SE Kentucky News

The majority of students in Perry County schools were white in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Of the 5,634 students attending Perry County schools, 94.6% were white. African American students were the second most represented ethnicity, making up 2%.

In the previous school year, white students were also the most common group in Perry County schools, representing 94.3% of the student body.

Hazard Middle School, Roy G. Eversole Elementary School, and West Perry Elementary School had the most diverse student body in the county, which included African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic or Latino, multiracial, and white.

In the 2022-23 school year, the total number of students enrolled in schools in the county increased by 8.7% compared to the previous year.

Despite escaping some of the pandemic's educational disruptions, Kentucky's achievement gaps have remained an issue since 2019. In the eighth-grade reading assessments, for example, Hispanic students scored eight points lower than their white peers, and the gap reached 15 points in math. Black students fared even worse, falling more than 20 points behind and facing a failure rate nearly double that of their white counterparts.

School	Most Prevalent	Percent of Total Student Body	Total Enrollment
West Perry Elementary School	White	96.7%	956
Perry County Central High School	White	97.4%	936
East Perry County Elementary School	White	95.9%	821
Robert W. Combs Elementary School	White	99%	489
Roy G. Eversole Elementary School	White	86.5%	475
Buckhorn School	White	95.5%	404
Hazard High School	White	85.6%	368
Robinson Elementary School	White	99%	297
Viper Elementary School	White	95.3%	296
Hazard Middle School	White	84.6%	267
Leatherwood Elementary School	White	98.4%	191
Learning Academy	White	90.7%	108
Perry County Alternative School	White	92.3%	26