August 5, 2022
WCPS Community,
I hope you are enjoying the remaining days of summer vacation and are ready for a fantastic 2022-23 school year with renewed energy and enthusiasm! Our leaders and staff members have been working incredibly hard together as we prepare for another rewarding school year.
Our Nutrition and Dining Services Department has exciting news for the new school year! Through the Community Eligibility Provision (C.E.P.) program, all WCPS students will receive a free breakfast and lunch each school day! We know that when our students are properly nourished, they are able to maintain a high level of energy to learn and take advantage of the opportunities provided at school to engage and learn.
I want to say a big “Thank You” to Tony Rose and the Stuff the Bus Foundation! The 17th annual Stuff the Bus event collected more than four tons of supplies with donations continuing to flow. A huge Thank you to everyone who donated to make a difference in the lives of our students!
In addition, thank you to United Way of Southern Kentucky for this year’s Day of Caring. Several of our schools were recipient sites and volunteers from area businesses helped with various projects at many of our schools. More than two dozen of our central office staff and directors utilized our Day of Caring to participate in Habitat for Humanity’s mission of building ten homes for families here in Warren County. During the event, we learned that two WCPS families who lost their homes during the December tornadoes will be moving into these residences as soon as they are completed. Community partnerships matter and this is just another example of how our community steps up to support our students; we are grateful for every volunteer that made this year’s event a success!
For the past several years, WCPS and school districts across the nation have experienced a significant shortage of bus drivers to transport students. WCPS has worked tirelessly and aggressively to recruit and train bus drivers during the past few years, including offering sign-on bonuses for new drivers and referral bonuses for current WCPS employees who refer new drivers to us. In addition, we have consistently lobbied our legislators for full funding of transportation while simultaneously advertising our wage increases and competitive benefits package.
Although our efforts have yielded several new bus drivers, we have been forced to make the difficult decision to restructure our existing services for the upcoming 2022-23 school year and information about the bus route stops and a list of frequently asked questions can be found here. Please note that families with children in our WCPS Preschool program have received separate correspondence detailing specifics regarding transportation for preschool students.
I hope you enjoy the final days of your summer break and thank you for your continued support of WCPS as we look forward to seeing all of our K-12 students on August 10th!
Respectfully,
Rob Clayton
Superintendent