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Freshman Focus

March 7th-11th

FreshmanFocusMarch 7th-11th

Third Nine Weeks Grading Ends March 11th

It is hard to imagine that we are nearing completion of the third nine weeks grading period. As we begin to close, we want everyone to be aware of opportunities that are currently available to you to help improve your grades. We serve students in the classroom daily; however, Johnson Central also helps with multiple layers of instructional support.


During the school day, Amanda Ratliff is relentlessly identifying groups of students to help with RTI strategies. These students work individually with her throughout the day to improve skills needed to be successful. Before and after school, Misty Goble and her team operate Eagle Enrichment. This is a place for students to come and have tutoring (either adult or student) and help improve content specific issues. This program operates Monday through Thursday and is free to each and every student in our building. This program also offers special sessions for students such as art, fitness and student leadership.


If you are a student in need or a parent with a student in need of academic improvement, now is the time! Please reach out to Johnson Central and make arrangements to improve your grade prior to the end of the nine weeks grading period.

Career and Technical Fair

On Wednesday, March 2nd, students at Johnson Central High School and the Johnson County Middle School were invited to our Career and Technical Fair. On this day 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grade students explored the 27 career pathways that are offered at Johnson Central High School. This event allows students to see the various opportunities available to them and hopefully helps them make scheduling decisions for next school year.


Seeing possible future careers and educational opportunities is a big win for our students. We want our students to know that our programs are highly successful and provide opportunities for them to be competitive on a national level.


The success of this event solely rests upon the Johnson Central Leader in Me Team. This event was completely ran by student leadership inside of the building. Each program was represented by students and all display material was created by students. We wanted to create a comfortable atmosphere that prospective students could ask questions to classmates to further their understanding of specific pathways.

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Teacher Spotlight- Mr. J.R. VanHoose


Hello everyone, my name is J. R. VanHoose, I am the Social Studies Department Chair here at Johnson Central High School and would like to introduce myself to you as a teacher in our great BARR Program. I am currently in my nineteenth year of teaching and my eighth year as a teacher here at JCHS. I currently teach U. S. History to juniors and have two classes of AP Human Geography with my wonderful freshmen! In addition to my teaching duties I have been an assistant basketball coach here at JCHS and have been a part of four 57th District championship and two 15th Region championship teams.

Basketball has played a big part in my life. I graduated from nearby Paintsville High School in 1998 where I was a five-year starter for the boys basketball team there and helped the Tigers to five 57th District championships, four 15th Region championships, three appearances in the “Sweet 16” Final Four and one Kentucky High School basketball STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! I was a four-time all-state selection, a two-time Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year and was proud to be named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 1998.

I was fortunate enough to receive a basketball scholarship to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia where I was a four-time all-conference performer and only the second player in men’s basketball history to record over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. I am also proud to say that I was also named a Verizon Academic All-American in 2002, again only the second men’s basketball player to receive this prestigious honor at Marshall. At first undecided on what to pursue I quickly decided to follow my passion and majored in History. I have had a long-time love of American History and love to follow the genealogy of my family and tie it in with what was happening in the country at that time. To me, that really made history COME ALIVE!

After graduating with honors from Marshall I was drafted in the NBA G-League and spent a short time playing professional basketball before returning home and entering the teaching profession. I have been honored with working in three distinguished school districts in my career, first starting out at my alma mater Paintsville before going to work in the Pike County (KY) School District in 2007 and moving back home here to JCHS in 2014. During my teaching career I am proud to have served in many roles not only as a teacher but as the Director for the Paintsville High School Student Government Association, the Sponsor for the Entrepreneurship Fair while at Phelps High School in Pike County and as a member of the Johnson County Schools Safety and Calendar Committees.

I also belong to many different historical and genealogical societies including the Johnson County Historical and Genealogical Society, the Holland Society of New York (a genealogical organization based on direct ancestors who lived in New Netherland) and the prestigious Jamestowne Society (another genealogical organization based on direct ancestors who settled at Jamestowne in the Colony of Virginia). I am also proud to say that I am a published author of one book and many magazine and newspaper articles and I am currently in the research stage of a second book that is about Johnson County men and women and their service during World War II. As you can probably tell, I really enjoy expressing my love of history and I hope that my students feel that passion as I teach. My hope is that a few of them will carry a love of history on in their lives and spread that knowledge to future generations that come after them.

I married my wonderful wife Kayla in 2015 and she works in many roles here at JCHS, including as our Sports Information Director. We have one daughter, Taylor who recently graduated from the University of Pikeville and who also works in our great school system at Central Elementary. We live in Paintsville with three very spoiled dogs and two stubborn cats that keep us very busy.

Thank you for allowing me to introduce myself to you and for being with us on this amazing journey with the JCHS BARR Program!