By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times

Carter County Schools Superintendent Dr. Paul Green has now left the role he has held since October of 2021. Green announced his retirement at a special meeting on July 1, beginning the search for a replacement. While that process is still ongoing, the Carter County School Board welcomed interim superintendent Dr. Jennifer Fraley at its regular July meeting on Monday evening. Dr. Fraley takes over from Green, and will serve as superintendent through the process of hiring a permanent superintendent.

The vacant position was posted on both the KDE and KSBA sites on July 8 of this year, and a search committee will be finalized by July 30. The application process for the position is set to close on August 15, and the second screening of applicants is expected to be complete by August 25. Candidate interviews are expected to take place around September 18, and a new superintendent is expected to be named around September 25.

Carter County Schools Police Chief R.D. Porter spoke to the board of education about two new positions in the school police department and told the board that the two positions were filled by Eric Caudill and Shannon Salley.

“I have spent most of the spring and summer (collecting) any free money that I could get,” Chief Porter told the board. “We have completed the School Violence Protection Program Grant – that was $430,000 – and we have a letter of endorsement for that. It has been sent in and is under review now.”

Porter said he had also applied for a grant of $125,000 for the cost of hiring an additional officer, and had a letter of endorsement for that as well from Representative Hal Rogers. Porter said the chances of being approved for both grants were good.

But, he said, a third officer had already been approved and funded by fiscal court.

“We hired a third officer this year,” Chief Porter told the board. “I approached the Carter County Fiscal Court,” he said, explaining that the fiscal court had contracted for an officer using opioid abatement funds, and agreed to fund another officer.

"We entered into a new contract, and they are giving us two DARE officers,” Porter said.

Given this, Porter said that he would be able to place one officer on the East Side and the other on the West Side.

Porter said he also went through Operation Unite and was able to secure other benefits for the county school. One benefit was the purchase of a Ford Explorer Dare vehicle.

“They also helped us fund another position,” Porter told the board. “That is our Public Relations and K9 Officer.”

After being introduced to the board, Officer ‘Leo’ was sworn in by Interim Superintendent Dr. Fraley.

The board also received architectural and design updates concerning the progress of the new school, and everything was reported as being on schedule. Instructional Supervisor Nellie Wright updated the board on the Camp Carter Program.

“We had a great turnout this year,” Wright told the board. “We had 95 students during week one at Prichard Elementary. And we had 75 students during week two in Olive Hill.”

“Our week one theme was Adventures Above and our students were able to hear from guest speakers from Fish and Wildlife. And they were able to attend a show at Star Theater in Morehead and a movie at Camp Landing. Our week two theme was Adventures Below, and they also had speakers from Fish and Wildlife, and they visited Carter Caves where they were able to tour Cascade Cave.”

Wright said that these activities were in addition to other fun activities such as students being able to create model wildlife habitats.

Additional reporting by Jeremy D. Wells, editor, Carter County Times

Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com

Carter County Schools

2025 Opening Day - Carter County Together!

Career and Technical Teacher of the Year - Kenneth Brammell

School board welcomes new staff