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Harlan County Public Schools Superintendent Brent Roark recently made the decision to retire, bringing an end to a lengthy education career spent entirely in the Harlan County Public Schools.

Roark graduated from James A. Cawood High School in 1989, then received a degree in education from Eastern Kentucky University, eventually returning to EKU for his principal and superintendent education requirements.

Roark looked back on his career during a recent interview.

“I taught the first year at Cumberland,” Roark said. “Then I taught six years at Loyall, two years at Hall, and then moved into the district office. I started out in Title I, eventually moving to Federal Programs Director, then Professional Development Coordinator, then Extended School Services.”

Roark held the position of Assistant Superintendent before becoming Superintendent 8 years ago, capping off a 32-year career at Harlan County Schools.

“I love Harlan County Schools,” Roark said. “That’s where my mother taught, my father taught, and my aunt taught. It’s where my sister and I went to school. I started out at Black Star Elementary, went there for six years then on to Wallins and James A. Cawood. I owe Harlan County Schools a huge debt of gratitude because they have provided for me and my family my entire life.”

According to Roark, the most impactful event during his time as superintendent was the COVID 19 pandemic, which led to multiple challenges for all school systems.

“That threw everybody in the entire world into a tailspin and changed the way we do business,” Roark said. “The introduction of virtual curriculum and that sort of thing changed a lot of stuff.”

COVID 19 also brought ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding to schools, which caused some issues for many school districts across the country. However, Harlan County Schools did not experience any of the pitfalls other districts have reported.

“As a district, we’d always kept the purse strings pretty tight, we’re not a wealthy district, obviously,” Roark said. “The ESSER money came in and gave us the opportunity to make a lot of upgrades and improvements and also position our district in a better financial situation, because we used the ESSER money to do long term improvements instead of investing in personnel which is an ongoing expense. We put it into one-time investments such as buses, HVAC, roofs, things that would pay a dividend back to the district down the line.”

Roark explained using the ESSER money in this way avoided the issues experienced by other districts across the nation.

“When those funds came out, it was very clear the final date for those expenditures was Sept. 2024,” Roark said. “So, when the funds came out as soon as they came out, I knew we had a deadline to spend it.”

Roark explained the funds had to be used carefully to make sure the funds were spent by the deadline.

“Some other (districts) were aware of the deadline, but they got caught in projects like HVAC and they couldn’t get the units in, and it pushed them past that September deadline,” Roark said.

Roark was asked what the biggest challenge has been he’s faced overall other than COVID 19.

“The biggest overarching challenge for Harlan County Schools and for me as superintendent has been keeping kids in school,” Roark said. “It’s a constant…through the winter, people think about needing to close schools for snow and ice, hazardous conditions, that kind of thing. But, ever since I’ve taken this position, there has been a push from some parents where anything that comes up – from wildfires and smoke to the flu, anything you can come up with, they want us to close schools.”

A solar eclipse brought about several calls to cancel school.

“I had multiple calls from parents saying they wouldn’t send their kids to school because they were afraid they were going to go blind looking at the eclipse,” Roark said. “We’ve had two eclipses since I’ve been superintendent, and our attendance was horrible those days.”

Roark has overseen many improvements to the district’s facilities.

“We’ve built a new fieldhouse at Harlan County High School,” Roark said. “The Wallins project was an absolute blessing. In the middle of COVID, we did a demolition, a renovation, and an addition and were able to maintain continuity of services to the community and schools the whole time. We did a $7.5 million HVAC project with ESSER money, but before that we did a guaranteed energy savings contract and put new HVAC in Evarts and Cumberland, which was much needed.”

Roark mentioned the district’s buildings were also outfitted with all new light fixtures and restroom equipment. Many structures received new roofs, and the heating and cooling system at Harlan County High School has been upgraded.

Roark noted he is very happy with the direction Harlan County Schools is headed academically.

“We were moving in a very good direction with academics until COVID hit,” Roark said. “The state testing was moving in a very positive direction. When COVID hit, we stopped testing. All schools did.”

Roark pointed out when testing returned in 2023, the results were not satisfactory.

“Our scores were not where they should be,” Roark said. “We were slow about coming back, we held on to the virtual. We were slow about getting kids back in school. I wasn’t pleased with our results that year.”

Since then, there has been a large improvement in test scores.

“Last year and this year, I couldn’t be happier,” Roark said. “Our elementary overall district scores were in the top 25 in the state. Our middle schools were in the top 25 in the state. The high school was in around the 50th percentile in the state. We’re moving in a very, very good direction.”

The district has also added a number of academic programs during Roark’s time as superintendent.

“One of the things I’m really proud of is the programs we’ve put in recently at Harlan County High School,” Roark said. “Project ‘Lead the Way’ is absolutely awesome. We’re turning out engineering students into the University of Kentucky and LMU. We have four students this year to receive full engineering scholarships. That’s full tuition, room and board at the University of Kentucky. I couldn’t be happier about that.”

Roark added high level courses including calculus, physics and higher-level math classes are now performing well.

“Some of the higher end classes that we let slip by the wayside because of low numbers, we’ve been able to bring back in the last few years,” Roark said.

Additional offerings Roark mentioned include a solar car program, a pre-engineering program, agricultural programs and more.

“I’m really proud of the direction we’re going,” Roark said.

Looking back on his 32-year career, Roark says possibly the biggest overall change in education has been the introduction of computer technology.

“When I first started, we didn’t use computers,” Roark said. “32 years ago, I kept my student’s grades in a grade book. We kept our grades on paper; we tracked attendance on paper sheets. A few years later, we began using computers for basic applications. The teacher had one, but the kids didn’t.”

Roark explained that currently all the students have a computer for schoolwork.

“The kids all have a Chromebook,” Roark said. “We’ve got way more Chromebooks and computers than we have kids now.”

Even the once universal chalkboard has disappeared from most classrooms.

“I started out using a chalkboard,” Roark said. “Moved to a dry erase board, and by the time I was finishing teaching they were introducing interactive white boards. All the teachers have those now.”

Roark mentioned there have also been large upgrades in the district’s cafeterias, kitchens, and maintenance capabilities. The district’s school bus fleet is also in good shape, with no bus being older than a 2017 model.

Roark emphasized he has been lucky to work with excellent school board members.

“Over the 8 years of being superintendent, I’ve worked with 10 different (Harlan County Board of Education) board members,” Roark said. “The one thing that makes the superintendent’s tenure very short at a lot of districts is the inability to get along with board members and board members wanting to faction off and have their own agendas. I’ve had 10 different board members that I’ve worked with. My board members have been nothing short of incredible. What’s made us stronger as a district is…I’ve not had a single one board member who didn’t have the district as a whole as their top priority…They all wanted to see Harlan County Schools prosper and grow, and that’s where I’ve been fortunate.”

Roark credits the board’s ability to work as a cohesive unit as a large part of the reasons for the district’s success.

Roark’s last day as superintendent of Harlan County Schools will be June 30.

“I don’t have another job lined up, but I’m going to seek something to do,” Roark said.