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A. It’s tough out there for superintendents. I think social media is one thing that makes it hard for all school personnel and administration, especially superintendents. When an issue explodes on social media, it’s not always the correct information. So they’re putting out fires all the time, and then this pandemic has made it twice as hard, as they make decisions about things nobody’s ever had to make before. Whether to go to school or go virtual, wear masks or not. And the public is so divided on those issues. We’ve got super superintendents working so hard and they are stressed out. Each year we have more openings. We’re losing a lot of good superintendents over a lot of issues. As a board of education, we need to help them in any way we can.
Q. You knew you wanted to be a teacher when you were in high school. What inspired you?
A. It always was in my mind that I wanted to teach and coach. I loved my coaches, certain teachers and my principal. I thought the world of my teacher in fifth grade who really took time to work with me. A friend of my brother’s was a teacher and coach and I always admired him. I worked in the strip mines three days a week and went to school at Pikeville College three days a week. I was making what I thought was pretty good money and believed I could make twice as much working full time. I went to my father-in-law, who was part owner of the mine, and told him I had decided to work full time. He talked me out of it and my wife encouraged me also. The mine closed two years later.
Q. You played football, wrestled and played baseball in high school and also coached early in your career. When coach Jim Matney died last year, you took over coaching Johnson Central’s football team. What was that experience like?
A. It’s bittersweet. I had known Coach Matney for 40 years. We played against each other. We’d been friends for a long time, and he was well loved in this community and well respected throughout the state as a football coach. For about 17 years, I had helped him on defense, from up in the press box. I’d relay information to him on the sidelines through headphones.
He had coached the first game of the season against Henry Clay but then was hospitalized with COVID. I was asked to take over the team until he got better. I had been head coach there for four years, but that was 30 years ago. They said they didn’t care whether we won or lost, to just try and hold the team together. He’d coached some of these kids for four years and he also had coached wrestling, so he was like a father figure to many kids.
The first two games I coached he was in the hospital; the third game I coached he passed away and we had a funeral that week. It was probably the toughest week I'd had in a long time. We won the first game I coached, got beat the second game, then won nine straight and went to the state championship game where we got beat 30-13. We didn’t play very well the first half. I probably didn’t coach very well the first half.
Q. But nobody saw getting to the state championship coming did they?
A. No, nobody dreamed we would be able to do that under those circumstances. But all the same, it was a tough year for the kids. They missed their coach, the assistant coaches were all torn up. But we were blessed. The season turned out better than anybody ever dreamed.
Q. As a superintendent, you’ve worked with state board of education members. What advice would you give local school board members about how to advocate for their districts at the state level?
A. I think most of the connections between the KDE and the school system come through the superintendent and then filter back down to the board. I think they need to advocate that they can do more at the local level and handle the local decisions for their district.
They also have avenues where they can contact state board members and tell them their issues and concerns, especially for those board members in their area. That’s what we’re there for, to listen.
Q. Earlier you talked about the importance of career and technical education. How would you like to see the state improve CTE in public schools?
A. We need to keep upgrading our ATCs. They are doing things like we did back in the 80s and the 90s. This is the 21st century and we need to adapt ATCs to the types of things that’ll help kids get jobs. I think there’s good funding to keep moving in those directions, bring in people to teach and make facilities adequate.
Q. What do you think the biggest challenge facing public education in Kentucky is today?
A. Can I give you more than one? First, we have a staffing shortage, not just math and sciences teaching staff like we used to, but a shortage for all subject areas. And it’s not just a teaching shortage but a shortage of bus drivers, cooks, cafeteria workers.
It takes raises, it takes money to be able to get people to go into education and stay in education. Our limited workforce is a real problem for superintendents. We also need to improve kindergarten readiness. A lot of students are behind, and it really concerns me, especially those in primary, through 4th grade. We know that the superintendents and school systems work so hard to have the best virtual programs they could have, but let’s face it, nothing can take the place of a teacher standing there working with kids especially at a young age. I think getting these kids caught up and making sure we put a lot of funding into those extra things that we can do to help them get caught up is a priority. Funding helps make better school systems. With it, you can offer more programs, have more teachers, a better teacher-to-student ratio. To get those good teachers, you have to have the money to hire them and keep them. So money is a big issue.