Reminder (Upcoming Event - TOMORROW): On Monday, October 5th, 2026, the Preston County Board of Education is hosting a work session beginning at 5:30 PM for students, parents, staff, and community members to discuss issues and concerns facing our schools, and how we can work together to improve our schools and district as a whole. Attendees will be permitted 3-5 minutes, depending on how many sign-in to speak at the work session. Questions regarding the scheduled work session can be directed to Brad Martin, Superintendent of Preston County Schools. (brrmarti@k12.wv.us)
Our monthly KES Local School Improvement Council (LSIC) & PTA Meeting Night is coming up, and we want YOU there!
Monday, October 5
KES Library
LSIC Meeting — 5:00 PM
PTA Meeting — 6:00 PM
We started this school year with incredible momentum, and we want to keep it going! When families, staff, and community members come together, we can make a real difference for our students.
✨ Attend. Get involved. Make a difference. ✨
Whether you’re a longtime member or joining us for the first time, your voice matters and your involvement matters!
We hope to see you Monday night in the KES Library!
Today, we’re giving a HUGE shout-out to the two people who help keep Kingwood Elementary clean, safe, welcoming, and running smoothly every single day!
Thank you, Mr. Cody and Ms. Lesa!
From cleaning up messes (and there are plenty of those! 😉) to lending a helping hand whenever and wherever it’s needed, you both do so much more than keep our building looking its best. You help create a place where our students and staff feel cared for—and you always manage to put a smile on our faces along the way!
Thank you for jumping in, pitching in, and taking care of KES in so many ways—often behind the scenes and without ever asking for recognition.
Kingwood Elementary simply could not function without you!
Help us show some love to Mr. Cody and Ms. Lesa today! We are so grateful for everything you do for our KES family!
Preston County Schools always appreciates the hard work and dedication of every member of our school community, but today we want to take a special moment to recognize our amazing custodial staff!
Our custodians work behind the scenes each day to help keep our schools clean, safe, welcoming, and ready for learning. From the early mornings to the late afternoons and nights, their hard work makes a difference for our students, staff, and families every single day.
To all of our Preston County Schools custodians: THANK YOU! 🧹✨ Your work matters, your dedication is appreciated, and you are an important part of what makes our schools great!
🎉 Happy School Custodian Appreciation Day — Friday, October 2nd, 2026! 🎉
We appreciate you and all that you do for Preston County Schools! 💙💛
Kingwood and Central Preston students who normally ride Bus #11-20 (Stephen Bolyard) will be delivered home late tonight (likely 45-60 minutes) due to a driver shortage. Students will be brought home via bus # 130 (Jim Wilson) or Bus # 78-17 (Cassandra Dobbins).
Just a reminder to parents. This was due Thursday. Your students device will not work at school tomorrow if the AUP hasn't been accepted. Please go to the link and fill out today. (From Monday, September 21st) - Reminder for parents to complete the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) prior to this weekend:
When your student brought home their contact information packet for verification for you to sign and return, there was also a QR code and a link to other policies that needed signed, including the AUP. If this wasn't completed, your student's device will no longer have access following Buckwheat. If you didn't complete, please go to the following link and complete before Thursday, the 24th.
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.cloud.microsoft%2Fr%2FQKqP4MsXb9&data=05%7C02%7Cjhough%40k12.wv.us%7C5bb60f238ce84c484d6108df14083dfc%7Ce019b04b330c467a8bae09fb17374d6a%7C0%7C0%7C639251697753411730%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tWkr%2FzVJ59jWlJmPqvNvgF8csp4rLf%2BNjY0QBjX3rzQ%3D&reserved=0
Happy West Virginia School Service Personnel Appreciation Day! 🎉
From keeping our schools clean and safe, to preparing meals, maintaining our buildings, driving our students, providing classroom support, and handling the countless behind-the-scenes details that make each school day possible—our school service personnel do it all!
Your dedication, hard work, kindness, and commitment make a difference in the lives of our students every single day. You may not always be the first people our students see in the morning or the last people they see before heading home, but your work is woven into every part of their school experience. ❤️
To our amazing Preston County Schools service personnel: THANK YOU! We appreciate you, we value you, and we are incredibly grateful for everything you do for our students, our schools, and our community. 💙💛
You make our schools stronger. You help our students succeed. You are an essential part of our team!
🎉 Happy School Service Personnel Appreciation Day!
Happy Buckwheat! Just a reminder that tomorrow, Thursday the 24th is a 2 Hour Early Dismissal, and there will be no school on Friday the 25th and the B.O.E. Offices will be closed. Students will not return until Tuesday the 29th, as Monday is a Professional Learning Day for Staff. We hope everyone has a safe, fun and Happy Buckwheat Festival.
Kingwood Elementary is excited to showcase the creativity and talent of our students in the Preston County School Exhibits at the Preston County Buckwheat Festival! 🧡🖤
This year’s Buckwheat Festival theme, “Back to Our Roots,” inspired the first art projects of the school year at KES. Students were challenged to think about what it means to have roots in their community and to reflect on the people, places, experiences, and traditions that help make them who they are. 🌱
Students brought their ideas to life through writing, drawing, poetry, and a variety of tree-themed art projects created especially for this year’s exhibit. 🌳✨
We are so proud to see our students’ creativity, thoughtful reflections, and love for their community represented at this year’s festival!
📸 Featured KES Artists — From Left to Right:
🧡 Cash Stanley
🧡 Janson Likens
🧡 Xavier McDaniel
We invite our KES families and community to stop by and admire the incredible work created by students from across Preston County!
📍 Memorial North Building — Buckwheat Festival Fairgrounds
🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
⏰ School Exhibits open at NOON on Thursday
Come celebrate our students and see how they’ve put down their roots! 🌳🧡🖤
What better way to kick off Buckwheat Week than with a visit from the Buckwheat Festival Royalty Court! 💛🖤
Yesterday, each grade level had the special opportunity to meet Queen Ceres, King Buckwheat, and the Royalty Court runners-up! Our students listened as the court shared about the Buckwheat Royalty selection process, talked livestock, and shared some of their favorite parts of the Buckwheat Festival.
But perhaps the most special part of the visit was seeing just how deep our roots run right here at Kingwood Elementary. 🌱
Members of the Royalty Court had the chance to reconnect with KES staff members who were part of their educational journey and helped give them their start. What a full-circle moment it was to see these former students return to KES as Buckwheat Royalty—and to celebrate the amazing young people they have become! 🥹❤️
From their first days in our classrooms to representing our community as royalty, we couldn't be prouder to call them KES Stags! 🦌
Thank you to the Buckwheat Festival Royalty Court for spending time with our students and helping us officially kick off one of our favorite weeks of the year!
Our roots run deep. Our pride runs deeper. 🌾🖤🧡
As we prepare for Buckwheat Festival week, we want to provide a quick clarification regarding CPMS and PHS students who normally ride the bus to Kingwood Elementary.
✅ CPMS & PHS students may continue riding the bus to KES as usual. However, because of the alternate transportation procedures in place for Festival week:
🏫 Parents/guardians will need to pick up these students in the KES gym.
Families may also make arrangements for their children to:
• Meet family members at another location other than Fireman's Field
• Walk home, if appropriate
🚫 CPMS and PHS students who ride the bus to KES will NOT ride the bus to the Old Hospital parking lot.
Another option: Families are also welcome to use the CPMS or PHS drop-off and pick-up procedures for their children during Festival week.
We appreciate everyone's flexibility and cooperation as we work together to keep our students safe and transportation running smoothly during this busy week! ❤️🖤🧡
Thank you, KES families, for helping us make Buckwheat Festival week a safe and successful one!
We are kicking off a new school year by celebrating some of our amazing PurposeFULL People Students of the Month! 🌟
Our character trait for August was KINDNESS—acting with generosity, understanding, and care. ❤️
These students have shown kindness in so many ways throughout our school—by helping others, including their classmates, showing compassion, using encouraging words, and making KES a more caring place to learn and grow.
👏 Congratulations to our August PurposeFULL People Students of the Month! We are so proud of each of you!
Thank you for being socially successful and for showing us what it means to lead with kindness! 🧡🖤
Kindness makes our KES community stronger! 🦌✨
Kingwood Elementary, in partnership with the Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department and Kingwood City Police Department, has created a safe and efficient alternate plan for drop-off and pickup during the week of September 21-24.
🚗 Morning Drop-Off:
✅ Location: Old Preston Memorial Hospital parking lot (beside Kingwood Pool)
✅ Gate Opens: 7:10 AM
✅ Procedure:
• Park in the graveled area in the center of the lot.
• Stay in your vehicle until signaled to load the bus.
• The first bus arrives at 7:25 AM to transport students to school.
• The second bus arrives at 7:35AM to transport students to school.
⏰ Miss the bus? You must sign your child in at the main office after 7:40 AM once buses have cleared the lot.
🚙 Afternoon Pickup:
✅ Location: Same as drop-off
✅ Gate Opens: 2:10 PM
✅ Procedure:
• Park in the graveled area and stay in your vehicle until the bus arrives.
• Students will arrive by bus around 2:25 PM and be released directly to families.
• When signaled, families may wait on the right side of the bus to retrieve their students.
• ⏱ Any child not picked up by 2:35 PM will be taken back to KES and can be signed out at the main office.
🚦 Important: No vehicles may leave until buses have cleared. Staff will direct cars to file out safely behind the buses once students are loaded.
We appreciate your cooperation and patience to keep all students safe during Buckwheat Festival week! 💛🐝
And just like that… it’s time to PLAY! 🎉
This week, we wrapped up the final phase of our KES Playground Beautification Project by covering our playground floor with new rubber mulch! This updated surface not only gives our playground a fresh, refreshed look, but also helps enhance the safety and functionality of our playground facilities for our students.
And the best part? Our students are already having a BLAST! 🛝🤸♀️🛝 From swinging and sliding to climbing and exploring, they are loving their newly improved playground!
A project like this truly takes a village, and we are incredibly grateful to ALL of our partners, volunteers, organizations, and community supporters who helped make this transformation possible. Your generosity, hard work, and willingness to invest in our students have made a lasting difference at KES. 🧡
Three phases. One beautiful playground. Countless opportunities to play, grow, and make memories.
Thank you for helping us make KES an even better place to learn AND play! 🦌🧡🖤
Today, Preston County Schools join communities across the nation in recognizing Constitution Day, commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. In our public schools, this day provides an opportunity for students to learn about the document that established the framework of our government, shaped the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and continues to guide our democracy. Constitution Day is more than a look back at history—it is an opportunity to encourage civic understanding, thoughtful participation, and an appreciation for the principles that help shape our nation. Throughout Constitution Week, September 17–23, we are proud to help our students understand the importance of our Constitution and their role in our communities and our country. This year, all 8th graders will receive a pocket Constitution thanks to the 917 Society (https://www.917society.org/all-pocket-constitution-requests) and spearheaded by Tracy Friend.
If you saw our playground yesterday, you might not believe the transformation that happened today! 🤩 Just a few hours of teamwork made a BIG difference as we moved into Phase #2 of our KES Playground Beautification Project!
Today, another crew of 10 cadets from the West Virginia Challenge Academy returned to KES to rake, shovel, and spread rubber mulch across our playground surface. With their hard work, the majority of our playground is now covered—and WOW, does it look different! 🛝🖤🧡
We are incredibly thankful for the manpower, muscle, and dedication that has gone into making this project possible. A HUGE thank-you to our generous donor, Deb Miller, who returned today to lend a hand and see the project through to near completion. Your generosity and willingness to jump in and help mean so much to our KES family!
We are so grateful for the partnerships that surround our school and invest in the safety, success, and happiness of our students. This project is a perfect example of what can happen when a community comes together with a common goal! 🫶
And tomorrow… our students get to see the transformation for themselves! We have a feeling they are going to be pretty excited about their made-over playground! 😍🛝
Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible! KES is better because of YOU! 🖤🧡
