Two new board members are joining the Jefferson County Board of Education for the first time after the election

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Two new faces will join the Jefferson County Board of Education after winning their seats in the general election.

Taylor Everett was unopposed and will represent District 7 on the board. His wife was a teacher and assistant at JCPS for 10 years and his daughter is a sophomore at Ballard High School. He is currently director of government services for the consulting firm Eight Eleven Group.

Trevin Bass defeated candidate Barbara Lewis for the District 4 seat. Bass is grant contracts coordinator for the Louisville Metro Office of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods. He is also a JCPS parent with two sons currently attending the district.

With a background in recruitment, Everett believes his experience can help the board address transportation issues caused by the ongoing bus driver shortage.

“With my background, I think we need to put more resources into it,” Everett said. “We need to bring in outside companies and we probably need to hire more recruiters to find these people because the pay and benefits are there. It’s just a matter of being able to reach enough people to fill the spots.”

Bass tells WAVE he believes the district should have more support systems for drivers. There was a shortage last school year caused massive calls from bus drivers on challenging routes and a perceived lack of discipline by the district when it came to student behavior on buses.

“Show support for the bus drivers, let them know we have your back,” Bass said. “You’re not just an employee, you’re part of a family. I want to bring that family aspect back into the culture of JCPS.”

Another topic that is top of mind for parents is the new safety measures JCPS has put in place to prevent guns from being brought into schools. Everett believes the district should expand the use of weapon detection systems.

“To me, it’s non-negotiable that these weapon detection systems should be in every school where we can put them,” Everett said. “I also think we could probably put more cameras on the outside of the school buildings to detect people coming closer who maybe shouldn’t be there.”

In September the photographing outside a Pleasure Ridge Park High School football game that left a 17-year-old JCPS student dead, parents were shocked.

As CEO of the nonprofit youth mentoring program First Strike of Unity and Peace Inc. Bass said he would like to see more outreach to students to identify the root causes of violence.

“One thing I do is work with kids that way and talk to them and try to come up with solutions,” Bass said. “I find that most of it comes from financial opportunities. So just continue that, bring everyone to the table, not just adults, bring the kids so we can have a full circle of solutions.”

The JCPS school board also will have a chance to shape the district’s future as it leads the search for a new superintendent after Marty Pollio’s retirement in July 2025.

Everett said he would like to see candidates with an educational background and possibly business experience.

“Kind of a business background, kind of a big organizational background because JCPS is 100,000 students with thousands of employees,” Everett said. “If you don’t know how to run an operation of that size, it’s just not going to work.”

“They have to be accessible,” Bass said. “They need to be able to go to the different schools, go to different events and be recognizable, and also be able to be humiliated and put up with it and say I don’t know what’s going on.”

Two other board members will retain their seats for the next four years.

Tricia Lister was appointed to the board in September to represent District 2 following the resignation of board member Chris Kolb and ran unopposed in the election.

Incumbent Gail Strange retained her seat representing District 1, defeating challenger Mark Gatton.