Jo Alyce Harper, Trigg County Schools
Kentucky School Advocate
August 2024
Q. You’ve served on the Trigg County school board for a long time. Why is being a board member important to you?
A. I’m in my 16th year and I’m running again for my fifth term. My parents were involved in the community when I was growing up and it instilled in me how important it is to support the community. They were involved in 4-H, community organizations and church. Dad was on the hospital board for 20 years. It really does rub off. Our youth have always been important to me; they are the future of our community, our best opportunity.
Q. Before joining the board, you served on school-based decision making councils (SBDMs), and before that as a Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) president. How did those roles help you in your board service?
A. Being on the school-based council prepared me for working with a group toward a goal but, even before that, I had served on the teen council for 4-H. The SBDM helped me understand the council’s role and a little about the school board’s role. Early on, I served in PTA and we did a lot of organizing and fundraising but also worked closely with other parents and school administrators. It got my foot in the door and into the school to see how things get done. Even before that, when I had my youngest, I didn’t work for five years and spent time volunteering in the schools.
Q. You also serve on the Prichard Committee. Tell us about your involvement in their work.
A. I’m not as involved as I’d like to be because of my other work but I did serve on the committee to nominate new members. Our board attorney invited staff from the Prichard Committee to talk to us about school funding because we feel we are being penalized by the SEEK formula. We are working with the Prichard Committee now, showing them how we are being penalized compared to other districts.
Q. Your career involves government and finance. How do the skills you use in your career influence your board service?
A. I’m assistant controller for a government contracting company. As part of that job, I did construction accounting and so when the district has had renovation projects and one recent new build project, my work background helped me understand the restrictions and regulations, building codes and contingencies. I’ve been involved a lot in budgeting, which has helped me understand our district budget and how budgeting works. I’ve been involved in many audits, and I am comfortable asking our district finance officer about proper controls being in place and being followed.
Q. You have said you considered not running this time. Why did you run?
A. We have had administrative turnover in the last two to three months – including our superintendent, high school principal and several others. I didn’t feel comfortable not running as we had all these new administrators. And I thought the community needed to see us moving forward as a united board.
Our current board of five women works well together. We are united in our mission of safety and academic success for students. So, I hope the board stays the same; three of us are running. I feel that we have a magnificent new superintendent and together we can really go somewhere. I’ve always been unopposed. People say, ‘No one wants to run against you,’ I say, ‘No, it may just tell you that no one wants to do this job!’
Getting to know
Hometown: Cadiz
Family: Husband, Mike, married 35 years; three boys, Jacob, Justin and Jared; six grandchildren
Favorite subject: Math, especially algebra
Hobbies: Reading, spending time with family – we do a lot of boating on Lake Barkley.
Book recommendation: “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson. It’s old but still very relevant.
Interesting fact: We live in a rural area with lots of woods and deer. I made a name for myself by hitting five different deer with the same car. Right after I bought that car, a Buick Regal, I hit the first deer as I was driving it home from the dealership. That should have been a hint that it was not going to be a good car. My insurance company wasn’t happy, but the car dealership sent thank yous [laugh].