Hopkins County Schools will soon begin accepting credit cards, debit cards, and eChecks as a convenient option for our students, staff, families, and community members. The plan is to launch this initiative at registration for next school year. However, we are going to do a “soft” launch in May at several locations to promote family and community participation. It will also give us an opportunity to test the system. We wanted you to be the first to know and encourage you to spread the word about this new payment option through School Cash Online. Look for more information on this in the upcoming weeks.

Online Registration/Annual Update through Infinite Campus Parent Portal is now open for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year.

Online Registration will be available on the portal through the start of the school year. We encourage you to complete this soon for your students. Parents may also register new students, including incoming kindergarten students. This is required for ALL students who will attend Hopkins County Schools next year.

This online process allows you to verify and submit required information to your child’s school. It also eliminates the forms and paperwork that used to be required for annual registration. Your child’s school may have other site-specific forms that you will be asked to complete later.



Only the legal guardian listed for the student in the primary household can complete online registration. The assigned school is based on the primary household address. If your child has a secondary household, please update the information for that additional household while completing the online update. Look for more information on the district's registration website: www.hopkins.kyschools.us/OLR

We are excited to share that Hopkins County Schools has been voted Best Place to Work in Hopkins County for the 5th year in a row! Thank you to everyone who voted for HCS in The Messenger’s Reader’s Choice competition! We appreciate all our staff members for the dedication they show daily to our students, families and communities.

Hopkins County Schools Family Resource Youth Services Centers have been voted as Best Charitable Organization in Hopkins County! FRYSCs work to remove nonacademic barriers to learning as a way to enhance student academic success. We appreciate ALL of our FRYSC coordinators! They do an amazing job serving our students, families, and community!

The Celebrate Literacy Hopkins County annual book giveaway for kids from preschool through 5th grade will be set up at area locations this week through Thursday, May 2! A child may pick out a free book at each of these sites. Locations and times of the book tables are listed below.

Tuesday, April 30

• Hopkins County-Madisonville Public Library, 3-5:30 p.m.
• Dawson Springs Public Library, 3-5:30 p.m.
• Hanson Gazebo, 3-5 p.m.
• West Hopkins School, 3-5 p.m.

Wednesday, May 1

• Mahr Park Arboretum at the Nature Play Area, 3-5 p.m.
• Earlington Ideal, 3-5 p.m.
• First United Bank, Main Branch in Madisonville, 2:30-4 p.m.

Thursday, May 2

• Madisonville City Park Playground, 3-5 p.m.
• Market Place, 3-5 p.m.
• Dr. Festus Claybon Park, 3-5 p.m.
• Pioneer Family Medicine, Nortonville, 3:15-5 p.m.

Books provided by Celebrate Literacy Hopkins County Committee and HCS Title I.

Rhianwen Lowbridge,

Jennifer Plunkett, &

Johnathan Britt

The Remember Your Why Award was presented to West Broadway Elementary 2nd grade teacher Rhianwen Lowbridge and custodians Jennifer Plunkett and Johnathan Britt at the April 16 Board of Education meeting.

All three employees were instrumental in helping when a fire recently broke out at the school. Lowbridge was leaving school on March 4 when she noticed the lights in the library were on fire. She called 911 because the alarm had not gone off. Plunkett found the fire extinguisher and she and Britt were able to stop the fire long enough for the Fire Department to arrive. Their actions show how much people love their schools and colleagues! They are willing to do anything to keep their schools and others safe!

A HUGE “Thank You” and congratulations goes out to each of them!

When asked their why, they responded with the following:

Rhianwen Lowbridge: “My why as an educator is to support my students’ natural curiosity and eagerness to learn, and to instill in them a lifelong love of learning. I strive to create an environment in which my students feel loved, respected, and safe to pursue big goals while knowing that I am committed to helping them succeed.”

Jennifer Plunkett: “I do what I do to keep my school colleagues and students safe. I love my school family and what I do.”

Jonathan Britt: “I love and enjoy doing what inspired me as a child, taking care of everything, the students and school things.”

As part of our ongoing commitment to security, all direct deposit changes must be made in person at the Central Office. This means any modifications to your direct deposit bank account information must be presented to the front desk at Central Office with your employee badge. By requiring in-person verification for direct deposit changes, we reduce the risk of fraud.

If you need to change your direct deposit information you can email payroll at Certified: beverly.petitt@hopkins.kyschools.us or Classified: cynthia.clark@hopkins.kyschools.us. They will send you the form to complete, but it must be delivered in person at the Central Office with your employee badge.

Hopkins County Schools is conducting a survey to gauge awareness of the Future Ready Graduate initiative. We ask all students, staff, and parents to complete the online survey.

Individuals are asked to complete the online registration form to RSVP for this Community Schools program.

The Madisonville North Hopkins Marching Maroons made a special appearance during the Rumours ATL: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute concert at Glema Mahr Center for the Arts! To listen, follow this link to see the video.

Jane Emerson of Hanson Elementary won 1st place in the Elementary School District Talent Show for a dance to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Shelby Duff of West Broadway Elementary, who performed a dance to “Dance the NIght Away,” received 2nd place. Eliana Hofmann of Jesse Stuart Elementary placed 3rd for her piano solo of “The Tempest in A Minor.”

Isabella Carver of James Madison Middle School won 1st place in the Middle School District Talent Show for a vocal performance of “What’s Up?” Kylie Watkins and Halle Miller of JMMS, who gave a vocal/drum/piano performance of “Hey Girl,” received 2nd place. Lilly Hamby and Silas Weldon of South Hopkins Middle School placed 3rd for a dance performance of “Dance Mix.”

Nepotist, a guitar/drum musical group that includes Jacob Payne, Benjamin Oakley, Cristian Thomasson, and Landon Young of Madisonville North Hopkins, won 1st place in the High School District Talent Show for a performance of the song “Domination.” Ruby Chapman of Hopkins County Central, who gave a vocal performance of “The Girl in 14G,” received 2nd place. Cooper Crockett of HCCHS, who performed a drum solo, placed 3rd. Maya Latimer of MNHHS received 4th place for a vocal performance of the song “Heart of Stone.”

The Be-YOU-tiful Leaders group recently held their Spring Conference. The group, made up of girls from both Hopkins County Central and Madisonville North Hopkins High schools, took part in breakout sessions on confidence building, self-care, and yoga and heard a keynote message by University of Louisville student Hannah Rager. In the afternoon, they met in groups to plan community service projects. Thanks go out to the sponsors: Hopkins County Schools, Madisonville Elks Lodge 738, First United Bank, Baptist Health Deaconess - Madisonville, and Kiwanis Club of Madisonville.

Be-YOU-tiful Leaders members presented the program to girls at all of our middle schools. The plan is to expand the leadership program to include younger students.

RSVP for our 2024-2025 Back-to-School Community Resource Bash on Thursday, August 1. Stop by from 2-6 p.m. to tour the new Hopkins County Sportsplex. We will be providing FREE school supplies, community resources and giveaways! Students will have the opportunity to meet school & district staff and have their picture made with school mascots. Food trucks will be available in the parking lot to purchase some delicious treats and eats. Complete the online RSVP registration form now!

Please sign up using this online Google form to be a vendor at the Back-to-School and Community Resource Bash for the 2024-2025 school year!

The annual Olympic Field Days at both of our high schools brought lots of fun for students of all ages!

A group of South Hopkins Middle School students is working to crack the code in an international robotics competition.

The school’s Robotics Club, led by science teacher Jennifer Edwards, competed in the Sphero World Championship. That is a virtual robotics competition.

“We competed nationally and we were able to advance to face people from Australia, Asia, Europe, and all across the world,” Edwards said. The first round of competition involved completing five tasks and detailing it in a Powerpoint. This time, the students are working on one task, which they presented virtually on April 25 to judges.

The task basically involves unlocking a safe, getting something out of the safe, and bringing it back with the robot.

“That’s our robot,” student Izabel Long said, explaining the project, “and we drive it over to the lock, basically. It’s like a combination. After we unlock that, we have packages and we have to bring them back over here.” The group practiced weekly after school.

This is the first year for the Robotics Club, which was created after a STEM Lab was created at South Hopkins. The lab was funded through a $12,500 grant from Ensign Bickford.

A cross-curricular connection for 5th graders at Pride brought together learning on colonial times and economics. It also resulted in a cookbook being printed! The project started when teachers Heather Gordon and Jessi Howard brainstormed ideas of how to incorporate deeper learning into the math curriculum.

As an extension in understanding the colonial lifestyle, students were asked to talk to family members and bring in their oldest family recipe. These recipes were compiled into a cookbook with the intent to sell them to fund a spring field trip to Frankfort. The classes partnered with American Printing, and then students sold the cookbooks. Funding help also came from the Elizabeth Lloyd “Libby” Jones Student Scholarship Fund, which supports field trips to the Kentucky Historical Society.

During the field trip, students will visit the state capitol and tour government buildings. From start to finish, students have connected math, social studies, and English language arts standards outside of a textbook as well as gaining an authentic life experience. This has been a great way to emphasize Hopkins County Future Ready characteristics as well as incorporate deeper learning techniques.

Please visit the school or call 270-825-6030 to purchase a cookbook. They are $10 each, cash or check only. If cookbooks are unavailable at time of order, a turnaround time of 3-4 days can be expected.

Parents should complete the online registration form to RSVP for their students.

Julie Hancock, athletic administrator for Browning Springs Middle School, has been selected by the Kentucky Athletic Administrators Association as Middle School Athletic Administrator of the Year for our region!

Hopkins County Schools is seeking nominations for the 2023-2024 Teacher of the Year and Employee of the Year awards.

Teacher of the Year nominees must have a minimum of three years teaching experience. The Teachers of the Year will be selected in the categories of Elementary (P-5), Middle (6-8) and Secondary (9-12).

Categories for Employee of the Year nominations are: Administrator of the Year, eligible nominees would include principals, assistant principals, central office administrators, and guidance counselors; Classified Support Services, eligible nominees would include instructional assistants who work in a classroom setting to enhance student achievement and Family Resource employees who provide student needs throughout the district; Facilities Management, eligible employees would include all custodians and district maintenance staff; Food Service, eligible nominees would include all cafeteria employees, cafeteria managers and district food service employees; Transportation, eligible nominees would include bus drivers, bus monitors, vehicle maintenance staff and district employees; Secretary of the Year, eligible employees would include all school secretaries; and Central Office Employee of the Year, eligible employees would include all central office staff.

Nominations will be accepted through the close of business, 4 p.m. Friday, May 24, 2024. Online nomination forms are available at the following links:

Teacher of the Year

Employee of the Year

A printable form is available at the following link. It should be mailed to Employee of the Year, Hopkins County Schools, 320 S. Seminary Street, Madisonville, KY 42431. Attention: Crystal Carlton.



Employee of the Year Nomination Form (pdf)

May 6 - Board of Education Meeting, 5:30 p.m., Central Office

May 20 - Board of Education Meeting, 5:30 p.m., Central Office

May 21 - No School / Primary Election Day

May 24 - Last Day for Students

May 27 - No School / Memorial Day

May 28 - Closing Day for Staff