Education commissioner highlights literacy, summer meals during Metcalfe County visit
METCALFE COUNTY, Ky. — Kentucky Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher visited Metcalfe Elementary School on Tuesday, reading to students and highlighting summer programs designed to keep children learning and fed while school is out.
The visit focused on Metcalfe County Schools’ participation in the state’s Summer Boost: Reading and Mathematics Program, as well as the district’s summer feeding initiative, which is expected to serve more than 900 children across the county this summer.
Fletcher spent part of the morning reading to students enrolled in the district’s federally funded 21st Century Summer Program before answering questions from children about his job, favorite books and education in Kentucky.
“It’s the foundational skill,” Fletcher said of reading. “You have to have great readers before you can be successful moving forward.”
The Summer Boost program is a partnership between the Kentucky Department of Education and the Summer Food Service Program. Thirty-five sites in 34 school districts across Kentucky were selected to participate in 2026, including Metcalfe County.
The initiative encourages students to continue reading and practicing math during summer break by providing free books and digital math resources. Participating districts receive approximately 1,000 books to distribute through meal sites and summer programs.
Fletcher said literacy remains a major focus statewide and pointed to recent academic gains across Kentucky.
According to Fletcher, a study involving Dartmouth, Harvard and Stanford universities found Kentucky ranked fifth among participating states for reading growth between 2022 and 2025 and eighth in mathematics growth during the same period.
Local leaders say programs like Summer Boost are especially valuable because they address both academic and basic needs.
“We’ve got an opportunity to keep people fed, to make sure that they have nutrition and are taken care of in the summer when we don’t typically get to see everybody,” said Metcalfe County Schools Superintendent Josh Hurt.
The district served more than 800 children through its summer feeding program on Monday and expects that number to surpass 900 children during upcoming distribution dates.
The program is open to all children ages 1 through 18 who live in Metcalfe County, regardless of where they attend school or their family’s income level.
Families can receive seven days’ worth of breakfast and lunch items during weekly pickup events held each Monday through July 27 at Metcalfe County Middle School. Additional meal services are also available through summer programs and select school sites.
Hurt said summer and after-school programs help prevent learning loss while giving educators more opportunities to work with students.
“I think those programs are so essential,” Hurt said. “The opportunity to stay after school or work in the summer gives them a little special attention. It also keeps the learning going.”
Fletcher said one of the highlights of the visit was interacting directly with students.
“The students were phenomenal,” Fletcher said. “They had some great questions. To me, it’s always the students.”
Metcalfe County Schools also partners with the Metcalfe County Public Library as a summer feeding site and reported serving more than 107,000 meals during last year’s summer program.
