Julia Maness, Menifee County Schools
Kentucky School Advocate
August 2023
Q. You joined the Menifee County school board in 2018. Why did you want to serve on the board?
A. Our school board had been in a bit of disarray, and I was going to meetings to see if there was any way I could support teachers and students. When there was an opening on the school board, I ran. People at school had encouraged me. I had waited until my kids graduated because I didn’t want to have a dog in the race. I didn’t know then that we would have foster kids. I try always to consider what would be the most good for most of the kids most of the time. But I do end up in situations where I’m an advocate for my foster kids. I want them to grow and thrive. They’ve had enough struggles.
Q. You’re president of the Friends of the Library. Why is it important to support county libraries like yours?
A. Our library is the poorest funded in the state because we don’t have a lot to tax since much of the land is the Daniel Boone National Forest. Friends supplements services and programs, mainly for kids. Our librarian writes grants, and we show up and do fun things. At Halloween, instead of candy, we give away books. My favorite is our Writer’s Block. Five or six kids – we get a lot of 5th graders – come together and write a book in a day. They create a story line, and everyone is a different character. Each kid writes a chapter from their character’s point of view. They also do illustrations. It is a hoot and a holler.
Q. You also volunteer with the Menifee County Theater Group. What do you do there?
A. I work on the stage crew. When my daughter directed a play, I carried props off and on stage. It’s important, because like any rural district, sports, especially basketball, has a certain place, but not every kid’s a basketball player. We have student actors and actresses who have been in almost every play.
Q. Has your training and education as a nurse practitioner been helpful during your board service?
A. It helped during COVID when we had to make some serious decisions and needed someone who could articulate about why tough decisions were made.
I also promote choosing healthcare careers. If you can go into something that you can be passionate about, like healthcare, then it is not just a paycheck, it enriches your life and others’ lives. I try to make sure we keep the teeth in our mathematics, science and health education programs. In a lot of rural communities, people say not every kid is made for college, but I think every school should be made so that it’s on the table for that kid. It means we’ve offered them the chance.
Q. You are an advocate for equity and opportunities for kids in your district. Why are you so passionate about equal access?
A. When a family lives paycheck to paycheck, it keeps the family busy. For example, if you don’t have a car that runs, you’re busier than a person who does. If you can’t make it to the dentist until your tooth hurts, your life, in a way, is busier than someone who gets a cleaning every six months and a small cavity filled. Poverty keeps parents busy and that can keep kids from walking into school with what they need to learn. I want kids to get the chance to not be seen through that lens of their poverty but rather to be seen as a learning, creative person.
Even if we can’t imagine what they’re going through, I want to be sure we offer them full-throttle compassionate care and social emotional development. And for goodness sakes, teach them as much as they can learn during the 13 years that we can offer them a free education.
Getting to know
Profession: Nurse practitioner in private practice; I also run a free clinic one day a week
Hometown: St. Matthews in Jefferson County
Family: Husband Terry, daughters Emily Wells and Hannah Daugherty and foster children Alyssa and Caleb
Favorite subject: Science
Hobbies: Reading, but I’m too busy for hobbies
Book recommendation: “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver. It resonates with what some kids experience. She invokes this feeling that there is no escape, which I think happens in our rural, poor and drug-infested places.
Interesting fact: My mom had multiple sclerosis and it’s like her life was stolen from her by the time she was 40. I have tried to live every day so that if somebody steals my life tomorrow, I have lived as much as I can. Clearly, I throw myself overboard. But it’s incredibly valuable to live the day that you’re given. Not tomorrow. And not yesterday.