Students return to class, districts seek help

Kentucky School Advocate
February 2022

Teachers welcomed students back to Dawson Springs Independent on Jan. 18, more than five weeks after a tornado destroyed much of the Hopkins County town.

An increased number of counselors and a few emotional support dogs also greeted students, some of whom had lost their homes or loved ones.

But being back in school brought a sense of normalcy.

“We had a lot of happy kids and a lot of happy staff,” Superintendent Lenny Whalen told the Dawson Springs Progress.

At the first board meeting after school resumed, Chairwoman Vicki Allen said she had heard good things about students’ first day back.

“I’d just like to say thank you to everybody involved with getting school up and rolling again,” Allen said. “I think a lot of people were nervous about how it would start up for us.”

Mayfield Independent students returned to class about a week earlier and Graves County students started back to school on Jan. 4.

But while the teaching and learning has resumed in the districts hardest hit by the Dec. 10 and 11th tornadoes, getting back to normal will be a much longer process.

Whalen, Mayfield Ind. Superintendent Joe Henderson and Graves Co. Superintendent Matthew Madding explained the long-term needs of the impacted districts to legislators at the Jan. 27 Senate Education Committee.In Dawson Springs, 20 percent of the staff lost their homes, cars and all their belongings. Whalen said his own home was damaged.

“It’s going to be a lengthy recovery for us in Dawson Springs, just like it will be in Mayfield and the other areas impacted,” he said. The district missed 14 days of the school calendar for the tornado, and then had to pause in-person instruction later in January due to COVID-19, he said.

While the General Assembly has approved some help for the districts for counselors and other needs, Whalen said the districts are asking legislators to freeze their average daily attendance for SEEK purposes because many students have or may move from the district.

“We need special relief and some stabilization for us to be able to get back on our feet and to be able to make sure that Mayfield Schools and Dawson Springs Schools and our other schools are viable for a long time,” he said.

Mayfield Independent had 29 students leave the district after the storm, Henderson said. While that may not sound like a lot of students, in an 1,800-person district the loss of 29 students would equal $157,000 in funding, he explained.

Another 95 students were displaced and are being bused back to the district, Henderson said, noting that it’s unlikely they will find housing in Mayfield.

Whalen said his district has also lost 29 students who have switched to other districts after the storm.

In addition to loss of SEEK funds because of fewer students, the superintendents told lawmakers that they are also concerned about a loss in local property tax revenue because much of their towns were damaged or destroyed.

Many district staff also worked well beyond their contracted days helping families and sorting donations after the storm, the superintendents said.

In response to the superintendents’ concerns, nine western Kentucky lawmakers filed House Bill 397, which would allow the education commissioner to waive up to 15 student attendance days in the counties that were declared major disaster areas. The bill would let the 15 days count toward classified and certified district employees’ contract days.

The legislature had previously passed House Bill 5 and Senate Bill 5, which provide $30 million for the districts’ impacted. The money can be used for after school services, mental health counselors, and increased transportation costs to bus students back to the districts.