Fayette County Public Schools releases statement on teacher absences

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – The Fayette County Public School Spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall, released a statement Friday evening in regards to classes being cancelled Friday as Fayette County teachers send a strong message to lawmakers after the passage of the pension bill.

Read her statement below:

“There were no classes on Friday after the Fayette County Public Schools announced it was closing, but there were plenty of lessons taught.”

Hundreds of employees came to school to assemble and deliver thousands of bags of food for children living in poverty and open gyms and libraries so students had a place to spend a rainy day.

“In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘The time is always right to do what is right,’” said Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk. “Even as they sent a message to lawmakers with their absences, our employees also sent a message to our students with their actions.”

Family Resource and Youth Service Center Coordinators helped organize the community wide effort to deliver food which involved more than 40 elementary, middle and high schools across Lexington and pulled together teachers, principals, classified employees, and community volunteers.

Weekend backpack programs provide a much needed service to families throughout the district every week. With school being closed on Friday and spring break looming, there was a sense of urgency to ensure those groceries made it into the homes of students.

Wearing raincoats and smiles, employees loaded up their trunks and carpooled into the neighborhoods where their students live.

At Ashland Elementary, staff members packed doughnuts and pastries that Magee’s Bakery had donated for a student event originally planned for Friday and delivered them along with bags of food door to door instead.

“Students were peeking out their windows and would gleefully cheer, ‘It’s the teachers!’” said Acting Ashland Elementary Principal Ann Ingram. “Ashland teachers have huge hearts.”

At Tates Creek Elementary, teachers, custodial, cafeteria and office staff prepared for the delivery of food backpacks and served a light snack and lunch for any student who came to campus. The Healthy Kids Clinic remained open for walk-ins and the school made the computer lab and gym available for students.

Twitter and Facebook feeds were filled with pictures and comments about the effort, using hashtags #FCPSKYcares and #FCPSKYLoveMyPublicSchool.

Child Nutrition employees throughout the district gathered perishables including produce and worked with community food pantries to ensure the food would be used to help those in need. Arlington Elementary packed 250 bags and boxes of food with the help of roughly 30 employees and volunteers. Four dozen staff and students gathered at Breckinridge to coordinate the delivery of more than 350 bags.

Crawford Middle School opened its library and gym for students, while nearly 40 staff members, some with their own children in tow, packed and delivered nearly 300 food bags to families. Teacher Sara Green reached out to different organizations to have food donated and Urban Impact allowed the school to set up a second distribution center at the Woodhill Center for our families in the area.

“The commitment and love shown toward our students and families was incredible,” said Crawford Middle School principal Mike Jones.  “Today we made something great out of a bad situation.”

At Yates Elementary, kids stopped by and the teachers decided to hold their annual YES Men versus Yates staff basketball game anyway. Stonewall Elementary kindergarten teachers organized an egg hunt for their students. And the overnight trip to Louisville went on as planned for Dixie fifth-graders.

“It is evident that what we do on a daily basis goes beyond the classroom to meet the needs of the whole student,” said Coventry Oak Elementary School principal Shamiah Ford, whose employees “showed our dedication and passion for what we do every day by delivering food bags to the homes of families for spring break. Even during times of adversity, our hearts are with our students.”

Other schools that were involved include: The Academy for Leadership at Millcreek, Athens-Chilesburg, Booker T. Washington, Cardinal Valley, Cassidy, Deep Springs, Garden Springs, Harrison, James Lane Allen, Lansdowne, Liberty, Meadowthorpe, Picadome, Russell Cave, Southern, Squires and Wellington elementaries, Edythe J. Hayes Middle, Jessie Clark, Leestown, Lexington Traditional Magnet, Southern, Tates Creek and Winburn middle schools, Paul Laurence Dunbar High and Martin Luther King Academy.