(by Don Meador, Public Relations)
Multiple changes wait for the students at Allen County-Scottsville High School when the new year starts on August 11. The first change---a new face is leading the way at AC-SHS.
In June, Shane Humphrey was selected at the new principal at the high school. Humphrey will start his 21st year in education transitioning from an assistant principal’s role at Logan County High School into the leadership position at AC-SHS.
“I am very excited about joining Allen County-Scottsville High School and the Allen County School
District,” Humphrey noted in a news release announcing his selection. “I cannot wait to start building relationships with the staff and students of AC-SHS.”
Humphrey’s resume includes serving as a high school social studies teacher at Warren
Central High School and Edmonson County High School. Humphrey earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Western Kentucky University, as well as, a Master of Arts in Education (School Administration) and a Master of Arts in School Improvement from the University of the Cumberlands.
The new principal has spent the past six weeks getting familiar with AC-SHS and working alongside assistant principals Wes Pardue, Chris Vernon, and Cheryl Miller. The administrative team has been working with the school guidance counselors (Brad Bonds, Magen Meador, Laura Carter, and Misty Rather) to finalize student schedules and put plans into place for a smooth start to the school year.
Humphrey notes that the 22-23 school year should look live AC-SH in the days before March 13, 2020---the last school day before COVID shut down the 19-20 school year. The 20-21 year and 21-22 were both impacted by the ongoing concerns over the pandemic. Plans are for school to be normal this year.
“We are going back to pre-COVID protocols this year which means our doors will open at seven o’clock,” Humphrey said. “The door to the buses will open around 7:10 and hopefully we will see everybody in here like pre COVID and see the students socializing with their friends. School will start at 7:40 and go to 2:40. We are still on the block system, four blocks per day. We will still have Pride Time but we are revamping this year.”
Pride Time is a short 30-minutes block of the school day that is set aside to address both academic and social needs of the students.
“Monday’s will be like a mentor time, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s will be more of an ESS (Extended School Services) time to get kids caught up or extra help, Wednesday’s will be club meeting days, and Friday’s will be days when teachers can pull kids that may need to make-up tests or something like that,” Humphrey explained.
Humphrey points out that technology will be made available to all students---thus giving each of the 900-plus students a new way to learn and interact with teachers.
“Every kid at Allen County-Scottsville High School will have their own Chromebook but they can still bring their own similar personal device if they want to,” Humphrey added. “So there should be no issues with not having technology.”
To help teachers control disruptions in class, the school will be reverting to a stricter cell phone policy---similar to the policy adopted by the school’s site-base council several years ago.
“Cell phones will not be allowed out in class,” Humphrey stressed. “The students’ don’t need them out in class. When they get them out, it’s more of a distraction than anything else. We want to protect instructional time. Teachers have 90 minutes with students daily so we want to make sure the kids are getting the most out of the instructional time. Cell phones are a huge distraction with kids.”
Humphrey and school administrators will go over the complete cell phone policy---including the times and locations cell phones are permitted---and other new changes with students at the start of the school year. Parents/guardians with questions about any new changes of guidelines are strongly encouraged to speak to Humphrey or another administrator.
The new principal will be working closely with teachers to help them in various ways related to building relationships, handling discipline quickly, and building a more positive school culture.
“My role as part of the administration team is to give leadership to the teachers,” Humphrey noted. “I want to support them in new ways, ways that have not been done before. One way is to put a little power in their hands regarding the classroom. I want teachers to build relationships with their students. I like for kids to have closer relationships with teaches.”
The past 30 months have left students across the Commonwealth and the country struggling academically in many sectors. Parents/guardians will see the high school working to “close the gaps” in education that have been brought about by the pandemic.
“Some of our teachers have been working on Fastbridge training, a way to help kids close the gaps that have been created,” Humphrey said. “We all know that for the last two and a half years almost, kids are not on pace the way they should be. It’s not their fault. It’s just is what it is. As educators we cannot sit for the next 10 years. The only kids not affected by this are the incoming kindergartens and first graders. We can use the pandemic as an excuse or we can say that we know there is deficiencies and start to get the kids caught up as quickly as we can to put out productive citizens to Scottsville, Allen County, and the surrounding area. We want our kids to compete with everyone around the world.”
Students will see many opportunities this year to learn in the classroom but also in and through the community. For example, in recent years college and career counselor Laura Carter has organized tours at area business and industry for seniors as a way to give the soon-to-be graduates an inside look at potential employment opportunities. Carter has also hosted career days and hiring fairs to further provide guidance to seniors. This year, Humphrey hopes that all students at AC-SH will have the chance to step into a real world scenario at some point.
“I’m all about giving kids the opportunity to see things either by bringing things in house of taking kids outside the school,” Humphrey explained. “For example, one of the things that (Bowling Green’s) M and L Electric Inc. does a couple of times of year is to bring kids in and put them through some of the tests that they people do. It’s basically to get kids to say, I didn’t know this was out there. So a couple of things we plan on doing this year is to give every grade level a day to do an internship. That means that kids will have a day to pick a career to learn about. We want to expose the kids to different avenues.”
AC-S will have several new faculty members and a few teachers in different roles. Lesley Cagle is a new English teacher. Erica Lambert and Austin Byrn on new teachers in science. Jeremy Byrn will move to an Instructional Coach role. Kenzie Meador will teach in a new Allied Health class---a move that will see a new class on phlebotomy. In the math department, Dr. Bruce Kessler, a retired WKU professor, will come on board. Marylyn Crow will also teach math for a semester. John Farris will teach engineering. Shelley Cook will be a new ECE teacher. Brad Hood and Cameron Cook will continue to teach but also serve as the school’s athletic directors.
Humphrey noted that the future will bring new changes as well.
“We are adding some more dual credit classes and in the future, we may look at changing the schedule,” Humphrey said. “That will give kids more opportunities and could give us the opportunity to add more classes as well. We do want to move toward more duel credit classes.”
Open House will be on Thursday, August 4 starting at 4 p.m. and lasting until 6. This will be the chance for students to pick up a hard copy of their schedule, tour the high school and tech center, meet teachers, and ask questions.
“I want the kids to get back into the routine of school,” Humphrey said. “I want the kids to have great relationships with their teachers and teachers to have great relationships with their students. Open House is a way to start. The things we are doing now, you may not see the benefits right now but you will in a year or so.”
Freshman students and their parents/guardians are reminded that at 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 4 will be a freshman orientation in the auditorium. All freshman are encouraged to attend this meeting.