Lori Jones reaches across the table and pulls up her phone. "See this?" she says, showing me a QR code. "It's called the Lemon Book—a McKinney Vent o resource guide. Parents scan it with their phone, and it pops up to their county. Whatever they need is right there."

It's a small gesture, but it says everything about how Joppa-Maple Grove Elementary operates. Between Lori, the school nurse, Donna Rushing, the District secretary, and Morgan Baughman, the parent hub coordinator who also runs the front office, there's a quiet determination to make sure no family falls through the cracks.

"We work hand in hand a lot," Morgan says. "Kids with nosebleeds, parents needing help, staff issues—we handle it together."

When Lori says she's worn a lot of hats, she isn't exaggerating. "I've been a fifth-grade aide, a one-on-one aide, worked in pre-K, the kitchen, and I even drive a school bus," she says. Her husband is a welder, her dad a mechanic, and she admits she can "drop a bead" herself if needed. She's served the district since 2013.

Getting to the nurse role took persistence. "I applied three times," Lori says. "Third time was the charm." It's what she'd always wanted—working with kids in healthcare. "I worked in a doctor's office, the hospital, a nursing home. I always wanted to work with kids, but I could never get in. So when it came open here, I was like, 'Can I please?'"

Morgan's path was equally winding. "I worked in pre-K for about two and a half years, then got asked if I wanted to come up and do the office." What started as a parent liaison position evolved into front desk manager and problem solver for 200 students and their families.

This year, they tried something new: online registration. "It was our first year," Morgan says. "We had parents come up and use the computers here to register." For many families, the school's computers are their only access point. There's coffee on too, and a gold couch in the lobby that makes the space feel less institutional and more like home.

"The old school wasn't like this," Lori reflects. Her son Paul graduated in 2023. "Now the computers are set up for anytime a parent needs them. There's coffee. It's so much better."

That transformation didn't happen by accident. When Principal Stephanie Wood and Superintendent Dr. Goins arrived, something shifted. "It was a breath of fresh air," Lori says. "We've been in the mindset of 'this is how we've always done it' for thirteen years. Now I'm getting to do other things."

Morgan nods. "The willingness to listen—to just be heard. That was huge. If our kids are heard, if parents are heard, if teachers are heard, it's different. And she follows through."

For Morgan, who is both employee and parent—her son, Hutson, is a fifth grader here, and her daughter, Clara, is in ninth grade—that dual perspective has been eye-opening. "There's always a line whenever you're an employee and a parent," she says. "But you see it from both perspectives. You see how hard she has it making these calls. It changed my perspective."

The community's resilience runs deeper than leadership changes. Four years ago, the district faced a push to consolidate with nearby Massac County schools. "People said no," Morgan says. "We didn't go under—we thrived off of saying no. We came together and we're like, 'We're not going to give up. We're going to show them what we're capable of.'"

Lori adds, "We've fought tooth and nail to get here."

That fighting spirit shows up daily. Lori's son, Paul, is now an apprentice electrician with the IBEW. Her husband, in his third year as an operator apprentice, gives Paul a hard time about their rival trades. "He's like, 'I'm an operator. You're an electrician,'" Lori laughs. "It's an Army-Navy thing."

When asked what makes Joppa-Maple Grove work, both women say the same thing: family. But they don't just say it—they live it. "The community is involved with everything we do," Lori says. "It's always, 'Let's see what their family and our family can do together.'"

Morgan reflects on a recent conversation with a student who said he wanted to leave Joppa to see what else was out there. "That's what feels good about being here," she says. "He can express that. He feels comfortable enough to say, 'This is how I feel,' and knows there's no judgment. We're going to be proud of him no matter what."

Behind every QR code, every cup of coffee, every answered phone call, there's an understanding that the work matters. Not because it's flashy, but because it's steady and human.

"We are a family," Lori says simply. And at the front desk of Joppa-Maple Grove, that's not just something they say—it's something you can feel.