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Superintendent's Message

 
JimMasters

 

Let me begin by telling you how excited I am for the opportunity to lead Henry County Public Schools as its superintendent. I have such fond memories of serving as the principal of Henry County High School. The school system is a source of pride for the community; it has great staff members, great students and great people in general here. You cannot find a better community than Henry County.

During my time as an administrator, I can point to many successes like improved state test scores, growth in ACT scores, decreased discipline referrals, better communication and collaboration among parents, students and staff, and higher job satisfaction ratings from teachers. Those successes can be attributed not only to hard work done in the classroom, but also to relationship-building.

I bring the experience of continually improving schools, and that’s only possible through forming great relationship and building trust. A strong leader has the ability to listen to the needs and wants of others and bring people together for a common cause.

Student success can only happen when open, honest, positive relationships form among students, teachers, parents and the community. These relationships, and the trust that comes with them, will develop only when a leader truly understands that he is a servant to all stakeholders and leads through respect and relationships as compared to position and rights.

My first priority is to start building those relationships and establishing trust so that we can come together for a common cause, which is to improve student learning. I want Henry County to be a great place to work and a great place to learn, and a true source of pride for our community.

Please feel free to contact me by phone at 502-845-8600 or by email at jim.masters@henry.kyschools.us. And if you see me at a ballgame or picking up lunch somewhere out in the community, please introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting you and working with you!

-- Dr. Jim Masters

Experience

  • Director of K-12 Curriculum and Instruction for Franklin County, 2012-2021
  • Principal of Henry County High School, 2008-2012
  • Highly Skilled Educator, Kentucky Department of Education
  • Assistant Principal, Georgetown Middle School
  • Social Studies Teacher and Basketball Coach at Second Street Middle School, Danville High School, Tates Creek High School and Western Hills High School

Education

  • Bachelor’s degree in History and Philosophy from the University of Kentucky
  • Bachelor’s degree in Education from Kentucky State University,
  • Master’s degree in Education Instructional Leadership from Eastern Kentucky University
  • Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Morehead State University

Successes while Principal at HCHS

  • Improved every single testing area for the first time since KDE started testing statewide going from the bottom 12 schools to 138 out of 236. School went from needs assistance to proficient. 
  • Math from 2002-2009 was 24.9% and in two years went to 34.8% average and the following year surpassed the state average.  
  • Reading from 2002-2009 was 37.6% and in two years went to 61% of students reaching proficiency.  
  • All other tested areas also improved by 10% or more.
  • 94% approval reflected in TELL survey in which 100% of staff responded.
  • Changed curriculum/course offerings to better match student needs
  • Tracking seniors making benchmark on EPAS from their freshmen year –they improved in each content area:  English Explore (51%) to ACT (59%); Math Explore (25%) to ACT(43%); Reading Explore (27%) to ACT (52%).
  • Re-vamped every SBDM policy following KASC guidelines to better support student learning.
  • A full composite score point growth on the ACT going from 17.4 to 18.7 the highest composite score the school had ever achieved.  Went above the state in English and reading for the first time and came within .1 of science.  Improved in every testing category and beat the growth average of the state.  Also improved with proficiency. percentage going from 46% to 51% in English, from 23% to 36% in Reading, from 13% to 15% in Science, and improved the percentage of students meeting all benchmarks by surpassing the state average.
  • Discipline referrals dropped by over 50% .
  • Provided a tool for collaboration among parents, students and staff – each child/parent knew his/her goal after high school, what he/she had to have to achieve it, where he/she was currently academically speaking and what was needed to improve.