James Golden, the chairman of the Pineville Independent Board of Education, sent out the following statement after last week’s release of KSA scores showed Pineville had the second highest rated high school in the state of Kentucky:

At Pineville Independent we know that the single most important factor in student achievement is the quality of the individual teacher in the classroom.  It is our fundamental credo that every hiring decision is critical and so we always strive to choose the very best available candidate, regardless of kinship or friendship.  Our students and their parents deserve that much.

Eight years ago our board took a leap of faith by hiring a very young Russell Thompson as superintendent, passing over numerous more experienced applicants.  We saw in Russell the embodiment of our philosophy combined with the motivation and enthusiasm to bring our school to a higher level.  Over the years he has worked hard to assemble a team that would create a culture of uncompromising high standards and accountability, leading to student success.  In his first year he hired Catrina McDermott as high school principal.  She is an outstanding leader and has been the driving force that brought the test results we celebrate today.

Pineville is now enjoying success on many fronts thanks to Thompson’s leadership.  These include many facility upgrades — two fully functional gymnasiums located on site — more parking and new track, football and cross country facilities.  In the near future we will be adding a first class pre-school facility.  Our student academic teams and high school girl’s basketball and softball teams are succeeding at unprecedented levels.

This achievement is a testament to hard work and dedication of all of the teachers and administrators at Pineville Independent School District.   We very much appreciate the parents and students who choose Pineville and the community support which has made these successes possible.

— James Golden, Chairman

Pineville Independent Board of Education