Recent honor shows local school district doing well

Santa Claus will probably be busy in Whitley County Wednesday night with a lot of people on his nice list.
This holiday season, many area residents have been busy donating to charity in an effort to make

Christmas just a little bit brighter for some needy children and families.

Let me give just a few examples.

The Williamsburg Police Department Shop with a Cop program raised over $17,000 this year to take 176 children on $100 shopping sprees at Walmart.

The Corbin Rotary Club through its Save the Children Christmas program bought toys, shoes and other assorted gifts for 675 children last week.

The Corbin Lion’s Club will be taking food baskets to 275 needy families.

These are just a few examples of the giving spirit of area residents this holiday season, and my apologies to all the other charities, civic groups and churches that I didn’t have room to mention.
Given the tough economic times we are facing, charitable contributions are especially important this year, and its nice to see how well local residents, businesses and groups have come through for those less fortunate.

While I can’t speak for the whole community, I can speak for this newspaper in saying thank you to all who have given either time or money this year in efforts to help others.
May you all have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Before I close, let me take a few paragraphs to brag about the job our local school districts are doing.
U.S. News recently gave bronze medal status to Whitley County, Williamsburg and Corbin high schools.
Only 2,000 high schools in America achieved this ranking or better out of more than 21,000 that were examined.

Only 33 high schools in Kentucky out of 229 achieved bronze medal status or better.
While the recognition is only for the high schools, the student bodies of each are made up of students from elementary and middle schools across the area.

Also, Save the Children U.S. Director Mark Shriver, Gov. Steve Beshear and academy award nominated actress Julianne Moore visited Whitley Central Primary School last week to learn more about the success of the Save the Children program there. About 90 percent of the students in the program there are succeeding.

The accomplishments of all these schools are amazing when you look at the financial need of students in these districts.

In Corbin, 36.3 percent of students are considered disadvantaged. In Whitley County, that percentage ranks at 64.9 percent while Williamsburg has 71.4 percent of students considered disadvantaged.
I think all these numbers and accomplishments tell us two things about our schools and students.

First, we have a large number of students who are facing an uphill battle to learn and become productive citizens.

Second, we have three local school districts, which are able to make the most out of grant funding they receive to educate kids and help the most economically disadvantaged.
I’m sure there are still kids falling through the cracks, but the good news is the cracks appear to be getting smaller.

I think I speak for many people when I say I hope these districts continue with their success.
If we ever reach a point where every child in our community succeeds in school and graduates, then that will go along way toward eliminating the poverty and other social problems affecting this area.
Keep up the good work.