SE Kentucky News

There were 303 eighth grade students enrolled in Letcher County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 22.2% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Fleming Neon Middle School welcomed most of the eighth grade students in the county, registering 78 students.

Within Letcher County schools, the highest student population was found in eighth grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in preschool.

Statewide, Letcher County ranked 54th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 54th the year before.

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	# of 8th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Fleming Neon Middle School	78	43.8%	178
Whitesburg Middle School	61	34.5%	177
Jenkins Independent School	58	10.6%	547
Letcher Elementary & Middle School	58	14.9%	390
Cowan Elementary School	33	11.5%	286
Arlie Boggs Elementary School	9	6.8%	133
Letcher County Alternative Education Center	6	19.4%	31