Kentucky’s top education official praised the quick and compassionate response of staff at Jennings Creek Elementary School, in particular Principal Jamie Woosley, to families devastated by December’s deadly tornado outbreak.

Education Commissioner Jason Glass wrote in a recent op-ed that Woosley and school staffers were among the first responders knocking on doors immediately after a twister swept through Bowling Green’s Creekwood neighborhood on Dec. 11.

“Right after the tornadoes passed through Bowling Green and Warren County, Principal Jamie Woosley of Jennings Creek Elementary School was on a bus going through neighborhoods, knocking on doors and encouraging families to get on so they would be warm and dry at the shelter that was set up at the school,” Glass wrote, noting that “classrooms were turned into a day care by the teachers and staff so parents could focus on getting back on their feet or going back to work.”

Glass also praised school leaders and staff in Dawson Springs, Graves County, Hopkins County and Taylor County for their efforts, among others throughout the state.

“Everybody’s favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers, said when he was young and saw something that scared him, his mother would tell him to look for the helpers. In the days since tornadoes left a wide swath of death and destruction in western Kentucky, I have heard about so many of the people who work in our public schools who volunteered to be one of those helpers,” Glass wrote in his op-ed.

“Schools really are at the heart of their communities,” Glass wrote.

He also included a comment from Warren County Public Schools Superintendent Rob Clayton: “I don’t know any other entity can say they played a role in every aspect (of the state of emergency) – food, shelter, storing supplies, distribution of supplies, search and rescue. Much of the work that happened wasn’t instructed, certainly not by my office. People just stepped up, knowing they had the support.”