The recent cold, snow, and ice created a lot of hardships for many, many people in Kentucky. But imagine if you were a school superintendent already dealing with the pandemic and then the storm led to you being without power for 10 days at your farm/home. That’s exactly what happened to Rockcastle County superintendent Carrie Ballinger. I noticed her predicament on social media but also was impressed with how she coped personally and professionally with her dilemma.
“The first evening (with no electricity) was great! My family started a fire in our fireplace and played cards in the candlelight without the distraction of cell phones, computers, or Google Meets but then it started getting cold,” said Ballinger. “We were lucky in that we had an alternative heat source and a generator, but even with that our house stayed around 52 degrees.
“We also lost water during this time, so that compounded the inconveniences. I spent a great portion of this time at the Rockcastle County Warming Center only coming home to sleep for a few hours each night, so my family endured way more than I did.”
Ballinger said her mother lived nearby and had electricity, so the family went there for hot showers.
“We live on a farm and raise Hereford cattle. It was a terribly hard week for the farming community. We lost several calves due to being born in the harsh conditions,” Ballinger said. “My daughter’s horse who was aging didn’t survive the cold temperatures. This was by far the worst part of the week for my family. Sometimes the lessons learned through farm life are hard.”
Her motto as superintendent this year has been “Rockcastle County Schools exist to educate, feed and support our students.” Ballinger said that motto made it easy to partner with county judge-executive Howell Holbrook and the Emergency Operation Center director David Coleson to open the Rockcastle Warming Center at the middle school.
“At the point of this decision, 75 percent of the county was without power. While my family had an alternative heat source and access to food so many others were not so fortunate. God calls us to love others and to be of service. The Warming Center was a blessing to the entire community and while the ice storm was a disaster for our community, I also witnessed great outreach and compassion,” Ballinger said.
“It served to renew my faith in humanity. Volunteers poured their hearts into service and showed great love to strangers who quickly became friends. The whole community rallied behind feeding and ensuring the safety of our friends and neighbors. We served 37 people that week at the Warming Center.
“On Friday evening when we loaded the last family into the Mount Vernon Fire Department truck to be returned to their home. I cried tears of thankfulness and gratitude. God richly blessed me that week.”
Ballinger said she stayed so busy she didn’t contemplate a lot about what was happening. She knew people in her county were “suffering, cold and hungry” and that her school system was in a position to assist and needed to act.
“As people began to arrive at the Warming Center they were in distress. Many hadn’t eaten and hadn’t properly received their medication and were exhausted from the stress they were experiencing,” Ballinger said. “Everything else that week got placed on the back burner and my team just focused on meeting the needs of our students, our families, and our community. The week served as a reminder to all of us how fragile life can be and how important it is to befriend and care for one another.”
Ballinger knew her county and its needs. She was Rockcastle’s director of student services and had 14 years of teaching and administrative experience when she became superintendent. She was even a board member for Rockcastle County Schools from 2013-2019 and has a wealth of community leadership experience.
She understands how difficult this year has been for everyone in education. She knows the school year has been far from perfect but believes the Rockcastle system has “done a fantastic job of adapting to the changes and of meeting the needs of our students” this school year thanks to the “flexibility and commitment that our entire staff has shown” including placing Chromebooks in the hands of each student.
“We had very few Chromebooks in our system prior to the pandemic so our teachers had to start completely from scratch learning how to teach remotely. They did not shy away from the challenge. When I reflect on the amount of professional growth and learning that our teachers have received since last March, I am astounded that a district could do so much in such a short time,” she said.
Ballinger also worried that students and their younger siblings would go without hot meals if schools were not open.
“Our food service staff, transportation staff, and our community partners worked together to design over 45 Community Feeding Sites throughout our entire county for families to come get a hot meal and breakfast for the following day. We used this as an opportunity to stay connected to our families; to talk to them and find out their needs and how we could better serve them,” Ballinger said.
Her staff has done countless home visits and welfare checks to make sure students’ academic and other needs were being met.
Ballinger seems to always be out and about in Rockcastle County and sharing positive experience/news about the school system on social media.
“I try to be in one school every day, but I don’t always succeed in meeting that goal. My heart is with kids and being in a classroom is my happy place. I want our teachers, principals, support staff, and entire district to know that I support them and that I am proud of their work and all the efforts that they put forth in educating our students,” Ballinger said.
“I always want our staff and our students to know that I am their biggest cheerleader and loudest supporter.”
That carries over to athletic events, too, because of her personal belief in extracurricular activities’ worth to students.
“I try to attend some type of sporting event at least once each week. As a former high school athlete, I am a huge proponent of students being involved in some type of extracurricular activity whether it be athletics, band, academic team, art club, or FFA,” she said.
“Extracurriculars and athletics breeds leaders. Participation in these activities teaches our students what it means to represent their community and serves to teach our students the value of persistence, patience, practice, teamwork, and cooperation.
