Local teacher recognized by the governor for clean up efforts

MUHLENBERG COUNTY, Ky. – The governor recognized the efforts of one high school teacher this week in his State of the Commonwealth address.

As Andy Beshear enters into his second term as the governor of Kentucky, on Wednesday, Beshear spoke on many things, but also recognized Matthew Oates, a high school teacher in Muhlenberg County. Both Oates and his wife have been working multiple jobs over the past couple of years to support both themselves and their college age children, a story that can be related to by many people, especially educators.

Oates told News 40 how it all started, with he and his father just wanting to help out. The pair took the family farm dump truck, along with some chainsaws, out to severely damaged Bremen, Kentucky. With Oates’ dump truck being smaller than many others that were on scene during that time, he was being sent to places where it would benefit efforts to have a smaller truck. While in transit, Oates came across Beshear, who walked up to his truck and had a small conversation with him.

Oates said Beshear asked him what he did for a living, and when Oates told the governor that he was a teacher, it took him by surprise. Oates said the governor promised that the state would do all it could to rebuild the county and help some of those out there who lost everything.

Fastforward to 2 weeks ago, Beshear’s office reached out to Oates about coming to Frankfort for the address, and the rest is history. Oates said while it has been quite the experience, and he has been humbled to be recognized, he doesn’t feel deserving whatsoever. Oates told News 40 that there were many other people out there helping who did so much more than he did. Through all the supporters and “haters” that have commented on the turn of events, he doesn’t take pride in anything, because to him, he was just doing what he felt was right.

When asked how he has been handling the whole thing, the teacher said “honestly I don’t know how to handle it because I don’t feel like I really did anything… In a couple of weeks, something else will happen and it’ll blow over. But while I don’t agree with everything Beshear does, I really believe that he is moving to make a better Kentucky and I know that he cares about Kentucky public education.”