Corbin school district retirees honored; Elementary school recognized as difference maker
Jun. 23—CORBIN — The Corbin Board of Education recognized the district's retirees on Thursday night with a special presentation.
"This night for us every year is always very bittersweet," said Board Chair Kim Croley. "We didn't get to do it in person last year, so we brought some of those people back for that reason. The organizational memory and the love for students that leaves us every year when our retirees go, it's a loss that we can never replace but we hope that those of us left behind have learned from their legacy so that we can continue their good work."
Retirees in attendance were presented with a certificate, including Corbin High School Principal John Crawford who is set to retire August 1. Though not in attendance on Thursday night, Corbin High School Assistant Principal Nicole Brock was also honored for her years of service to the district, as she will also be retiring from her position after nearly 30 years.
Following the special presentation, the Corbin Board of Education reconvened for their special called meeting where the first-ever Difference Maker School for the 2020-21 school year was announced.
"We have been, every month, doing a Difference Maker award which was given to an individual teacher but this month we are doing something different," Croley said. "It was voted on by the schools themselves to give a Difference Maker School award and I am pleased to say that the elementary school won our first ever Corbin Difference Maker School. With that, after the year that we have come out of, is a testament to all of our schools because they all made such a difference and learned how to be a difference in all kinds of ways this past year."
Corbin Elementary School Assistant Principal Liberty Roberts was in attendance on Thursday night to accept the award on behalf of the school.
"It's difficult to say anything after recognizing retirees who have spent half of their lives dedicated to making a difference with our students and with our staff, whether they serve as teachers or administrators," she said. "This is an awesome recognition. It came as a surprise to Mr. Webb and myself, but it's always nice to be recognized and it meant so much more after this year, coming from colleagues who we know just struggled and did everything they could to get through the hardest year I think any of us could imagine.
"On behalf of Mr. Webb and I, we want to thank our staff—I heard bits and pieces of what I had planned to say to recognize them. I think the reason we made a difference and had such positivity and positive feedback was [that] our connectedness was very strong. We had everybody from our instructional monitors to our teachers to our counselors just refusing to let that negativity which was always boiling under the surface because our world was just at a state of conflict most of last year and no one ever allowed it to happen."
Board members also heard an update from Superintendent David Cox on the Career Skills Center located on the campus of Corbin High School, where he noted that phase one of the construction is now complete.
"Folks in town are seeing what's going on and they are saying 'hey, what are you doing down there, what are you building,'" Cox said. "Every person I've talked to, not 99 percent, 100 percent of the people I've talked to have said thank goodness that we're addressing the construction trades.
"I think this is something that is going to be a good thing for a lot of kids," he added. "We're really excited about where it's going."
