Breathitt-Knott has focused its early grant activities on needs identified by students, parents, schools, and staff from both districts, such as kindergarten readiness, access to academic support programs and enrichment, as well as career experiences that align with students’ interests and in-demand careers in the two communities. 

Both Breathitt and Knott County are recovering from the July 2022 flooding from the appropriately named Troublesome Creek and other waterways, which damaged homes, schools, and essential community spaces like the Knott County library. The communities have made significant progress in that recovery, and the FSCS grant is working with families, the two districts, and community coalitions to restore and expand students’ opportunities. 

Historically, Breathitt and Knott’s average kindergarten readiness scores are close to or above the state average. However, after the 2022 flooding, many resources that supported early learning in children’s homes and in the community were lost. 

In partnership with school districts and various community organizations—including the local hospital system, agricultural extension offices, early childcare providers, non-profit organizations, and staff from other grants such as Innovative Approaches to Literacy in Knott County—FSCS is working to increase families’ access to early childhood literacy resources. This effort acknowledges that in an area where most children are in family- or home-based care before kindergarten, any initiative to improve kindergarten readiness must involve collaboration with families and other informal childcare providers.

The grant is also working with districts to adjust the timing of summer kindergarten transition programs, moving them from early summer to the week before kindergarten starts so that the “kindergarten boost” benefits carry over from the summer camp into the classroom. 

Concurrently, FSCS provides additional resources to support the two districts’ efforts to maintain and accelerate students’ literacy growth as they move into elementary, middle, and high school. Through the project, the districts can expand professional development for teachers, give students access to online enrichment resources, and increase tutoring and academic learning opportunities. Tutoring benefits students needing extra assistance in literacy and math. 

In middle and high schools, FSCS collaborated with the districts and a regional technical education center to identify resources and partnerships to restore a vocational education building that was destroyed in the August 2022 floods and to expand the career pathway options available to students. For instance, one school with an established career pathway program is expanding the certificates students can earn—such as phlebotomy and forklift operator certifications—and enhancing classroom resources for existing pathways, including the popular law enforcement pathway, with help from FSCS staff.  From the district’s perspective, these investments yield short- and long-term benefits for schools, their students, and the region; students become more engaged in school and are less likely to be chronically absent, are introduced to and trained in in-demand careers in the region and can remain in the community after graduation.

In addition to the academic and career resources the grant supports, FSCS has also given children and students access to enrichment activities that integrate arts and music into classroom learning. FSCS staff are working with the districts to identify funding sources and partnerships to sustain the enrichment activities beyond the project. District staff consider these expanded learning opportunities essential to their efforts to increase student attendance.

As the grant moves into its second year, the FSCS school coordinators and grant director remain focused on students’ trajectories through early education to elementary and secondary school and into postsecondary.