Kentucky School Advocate
March 2015
A new KSBA president elect took office after being ratified during the business meeting portion of the association’s annual conference.
David Webster, left, a member of the Simpson County school board since 2007, will serve two years with President Allen Kennedy of Hancock County before automatically ascending to the presidency. Webster, a business owner, had been a director-at-large on the KSBA board since 2011. He is a member of the Franklin-Simpson Chamber of Commerce and active in his church. Webster currently is chairman of his local board.
Three new directors-at-large were also affirmed after being recommended by the association’s nominating committee.
• Jo Sabol, a West Point Independent school board member, had been serving on the board as a regional chairperson. Sabol’s school board service began in 2007. She is an embroidery department manager, and co-chairs both the West Point River Days and the Ghost Walk through Old West Point. Sabol is a graduate of Jefferson Community College.
• Montgomery County school board member Donna Wilson is a 35-year retired educator who is currently a reading interventionist at a Clark County intermediate school. She received graduate and undergraduate degrees from Morehead State University and has been a school board member since 2009. She is active in her church and in the Kentucky Distinguished Young Women (formerly Junior Miss) organization, and is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary. Wilson received the 2006 Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Educator Award and the 2007 Coca-Cola National Educator of Distinction Award.
• Longtime Garrard County school board member Joe Brown is a retired loan officer and U.S. Army reservist, and a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University. Brown, who’s been on the local board since 1987 and currently is its chairman, received the 2011 Warren Proudfoot Award for Outstanding School Board Member. He is a member of the Heritage Hospice Advisory Board and the Garrard County Chamber of Commerce Youth Advisory Committee and a founding director and treasurer of Friends of Paint Lick, Inc., and is active in his church.
While not taking place during the business session, four appointments recently were made to the KSBA board by President Allen Kennedy, filling vacancies.
They are:
• Jeff Stumbo, a retired Kentucky State Police detective who chairs the Floyd County board was appointed as a director-at-large. Stumbo previously served as a regional chairperson on the KSBA board and has chaired the Kentucky Center for School Safety’s board. He has been a local school board member for 14 years.
• Webster County board member Venita Murphy is the new regional chairperson representing KSBA’s Second Region. She began her second round of local board service in 2013 with the Webster County district, having previously served on the old Providence Independent board from 1994-2006. Murphy works in quality control for General Electric and attended Murray State University. She is active in her church and is a matron in the Order of the Eastern Star.
• Dr. John Inman, chairman of the Meade County school board, joins the KSBA board as Fourth Region chairperson. Inman is one of the state’s longest-serving school board members, with 42 years of service. A retired dentist, he is a graduate of Transylvania University and University of Kentucky Dental School. Inman received the Warren Proudfoot Award for Outstanding School Board member in 2005, and was the recipient of a Kids First Advocacy Award in 2004.
• Jefferson County school board member Chris Brady is a new director-at-large on the KSBA board. He is a medical technology trainer for Norton Healthcare, and he also has worked in his field with educational institutions. Brady, who began his school board service in 2013, holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University. He has been a member or volunteered for Focus Louisville, Habitat for Humanity, the American Lung Association, the Young Professionals Association of Louisville, Brightside and the Floyd’s Fork Environmental Association, among others.
• Charles “Ronnie” Holmes will return to the KSBA board as a director-at-large. He previously served as a regional chairperson on the board. Holmes, a building contractor, has been a Graves County school board member since 1985. He attended Murray State College and is a Kentucky Colonel. Active in his church, Holmes also is a former president of the Graves County Riding Club and former trustee of Mid-Continent College in Mayfield.