Martin County has spent many years climbing toward the school facilities its children deserve. On Monday, that climb reached another high place.
The groundbreaking for the new Martin County Elementary School on Hollybush Road was a public statement that the community still believes in itself and its children. It showed that the community understands that public education is the foundation on which every better future must be begin.
This project did not come easily. Nothing of this size ever does in a small, rural county. It took local commitment, state support and persistence from the school district to move the school from drawings and budgets to a real construction site in Inez.
Board member Kathleen Price captured the scale of the work best: “We didn’t just move one mountain to build a school. We moved two mountains to build two schools.”
Those words are true in every sense. Martin County literally moved mountains to create a modern school campus. But the county has also moved the heavier mountains of limited resources and low expectations. It has done so for the same reason communities have always built schools: because children deserve a place that tells them they are worth the investment.
The new elementary school will sit beside Martin County High School, creating a campus that will serve a large share of the county’s students for decades. Superintendent Larry James said about a third of Martin County’s students will be on that site when the school opens. Once athletic fields are in place, he said, children will be set up for the next 50 years.
That is the kind of long view Martin County needs.
This is also a moment to celebrate public education without apology. Board chairman Mickey McCoy said it plainly Monday: “Public schools all the way.”
In a time when public schools are a political target, Martin County is putting its faith in the schools that serve all children.
The new school will not solve every challenge Martin County faces. No building can do that. A school is only as strong as the teachers, staff, students, families and community that fill it. But a modern, safe, well-equipped building gives all of them a better chance. It sends a message to students that they matter. It sends a message to teachers that their work is valued. And it sends a message to families, employers and the rest of Kentucky that Martin County is building.
Martin County moved two mountains.