabetes Day Flyer (English)

Ky Diabetes Day Flyer (Spanish)

Madisonville North Hopkins swept the recent 2023 Kentucky State Powerlifting Championships and captured all three divisions! In addition to winning the girls, boys, and boys JV titles, the Maroons ended the day with 17 state champions and nine state runners-up. This was the 2nd year in a row that the girls team won the championship!

Hopkins County Central finished as state runners-up in the girls and boys JV divisions! This was the Lady Storm’s first time to compete at state, and the 2nd consecutive year the JV boys finished in 2nd place.  The Storm had a total of four state champions.

Full List of Local Winners