Get to know the candidates running for JCPS board of education

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than half of the Jefferson County Board of Education seats are up for election, and only one of the six candidates is an incumbent.

The District 2 and District 7 races are uncontested, and one of the candidates is already serving on the board.

The District 1 and District 4 races each have two candidates facing off for the seat.

WDRB sat down with each candidate ahead of Election Day and asked them where they stand on a number off issues, including Amendment 2, splitting up the district, finding Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio's replacement and more.

All candidates were given ten minutes to answer six questions. 

District 1

The District 1 race includes two challengers: incumbent Gail Logan Strange and opponent Mark Gatton. This district encompasses most of west and downtown Louisville. 

Strange was appointed to the District 1 seat in December 2023 following Diane Porter's departure. The longtime board member stepped down shortly after winning re-election due to medical reasons.

Strange is a Louisville native and JCPS graduate who spent her career working in communications. 

Gatton is also a Louisville native and JCPS graduate. He spent his career in the Air Force.

When it comes to Amendment 2, both candidates have different views.

"School choice, I think, is a great thing," Gatton said. "If JCPS can't provide what the parents want for their kids, then they should have an alternate place to go. I am all for the vouchers."

"(JCPS) has a school that fits every child's needs," Strange said. "There is a specialty school almost for every child in our city. However, if you choose not to send your child to public school, that's your option. That's your privilege. If Amendment 2 passes, it would devastate the public school systems."

Asked about the state task force reviewing JCPS, Gatton said it's a great idea, while Strange said she's against the legislation that targets JCPS. As for splitting up the district, both candidates share similar viewpoints.

"My fear is that those who are least served — the most impoverished areas in our city and in the whole district — will probably again receive the least amount of funding," Strange said. "And so, again, we create a disparity that already exists."

"Somebody along the way is going to say, 'Why did we split this up? It was better under one superintendent,'" Gatton said. "And that's why I don't think it should be split up. I mean, granted, we're the largest in the state or in the commonwealth, but I think splitting it up would be a bad idea."

The candidate who wins will be tasked with finding the next superintendent. Gatton said he would like to see somebody that, "gets in the trenches with everybody else," and communicates well. Strange said she would like to see somebody with innovation, experience and a proven record of success.

When asked about issues they would like to tackle if elected to the board of education, both Gatton and Strange said transportation. The opponents said they've seen first-hand the burden on families expected to transport their student to traditional or magnet programs.

District 2

Tricia Lister is the sole candidate for District 2 and already serving on the board. District 2 encompasses much of the Highlands and St. Matthews area.

Lister was appointed to the board in September following former board member Chris Kolb's resignation. Before applying for the vacancy, Lister filed to run for the permanent seat this election cycle. The District 2 race became uncontested after her opponent, Abby Berthold, dropped out of the race.

Lister is a criminal defense attorney and JCPS graduate. After living in California for a decade, she said she moved back to Louisville to raise her family. 

When it comes to ballot issues, Lister said she is a "hard no," on Amendment 2. 

"We just don't need to lose any more money because we have so much that we can do and that we're learning how to do," she said. "We've got to keep all of our resources for our school and to make it, hopefully, a school that we don't have a need for private schools here."

Lister said she does not see a benefit to JCPS splitting up or becoming a smaller district.

"I think diversity is part of our strength and that everybody in JCPS lives in this community,"  she said. "We all need to work together as a community to make this school the best we can."

When it comes to finding the district's next leader, Lister said she's excited about the opportunity to find the next leader for JCPS. 

"I'm hoping, this time, we do a nationwide search," she said. "That doesn't mean that we don't end up choosing somebody here, but we got to find the best, right? This is a large school system with a very diverse population, perhaps tight on funding. So we've really got to have a top-notch leader. I think we are all on the board committed to taking that search very seriously, involving the community in that search and looking everywhere we can to be sure we really do find a great candidate to carry the ball forward from here."

As for things she would like to change or improve on at JCPS, Lister hopes the Academies of Louisville program can continue to expand.

"... There's a lot of screaming right now about education ought to be about getting jobs, right? I don't thoroughly agree with that, " she said. "I think there's a lot of important about education that isn't about how are you going to make money, but it is good to pair that with learning to read and write and think critically and all those things. So I'm excited about those."

Lister said transportation is still a "big concern."

"I think some people ... are starting to celebrate that there are some transportation successes now, but we have to not forget that those successes are coming at the expense of what we cut, which was what got me in in the first place," Lister said. "Somehow, we have to be able to offer transportation to each and every child to get them to school, and I think there are a lot of ways to try to do that, and I think staffing is a big part of the issue."

District 4

Trevin Bass and Barbara Lewis are facing off for the District 4 seat, which encompasses much of southwest Louisville. Current board member Joe Marshall is not seeking re-election. 

Bass is a Louisville native, JCPS graduate and works as a grants coordinator for Louisville. He has two children that attend JCPS.

Lewis is a Los Angeles, California, native, who moved to Louisville when she was 23 years old. She's worked as a bus driver and is now family youth service center coordinator.

Bass and Lewis both said they are against Amendment 2.

"I believe that it's a false pretense for our parents," Lewis said. "It promotes the ideal parents' choice, parents' voice. But really, we're giving legislation the choice to make the decision for our kids. If we don't have the funding now to actually repair some of the issues that we have within JCPS, especially, with those dynamics of students, then to have that funding removed will only make the suffering even more greater."

"I believe that we have a lot of things that we need to take care of rather than add on to the problem,"  Bass said. "Amendment 2 would actually take funding away. Amendment 2 will actually hurt the current state of JCPS."

Both candidates are also against splitting up JCPS but support the state task force reviewing the district.

"We just got to make sure we do not split JCPS and the task force is actually working for the families and other people of JCPS," Bass said.

"Splitting JCPS just means more paperwork," Lewis said. "Splitting JCPS means that we still have the same issues but have two different districts. So what is the point?"

As for finding its next superintendent, Lewis said she hopes it will be someone who takes accountability. Bass hopes it will be someone who is a strong leader and visits schools frequently.

When it comes to priorities, Lewis said she would like to address racial equity within JCPS and mental health of students.

"I think it's very important that we meet the needs, we understand the culture of the students, the dynamics of where they come from," Lewis said.

Bass said a "plethora" of change is needed, which includes better supporting staff.

"My biggest thing, actually, is to not only make the students be happy to come to school but be the teachers and the staff to be happy," Bass said. 

As for transportation, to make improvements, Bass said the district needs to better support drivers. Lewis said she wants to better engage the community to find transportation struggles.

"I think, ideally, if we showed the transportation support, we'll be OK," Bass said. "Eventually, we're going to get everything back to normal. But we need the drivers."

"I would like for us to address this issue more aggressively," Lewis said. "You know, not saying that it's not being addressed aggressively now but include our community partners."

District 7

District 7 is an uncontested race with Taylor Everett as the sole candidate as current member Sarah McIntosh is not seeing re-election. This district covers southeast Jefferson County.

Everett is originally from Pittsburgh, graduated from University of Louisville and now works in the staffing industry. His wife is a former JCPS teacher and daughter attends Ballard High School.

When it comes to Amendment 2, Everett said he sees pros and cons and is "happy" it's on the ballot.

"I feel like the people who it's going to affect the most, which are the residents of Kentucky, get to decide it," Everett said. "As a proponent, I would love to get less kids in the classroom, right? And I would love to have some competition. ... But also, as a board member, I would love to have as many resources as I can to make our public schools the best they can be."

As for the state task force reviewing JCPS, Everett said he understands the task force's interest in reviewing the district but does not support the idea of splitting up JCPS.

"I really hope the district is not broken up," he said. "I think that we can do a lot with the resources that we have and as a community. ... I think we do a lot more than just a bunch of broken up districts."

Everett said when it comes to finding the district's next superintendent, he plans to approach it with a business mindset.

"It's like a large business, right? You have to be able to know how to run a business of that size," he said. "And so if we can find someone with a great education background, can talk in front of the public and also understands operations, that's what I'll be looking for."

The biggest issues Everett is interested in tackling are staffing shortages and test scores.

"First and foremost, I just want to get the district staff to where we have the amount of people needed to support the kids that are all there," he said. "Second ... I think our expectations are not high enough for the parents, for the kids, for the educators that are in there. And if we set those expectations, a lot of, times people meet them."

When addressing cuts in transportation, Everett said the board made the best decision out of three bad choices. He hopes to use his background in staffing to help address the staff shortages.

"We haven't used all the resources necessary to fix that staffing problem, the bus issue, and once we do, it's going to fix a lot of other things," he said.

Districts 3, 5 and 6

Board member James Craig, representing District 3, Linda Duncan, representing District 5, and Corrie Shull, representing District 6, are not up for re-election this November.

All three were re-elected in November 2022.