Outstanding! Clay’s elementary schools rank 9th statewide

“It’s been a long few weeks for me.” That was Superintendent William Sexton telling board of education members how long he’s known about the school system’s outstanding test scores Monday night as they were unveiled but wasn’t allowed to release the results by state mandate.

The Clay County School System, as a whole, showed remarkable improvement from the previous year to last year.

The superintendent said it’s been a long road to navigate following the disruption of COVID during the ’19-’20 and ’20-’21 school years.

“We were on a great trajectory of improving test scores before COVID,” Sexton said. “COVID set every school system in America back. Our students cannot get the same education at home compared to being in a classroom.”

That showed as test scores in Clay County, the state of Kentucky and nation plummeted.

Sexton says his staff knew a lot of hard work would have to occur to bring the students back up to par.

“I cannot talk enough about the staffs at our schools and central office,” he said. “We all knew the task at hand and what it would take to achieve this. I can’t thank all our staff members enough for the long hours and sacrifices they’ve made to help our children.”

Burning Springs Elementary excelled beyond expectations as they ranked fourth in the entire state of Kentucky.

“Principal Kendra Hooker and her staff have excelled,” Sexton said. “This is the highest rank we’ve ever had from any school in our system. It’s a great accomplishment and I congratulate them on a job well done.”

Board members were excited and thrilled at the good news.

“I’ve been a board member for over 35 years, and this is the best scores I’ve ever seen,” Leewood Cornett said.

In 2013, when board chairman Mark Hoskins, vice-chairman Roy Glenn Allen and member Robin Combs were elected, the school system was rated the 10th worst in the state of Kentucky based on test scores.

“To see how far we’ve come is amazing,” Combs said. “I am so proud of our entire staff.”

Roy Allen said he too has seen major changes.

“Our atmosphere is entirely different,” he said. “We now have everyone working together to achieve the same goal. These test scores are a testament to that.”

Board member Anthony Lovett says he too sees a tremendous change as he has three children in the school system.

“I’ve seen a big difference just within my children,” he said. “They are being challenged to do better and achieve higher goals. That’s what it takes to accomplish something like this.”

Chairman Hoskins says the change started at the top and trickled down.

“He would never want the credit, but William Sexton initiated this change the day he was hired,” Hoskins said. “Nobody thought our school system could show this kind of improvement. He took that to task and proved our staff and children could obtain higher goals. He led by example and our entire staff bought in. Today’s announcement proved that I believe.”

All 10 schools showed improvement with four elementary schools achieving “blue” status, the highest ranking by the state. Those four were in the top 17% of the state.

Three elementary schools received green status, the second highest ranking being in the top 30% of the state.

Clay County High School ranked in the top 29% showing a tremendous improvement from the previous year, also achieving a green status.

Clay County Middle School improved their scores by seven percentage points and finished in the top 49% of the state.