By Heath Grimes / Russellville City Schools Superitendent

In the midst of the holiday season that is full of such joy, generosity and goodwill, I can’t help but think of how these things are on full display, not just during the holidays but year-round, in our community and in our schools.

For those of you who have been part of this community for many years, the level of generosity and community spirit in the City of Russellville might seem like the norm – but as someone who isn’t from here and has had the unique opportunity to see this community camaraderie from the outside looking in, let me just say that we are truly blessed at RCS. Not every school has such a great support system the way we do.

Just during the last few months, I have been truly amazed at the many different forms of support our students, faculty and schools have received.

We have wonderful parental involvement in this system, and I truly believe this is a major factor in student success and high teacher morale. It is encouraging as an educator to know the parents of your students are involved in this process and care about what is happening inside the classroom. But our parents have gone beyond this and have also shown their appreciation and encouragement through special events and direct teacher support, and that has been a great thing to see.

I believe our educators are some of the very best in the state, and it is encouraging to me to see this community appreciating that fact. They work so hard day in and day out for their students, and I am thankful there are many parents and community members who recognize this and choose to show their appreciation in such thoughtful ways.

I have also been thankful for the generous support I’ve seen this past fall for our students and the many activities and events they are involved in.

Our student athletes who participated in fall sports worked very hard this year and showcased their talent, determination, hard work and strong character. Our fine arts students also showcased the high caliber of talent we have here at RCS through their amazing performances, and our elementary students wowed the community with several public performances for special events.

Throughout all of these events, we had great support and participation from our community. I very much appreciate this support of our students and the hard work and effort they put forth in the events and activities they have, not to mention all the community support that makes all of our various student fundraisers successful each year.

This community has been so very good to the Russellville City School System, and I just want each of you to know that your generosity and continued support does not go unnoticed. In fact, it is vital to the success of our system! In this season of giving and thankfulness, I wanted to make sure to express my appreciation and thank you for being great community partners and continuing to invest in our city’s future by investing in our students.

There is so much more taking place in our system, and we would love for each of you to know about our events, activities and successes so that you can be part of those things, too. If you want to keep up with what’s going on at RCS on a daily basis, make sure to follow our district Twitter (@RussellvilleK12) and Facebook accounts as well as the Twitter (@Russellville_HS, @RussellvilleMS, @ResElem, @Westatrcs) and Facebook accounts for each of our four schools.

As always, it’s great to be a Golden Tiger!