She’s been a Northern Kentucky resident since 1986 and became Boone County School Board member not too long after. For 28 years, Karen Byrd has served the families of Boone County Schools.
Byrd’s desire and passion to serve hasn’t yet dwindled, and when she sat down to talk to the Kentucky School Board she said, “There was a time toward the end of my third term when I thought I might step away. One of my youngest son’s high school friends had heard and asked me, ‘But who is going to care about us?’ That did it.”
During Byrd’s time with Boone County Schools, Florence and Boone counties declared Oct. 9 as “Karen Byrd Day.”
“I am just a mom who believes in public education,” Byrd said. “I haven’t done anything fantastic. Every January during School Board Recognition Month I say, ‘That [recognition] is not what I am here for.” But as school board members, we do get criticized so I did appreciate the community and city leaders for acknowledging and honoring my service.”
She said throughout her 28 years with the schools of Boone County, one of the biggest noticeable differences is the impact of national issues trickling down to a local level.
“Usually, our work has centered on our school district and what was going on from the state level down,” she said. “Now the national discourse and misinformation on issues trickles down and colors the perspective. It’s as if people think things they see and hear about happening 3,000 miles away must be going on here too, and it is not.”
Byrd will serve as the newly appointed Kentucky School Boards Association president for two years. She said she wants to keep boards as the authority for community schools and that they should be non-partisan.
“We don’t need to be political, we need to focus on kids and education,” Byrd said. “Politics has no place in education. Doing right for students is what drives education.”