Recently, the Lincoln County School Board voted to close McKinney Elementary School. This vote was held without any representation from McKinney area.

When my granddaughters came home crying and said their school was closing, it broke my heart. Tears came to my eyes.

As I started to investigate, I checked the academic scores of the year 2017-18. I checked McKinney Elementary students’ scores and compared them to the other schools. I found that McKinney elementary students were ranked third in the county. As I was researching further, I came across the ratio of teachers vs. students. McKinney was 1-to-14.3 ratio. The other school in the county, the ratio was 15.2 not a big difference.

And then there’s the cost numbers the school system is telling us. Frankly, I don’t understand how our children cost $14,013 per child vs. other schools in the county system. The other schools read $10,643 to $12,021. Not throwing stones at other schools, but that’s a big difference. So many things are not adding up.

The closing of McKinney Elementary is devastating to our community. The community will suffer in so many ways. The school is the heart and soul of the McKinney area and surrounding neighborhoods. The school board wants us to merge with Hustonville, or so we’ve heard, under the guise of bigger is better, bigger schools equals better education for all is not always true. There is a lot to be said about children being individuals and not just numbers. This type of situation is a threat to communities all across Kentucky.

I would personally like to thank all the McKinney School faculty and staff for the impact you have made on my children and grandchildren’s lives. Our small community school allowed teachers to have a closer relationship with students & parents. Lincoln school board has already closed two elementary schools, let’s not give up on the third school, McKinney, because other schools, yours, may be next.

I’m asking everyone in Lincoln County to come out and support the re-opening of McKinney Elementary. A committee has been formed and the community meeting will be at the Memorial/Kings Mountain Community Center, June 8 at 7 p.m. We will have special speakers and discussion on what our next steps will be to get our school back, and by that time we should have a board member to represent McKinney!

Ricky King

McKinney