BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Martin County High School students welcomed home one of their own Friday — Dr. Robbie Fletcher, Kentucky Commissioner of Education — who returned to the same community where his lifelong journey in education began.

Fletcher, who grew up in Martin County, spoke with students in the school auditorium, sharing memories, challenges, and encouragement drawn from three decades in public education.

A familiar face to many in the audience, Fletcher once served as principal of Sheldon Clark High School before becoming superintendent of Lawrence County Schools in 2014. He began his current role as Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education in July 2024. His path to that office, however, started right here — teaching math and science in Martin County classrooms and later serving as principal at Warfield Middle.

Dr. Michelle Harless, principal of Martin County High School, introduced Fletcher to the Cardinal Leadership Team. Settling on the edge of the stage rather than behind a podium, Fletcher invited the students to join him in conversation.

“I look around the room and see a lot of family,” Fletcher said. “I also see faces of people whose parents I went to school with—or maybe some of your grandparents.”

He told the group that he graduated from Sheldon Clark High School in 1992.

“It was a long time ago,” said Fletcher, now 51 and in his 30th year in education. “I loved Sheldon Clark.”

After college, Fletcher returned home to teach.

“I went from teaching AP calculus in central Kentucky to teaching middle school math at Inez Middle,” he said with a smile.

Looking around the auditorium, Fletcher nodded toward the staff and teachers.

“A lot of these people you see in this building, I either had them in class or I hired them,” he said.

For Fletcher, the visit was not ceremonial; it was personal.

“This is home,” he told the students. “It’s always been home. I come home every two weeks to see my parents. My mom and dad live at the head of Little Peter Cave over in the Pigeon Roost area.”

From Little Peter Cave to Frankfort

Now responsible for Kentucky’s entire public education system, Fletcher reflected on the scale of his work.

“I’m over 171 school districts, 1,400-and-some schools, 42,000 teachers, 600,000-and-some students,” he said. “To talk about going from the head of Little Peter Cave to Frankfort, I never dreamed it.”

Encouraging students to speak up, he told them, “Don’t be bashful.”

One student raised a hand to say simply, “Thank you for visiting our school.”

“I try not to just show up at a school because they get a little nervous,” Fletcher replied. “So I only go personally if I get invited. Dr. Harless invited me and I’m thankful. I drive by this school every other Friday.”

Tackling challenges

When asked whether he had faced struggles as Commissioner of Education, Fletcher did not hesitate.

“Yes,” he said. “The state budget for education is done every two years. Prior to my coming in as commissioner, they did the state budget for schools and it was projected to be $14.7 million short. I actually oversee a $6.7 billion budget. That $14.7 million sounds like a lot until you compare it to $6.7 billion.”

He explained that his first challenge was working with the Legislature and Governor Andy Beshear’s office to fix the shortfall.

“If we hadn’t gotten money in the governor’s budget, we probably would have had to cut teachers, maybe would not have gotten buses. There would have been cuts, so I struggled with that.”

The second major hurdle involved $57 million in federal ESSER funds that, he said, were temporarily halted.

“We had to go into a process of trying to argue for that money, and we did get it back,” Fletcher said. “A lot of schools that don’t have a facility like this were trying to build them and already had money allocated. In March, we had to argue for that money not just in Kentucky but across every single state in the union.”

Then came the third challenge — one that tested both his leadership and his politics.

“It was $87 million in Title funds for districts that have high poverty, districts that have 21st Century grants, districts that have English as a second language,” he said. “In Warren County, in their schools, there are 130 different languages spoken by students. They would have lost a lot of money. So we had to do a declaration, get that to the governor … As a Republican, that was pretty hard for me, but we were trying to sue the president.”

With a smile, he added, “We were blessed. We got the money.”

Favorite part of the job

When asked what he enjoys most about his job, Fletcher’s answer came quickly: “Getting to see students.”

He travels across Kentucky, visiting schools and hearing stories that remind him of why he entered education in the first place.

“I get to talk about the tiny house project, just like the one that is here,” he said. “People in central and northern Kentucky will be like, ‘What?’ So I tell them what the tiny house is like, how much it is to build and what it is auctioned for, and they’re like, ‘Wow, we need to do that here.’”

He told the story of a Barren County student born with one hand.

“The STEM class there 3-D printed a prosthetic hand for a fourth grader,” Fletcher said. “It kind of looks like Iron Man, but this kid thinks it’s the coolest thing ever. He has a little computer on the side and he flexes his wrist and it will close and he can grip things. He flexes his wrist the other way and it will open up.”

Fletcher followed with another story from Hopkins County, where students framed a 40-foot freight box as a medical office.

“Before they started framing it, they put Bible verses on the walls—and I got to put my verse in there,” he said. “They framed it and made it into a medical office. That medical office is now sitting in Liberia. If you know about Liberia, it is torn by civil war, so it doesn’t have good infrastructure.”

That project, he said, became the only medical office in a rural Liberian community, “built by a group of high school students in Kentucky.”

Faith, family, foundations

When asked if it is difficult to express his faith in such a public position, Fletcher answered.

“No,” he said. “As a matter of fact I was in Oldham County and students asked if I’ve been a Christian. I told them about when I became a Christian; it was when I first started teaching in Williamstown. I decided there was no way I could handle kids without the Lord’s help.”

He said that throughout his career, people have often asked him to pray with them.

Students also wanted to know about his high-school days.

“I did play baseball,” Fletcher said. “I was a catcher and pitcher. I could play doubleheaders and catch the first game and pitch the second game.” He laughed, “I always won those games. I made the East-West All-Stars when I was a senior, played on the All-Stars team.”

But his real pride, he said, was in academics.

“I was the captain of the academic team, actually found my wife on the academic team,” he said, grinning. “So there were some added benefits there.”

Fletcher shared that he and his wife, Melissa, raised three children.

“Some of you probably know my son Eli Fletcher. He’s at Transy, playing baseball there,” he said. “Jacob is with the Lord now. He passed away in February 2022. He was a welder and was a phenomenal welder, worked for a company named Ruggles that is responsible for every Nike sign on every outlet mall. So he has Converse signs, Nike signs. He came home one day and said, ‘Dad, I did a Victoria’s Secret sign today. Don’t tell Mom.’ I said, ‘Do you have pictures?’ He said, ‘I’m going to tell Mom.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, I’m just kidding.’ He has signs in 30 states and two in Europe, and I have the addresses. It’s going to make a great field trip someday.”

Fletcher’s oldest child is in medical school at the University of Kentucky.

“She is doing a rural health program where she does two years at UK and two years at Morehead,” he said. “She’s in her third year.”

He said his wife, Dr. Melissa Fletcher, was once chief resident at the University of Kentucky and is now an assistant professor seeing patients “not 4 miles from our house.”

“She probably saw some of you when you were little,” he told the students.

A message to the next generation

After several students gave short presentations, Fletcher closed his visit with a message that resonated deeply with the crowd.

“I came from the same holler, went to the same schools and had a lot of the same experiences,” he said. “And I want to thank you because while you folks went through and told me your interests and what your hearts want, I saw memories. I saw family, I saw people I was raised with in your eyes.”

He reminisced about local traditions.

“Just like volleyball. I was the principal at Warfield Elementary when we started volleyball. We had 90 girls the very first time,” Fletcher shared.

“There’s so much history here, so much pride. Wrestling, for example. I remember going to a state wrestling tournament and watching Sheldon Clark—Martin County—just dominate. And being on the academic team, no one wanted to play Sheldon Clark and I was proud to be on that team.”

His voice softened as he closed.

“I can look in your eyes and know who you are, your families, how you were raised—the good and not so good. But the victories that have come since, I’m proud of you,” said Fletcher. “It’s fun to see traditions carry on and people have pride in a small community. You guys probably hear it all the time: ‘I can’t wait to leave.’ But you will be thankful for each day you get to come back.”