Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Clark County community was shocked and saddened Tuesday morning when 15-year old McKenna Letcher, a student at George Rogers Clark High School, was killed in a traffic accident involving a school bus. 

Surrounded by others, Clark County Public Schools Superintendent Dustin Howard addressed the press and more at a 12:00 p.m. press conference on Wednesday, September 4. 

“We are hurting. We are heartbroken. We are managing the loss of a 15-year-old girl, trying to support her family, trying to support our staff, our students, [and] the entirety of our community”, he said. “It is not supposed to be this way, but here we are.” 

Sitting with Howard were Clark County Board of Education members Ashley Ritchie and Dora Hall, Clark County Coroner Neal Oliver, and Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue – whose office is working with CCPS to handle the investigation. 

While acknowledging that there were limitations currently on what information could be released to the public, as the investigation is ongoing, Howard noted that strategic interventions by CCPS took place immediately following the accident. 

This included transferring students from one bus to another, having counselors meet with students who were present when the accident occurred, reaching out to the family of Letcher as well as the bus driver, and more. 

“From there, we’ve also provided support [and] grief counselors. Our ministerial association has done a wonderful job of stepping up,” he said. “We’ve had volunteers. We’ve had the entirety of the state of Kentucky frankly reach out.I just wanted to say thank you for the support.” 

Robbie Fletcher, Commissioner of Education for the Kentucky Department of Education, drove from Frankfort to provide support as well. 

Howard was asked how others could provide support from within the community. 

“My direction is simple. I need folks to be a light. I said it [from] day one with our staff before this ever happened. We have to be a light in this time of darkness,” he said. “In a world [and] in a time that is very easy to be cynical and divisive, poke holes, [and] to put things on social media…I’m asking you not to do that for this family, for this school system, for our kids and our community. They deserve better, and we have to model that.” 

Reiterating that the situation is a heartbreaking tragedy, Howard spoke further. 

“For us to have the strength to get through this…we have to be in this together,” he stated. “Please make that the focus of this going forward because somebody is going to bury their 15-year-old daughter this week…we can spend [time] tearing each other down, or we can spend it lifting folks up in time of need. We don’t shove people down. We’re not taught that way…[what] we’ll lead our staff to do is support our fantastic and fine community as we move forward.”