After four years of leading the Trigg County School System, Bill Thorpe is returning home to head the Marshall County School District.
Thorpe was named the Marshall County Superintendent during a special-called board meeting Tuesday afternoon in Draffenville and informed the Trigg County staff of his decision to take the job.
Thorpe taught for seven years in Livingston, McCracken, and Marshall counties. After eight years in the private sector, he returned to education in 2007.
He was the Marshall County director of pupil personnel for five years before being named the superintendent of the Trigg County School System in 2020.
He immediately went to work guiding the school system through state and local health guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic that closed the school to in-person instruction that spring.
Once school re-opened in 2021, Lyon County Schools Superintendent Russ Tilford told the Trigg school board about the values Thorpe brought to the job just over a year in.
click to download audioOne of the highlights of Thorpe’s tenure was the construction of the new indoor sports facility, Perdue Field upgrades, and the complete overhaul of the school’s 50-year-old vocational building that is still being transformed into the Career and Technical Education building and the new home for Trigg Tots. The latter was paid for by a $10 million grant from the state and is expected to open this fall.
Last July, the Trigg County School Board gave Thorpe an evaluation rank of “exemplary” for his efforts in the previous year. At that meeting, School Board Chair Jo Alyce Harper called his leadership “active and engaged.”
click to download audioLast year, the school system announced the average ACT composite score for Trigg County was a 19.8 median, more than a point higher than the state’s 17.8 median in 2022-23.
When the Kentucky Department of Education’s annual Summative Assessment was released last year, Trigg County Intermediate School earned a yellow designation and was no longer labeled as a targeted support and improvement school for special needs.
Trigg County Middle School just missed a yellow designation by seven-tenths of a point and eighth graders in 2022-23 moved from 9.6% proficient and distinguished in math as sixth graders, to 42.6% proficient and distinguished just before high school.
Trigg County High School saw an increase in combined science/social studies/writing scores, post-secondary readiness, and graduation percentage.
Thorpe will begin his role at Marshall County on July 1 and replaces Dr. Steve Miracle, whose contract was not renewed in February after less than three years as superintendent.
Trigg County will begin the search for its next superintendent with a replacement expected before Thorpe’s resignation becomes official.