Murray City Schools
A Tradition of Excellence, Every Students, Every Day

The Murray Independent School System proudly proclaims "a tradition of excellence, every student, every day" extending back 131 years. The school district has been recognized repeatedly through the years for academic excellence and for its positive learning environment. Dale Reid is especially proud of the schools' accomplishments. "As the superintendent, I can attest to the hard-working teachers and parents who help us in meeting our goals," says Reid.

Recently, the Murray School System changed the mission statement to simply state, "a tradition of excellence, every student, every day."

"I believe the mission statement, for all the schools, reflects the focus and commitment on the part of our staff to ensure that our students have a successful experience here," Reid asserts.

With only three schools (Murray Elementary, Murray Middle and Murray High School), the Murray School System is a small one, a fact which contributes immeasurably to the education it is able to provide. All schools in the Murray Independent School District are fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Each school has an active parent-teacher organization, as well as booster clubs for band and athletics and an active school-business partnership program. "Parents and other volunteers are a very important part of this school system," says Reid. "We have the highest number of volunteer hours by parents of any district in the state." More than a thousand parents and community members contribute their time, energies and talents as volunteers every year.

Scores Murray students received on the 2003 CTBS, a national measure of student achievement, and CATS, Kentucky's own accountability and testing system, have placed Murray Independent among the top districts in the state of Kentucky; SAT and ACT scores have exceeded Kentucky and national averages for decades. "This year we ranked seventh in the state in CATS testing," says Reid. About 85 percent of Murray's graduates choose to continue their education every year. In recent years, the senior class has averaged more than $700,000 in grants and scholarship offers. Individuals have consistently won honors for their performances in academic, talent and athletic competitions. In the last 10 years, Murray students have won state championships in track, golf, theater, speech, foreign language and chess; they have also won national championships in speech, foreign language and chess.

Murray offers its students an extensive choice of extracurricular activities, including 11 sports sanctioned by the Kentucky Athletic Association.

The Murray school system operates a Head Start program that serves children and families in 11 school districts in eight western Kentucky counties. Three Head Start preschool centers serve the Murray community. The Murray Head Start program has been recognized by the federal government as a model program.

One of the big focuses this year has been on the improvement and renovation of the facilities. "The Murray Board of Education is committed to preserving the academic standards that we have set forth, and the Board is looking to the future and growth of our district, which is why we are focusing on facilities," states Reid. "We have a big initiative with facility planning, and the biggest project we are beginning is the renovation and expansion to the middle school."

The Murray Middle School will be renovated to restore the historic nature of the building and will also be expanding to add a new cafeteria, a new media center and 12 new fourth and fifth grade classrooms. "This project will be about a 27-month project, but we are committed to keeping the community involved and plan to design the building so it can be used by the community as well," says Reid.

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