National PTA committee chair one of two candidates so far for Fayette school board seat

The chair of the National PTA Family Engagement Committee filed Monday to run for the Fayette Public Schools board in the November general election.

Kathleen “Penny” Christian, an advocate for children and public schools in Lexington for 20 years, is running for the Third District seat.

District 3 has similar challenges to other FCPS districts, Christian said, “but I am acutely aware that certain schools in my district are seen as ‘bad’ or inferior. From Bryan Station to Yates, Crawford to MLK, our community needs to know there are no bad schools.”

“Every school has babies who are talented, brilliant and want to learn. What some lack is access. Access to opportunities and experiences they deserve as much as the babies at any other ‘good’ school,” Christian said.

District 3 encompasses the eastern section of the county, including Hamburg, Chilesburg and outbound Richmond Road.

Christian is currently opposed by Danny Anthony Everett.

Everett is an administrative faculty member at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky in Lexington, an adjunct professor at two other institutions, and the owner of Alpha Management LLC, a management consulting social enterprise.

Both Christian and Everett had applied late last year along with 12 others for the third district seat when it was left vacant by Tom Jones’ resignation.

The board appointed Jason Moore, a special agent and instructor with the Drug Enforcement Administration, to fill the District 3 board vacancy.

Moore will hold office until the November 2024 election, when he and other candidates can run for a full four year term. Moore said Tuesday he had not yet made a decision about his candidacy.

The filing deadline for the November election for Fayette school board seats is June 4.

DEA special agent chosen as new Fayette school board member after 6 hour deliberation

Kathleen ‘Penny’ Christian

Christian said she is vice president of organization services for the Kentucky PTA and chair of the National PTA Family Engagement Committee.

She is vice chair for the Kentucky United We Learn Council for the Kentucky Department of Education, and a member of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

She previously served as PTA president at Glendover Elementary and PTSA president at Morton Middle School.

“As 16th District PTA President during COVID, I made it a priority to establish and reinforce a strong working partnership with FCPS,” said Christian.

She said she had served on multiple committees for the Fayette school district including the safety advisory council and strategic planning committee.

One of the responsibilities of the school board is to provide necessary services to pupils, Christian said.

“I have a desire to see a more specific and efficient method to ensuring all students receive whatever services they need, not just for the students whose parents are considered ‘squeaky wheels,’“ she said.

Christian said she would prioritize transparent and effective communication, as well as leadership that values parents, students, community leaders and school staff.

“This begins with the tone set by our school board. An effective board is not afraid to answer tough questions or be held accountable when needed,” Christian said.

Danny Anthony Everett

Everett previously served as chair of the Lexington-Fayette County Human Rights Commission and vice chair of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights under Steve Beshear’s administration. He also held roles with the Alpha League at Bryan Station Middle School and Winburn Leadership Academy for At-Promise Youth, he said.

Fayette County voters will pick three school board members this year. Here’s who’s running

Everett said being a two-term elected FCPS Board of Education Equity Council Committee member has given him a keen understanding of school district governance and operations.

As an administrative faculty member at BSK theological seminary, he said he is the Director of the Siloam Project, leading engagement efforts beyond the classroom. He volunteers with the reading, writing, and rewards program at William Wells Brown Elementary School and the JAG Career Association at Bryan Station High School. He recently joined the YMCA of Central Kentucky’s Black Achievers Advisory Board.

If elected, Everett said he would push for policies and a budget that promote increased teacher pay and support, significantly increased support and means for unhoused families with children, the full inclusion of girls in technology, and the fostering of support for second language, immigrant, and refugee students. Everett said he would push for the “elimination of social learning despair that keeps Black and Brown children from reaching their highest achievements,“ and for a sense of belonging for all students.

He said the challenges across FCPS include “the draconian legislation that has threatened the lives of transgender youth” and other LGBTQ+ students.

“Delusionary views of equity and inclusion as a deficit instead of an asset for our schools and community will turn our schools into places of achievement for select advantaged white youth and a bastion of mediocrity and failure for children of color,” Everett said. “Providing public dollars for private charter schools through vouchers threatens to defund the public school system.”

Everett said the school-to-prison pipeline must end. Kentucky has the sixth highest rate of incarceration in the country, with a great disproportion of it being among Black and Latino adults who did not pass the test scores in the third grade or youth who found themselves in in school suspension, he said.

Other races

Monica Mundy, a parent and member of the Fayette Schools’ Equity Council Committee, has filed to run for the school board’s First District seat in the November general election.

Mundy’s filing came just days after she spoke out after Superintendent Demetrus Liggins announced he would not add a sixth-grade program to Rise STEM Academy for Girls as planned.

Mundy is an assistant professor in the public health program at Eastern Kentucky University.

Incumbent Marilyn Clark filed in January to keep the District 1 seat.

School board Vice Chair Amy Green, who represents District 5, has filed for re-election and is currently unopposed.

Parent who spoke out over girls’ STEM academy files for Fayette school board race