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A newsletter from Nelson County School
Superintendent Anthony Orr

— Photo by Tom Dekle

OKHMS custodian Stephen Foster Marshall blows snow away from the school's front entrance during a recent "snow day." The walkway had already been scraped clear twice the previous day but wind and blowing snow required Marshall to provide additional attention to the walkway.

Winter weather can add special challenges

Snow days:  students love them—superintendents (and parents?) not so much! As I write this, Nelson County Schools are closed for the sixth day this school year. With more snow expected early next week, this seems like a good time to describe our process for deciding whether to close school, day care and evening activities because of inclement weather.

Our first priority is always student safety.  We want to make certain that our buses, as well as parent and student drivers, can get to schools over roads that are clear enough to allow safe arrival. The local road crews do a great job helping with this, but often other factors come into play. The timing of the snow arrival, how quickly it falls, the temperature and the rural nature of our school district sometimes can make it impossible to get all of the roads clear in time for school. We want students in schools for instruction and are mindful of the inconvenience that working parents must manage when we are closed. For this reason, we keep our day care centers open unless icy conditions prevail.  Nevertheless, we are focused on the safety of our students, parents and staff when we make decisions about closing school.

Some days, the decision is clear.  Our "snow patrol" (director and assistant director of transportation, director of maintenance and I) typically starts driving about 3:45 a.m. and then meets at 5 a.m. to discuss our observations. When we drove the county on icy roads a couple of weeks ago, my decision to close school came after a very short conversation. As the recent commercial says, “That was easy.”

This week’s decision was not so easy. The roads were still clear as the time approached for our bus drivers to start preparing to begin their routes—about 5:30 a.m. In this case, our weather forecast and the snowfall to the west indicated that the worst weather would arrive at about the same time our students should start arriving at school. After a longer snow patrol discussion, I decided we should close school and held my breath until the snow started accumulating.

Nelson County schools and families are fortunate to have a strong communications process that allows us to call you as soon as we make a decision to close. Our One Call system sends an e-mail and a phone call to each household when we close school. (If you do not receive those messages, you can contact your child's school to update your information.)  We only notify the public if we close or cancel activities.

This year we are doing things a bit differently on days that school must be closed. We start with the assumption that if school is closed, all activities for the afternoon and evening will be cancelled or rescheduled. On occasion, as we had happen one day this week, the roads will clear enough for us to allow athletes to practice or keep scheduled athletic contests. We try to make that decision by noon and have it communicated to the affected families by the coaches. I’ll reemphasize that we always put student safety first, but if conditions allow, we hope to keep games on schedule.

As I have indicated, the decision to close school is made by the superintendent.  I am fortunate to have a great team to work with. Their experience is key to making a recommendation that I can act on with confidence. We know that we will not make every decision perfectly and that we will never make everyone happy. You can be assured, however, that we do everything within our ability to keep your students safe.

Principal earns doctorate – Jan Lanham, principal at Cox’s Creek Elementary School, was recently awarded her Ph.D. through a joint program with Western Kentucky University and the University of Louisville. Her dissertation was entitled “Adult Perceptions of the Impact of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act on Achievement: Insights on Rural Gifted Students.” Dr. Lanham started her career in education as a teacher in Bowling Green. She subsequently worked for the Owensboro School District, did a stint in Ohio schools and returned to Kentucky to the Marion County School District. She has been with Nelson County since 2003. Altogether, Dr. Lanham has been in education for 35 years. She and her husband, Kevin, have three sons: Jonathan, in law school; Ryan, a former actor who is now attending graduate school in the arts; and Michael, a physician. Kevin Lanham runs the family farm and occasionally subs as a mail carrier.

The Nelson County Board of Education regularly takes note of the many recent accomplishments of our staff and students. Here are just a few of the highlights heard during the December board meeting.

Band students attend EKU clinic – Twenty-one Bloomfield Middle School seventh- and eighth-grade band students attended the annual Eastern Kentucky University middle school honors band clinic in November. Those students were Rebekah Mitchell, Kayla Sagrecy, Julia Taylor, Jennifer Jackey, Ajsa Karacic, Nathan Brooks, Aleah Graham, Craig Holmes, Jackie Chesser, Tori Ede, Taylor Martin, Jacob Hardin, Dylan Moran, Brittany Crawford, Rhyanne Fritz, Aubreanna Newton, Sarah Bailey, Mackenzie Donoho, Madeline Martin, Tyler Bradley and Tate Stafford.

Bloomfield represented at Youth Assembly – Fourteen students from Bloomfield Middle School participated in the Kentucky YMCA Youth Assembly, Dec. 9 - 11 in Louisville. This event provides a direct opportunity for students to learn about the democratic process. Posing as senators and representatives, students proposed a bill, debated its merits and voted on it, while student "lobbyists" worked to ensure that bills were passed or defeated. If the bill made it out of committee, it was debated at the Capitol in Frankfort. The students' proposed bill was "An act to require public schools to have sidewalks leading to school grounds if a subdivision is within one mile of the school building." This bill was designed to promote physical fitness among community youth. Among those attending were Jenna Bell, Brandon Darby, Mackenzie Donoho, Hayley Eisenberg, Timothy Goff, Jacob Hogan, Ajsa Karacic, Dane Pike, Clara Pozgay, Autumn Proctor, Evelyn Tackett, Julia Taylor, Aleah Graham and Cole Gossett. Participation in this event was sponsored by the Blazer Learning Center.

NCHS also represented at Youth Assembly – The Nelson County High School Y-club also participated in the Kentucky Youth Assembly conference in Louisville. Attending were Gabby Ison, Kelsey Brooks, Virginia Hurst, Ian McGuffin and Tyler Keene. They presented a bill which would move the odd year elections in Kentucky to even years, saving the state up to $12 million dollars every four years. The students also debated many other bills in our state Capitol, and Gabby Ison was awarded an outstanding speaker award.

Poster winners – Conservation Poster winners at Foster Heights Elementary School were Marly Walls, Alissa Downs and Grace Frederick. The school had 100 percent participation in first through fifth grades.

Academic showcase – Old Kentucky Home Middle School hosted a Governor's Cup Sixth-Grade Showcase in December. The OKH team earned a second-place finish, overall, including a second-place award for the quick recall team and a number of individual awards. Individual winners included language arts – Grace Filiatreau, third, and Paula Marie Gagne, fourth; math – Caroline Boone, first, and Grace Filiatreau, second; social studies – Jeramiah Warner, fourth, and Joseph Cain, fifth; arts and humanities – Lauren Paulin, third; and composition – Autumn Philpott, third.

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