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'Save Our Schools' | Thomas Nelson High School community protests school board decision

Students and staff walked out Wednesday morning after a vote by the Nelson County School Board to move forward with a controversial merger.

NELSON COUNTY, Ky. — Dozens of students and staff walked out of class Wednesday morning in Nelson County, protesting a controversial decision by the school board. 

The group was seen on the side of Highway 245, chanting and rallying support. A video obtained by WHAS11 shows many vehicles honking their horns as they drove past the group.

Students and staff are demanding the district listen to them. Many held signs Wednesday morning and chanted “Thomas Nelson” outside of the building.

Credit: Leigh Pascual
Thomas Nelson High School students protest merging the county's two high schools into one. | Oct. 18, 2023

Angelina Vanpelt, a freshman at the school, said student voices are important. 

"We're the ones who have to sit through the education and deal with the fighting and all that," she said, speculating there could be friction between the two student bodies.

Another protesting student, Gracie Adams, transferred to Thomas Nelson High from Nelson County High. She expressed worry about how much individual opportunity students would have under a merger. 

"Our clubs are gonna get larger, so it’s gonna decrease our opportunities and our voice, in a way, because a big part of clubs is being able to represent yourself," Adams said.

The protest comes after a decision Tuesday night by the Nelson County School Board. The board voted 3-2 to continue on with a plan to merge the county’s two high schools - Thomas Nelson High School and Nelson County High School. 

Credit: Provided by Cassandra Greer

Superintendent Wes Bradley's proposed plan, the Connected Campus Plan, was presented after being requested by the school board during last month's meeting. The latest plan would move Thomas Nelson students into the Nelson County building. 

The move would close the 10-year-old Thomas Nelson High School, one of the district’s newest school buildings.  

Following Tuesday's board meeting, Damon Jackey, who represents District 5, announced his resignation from the board, citing the problems faced during the months-long discussion of the proposed merger.

"I’m concerned because I’m already hearing of staff saying, 'this is not where I want to continue my career.’ And it’s not just a few, it’s a large number of staff,” he said during the student walkout. 

Hours later, the district announced school would be closed on Thursday due to staff shortages according to a letter sent in by several parents.

At a fiery board meeting in Januarydozens of parents, students, educators and alumni pushed back against a proposal to merge the two schools. Speakers cited culture concerns and class sizes throughout the meeting. 

"We cannot stand by and allow our students to be negatively affected by a completely unplanned, politically charged and back-handed decision,” a parent said to school board members in January of 2023. 

Kinzie Floyd, a sophomore at Thomas Nelson High School, said she would be forced to leave the district. 

"If you're going to put all of this above my education and my opportunities – to succeed as a person as well as other students - I can’t be a part of that for my future," she said during the January meeting. "I can’t be a part of that ethically and emotionally."

Credit: Stephanie Rice Johnson
Students from Thomas Nelson High School protest the school merge vote at October's school board meeting. | Oct. 17, 2023.

Only one person spoke in support of the merger, citing low academic performance at both schools, financial waste and more. 

"I don't feel like any of the questions we have asked have been honestly answered," Nicole Milburn, a parent of three students in the district, said in an interview with WHAS11 in 2021. 

The middle school in Milburn's town would close and she's concerned about what will happen to the building and the town left behind. 

"I feel like if this merger does go through, it is not only going to affect our children and what they're going to go through," she said. "It will also affect our entire community, our businesses. Bloomfield will become a ghost town."

WHAS11 will continue updating this story.  

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