There was hardly a dry eye in the house when members of the Boone County Board of Education shared congratulations and bid farewell to Karen Evans.
Evans is the executive coordinator to the superintendent and serves as secretary of the board of education. She first got involved with the school district as a volunteer. She came from a background in marketing, and after having been a part of Boone County Schools for the last 17 years, Evans said there is nothing like working in education.
For six years, she was part of the Families and Schools Together team, which interacted with truant and chronically absent students.
“The reason why we did it was to make sure that whatever obstacle that child had, we could help them overcome it and get them to school to get the education they deserve,” Evans said.
Evans shared that her daughter, now a medical student, is “a product of Ryle High School” and of Boone County Schools.
Karen Byrd said she “would have worn waterproof mascara” had she known Thursday would mark Evans’ last board meeting.
Byrd said she was cautious of Evans at first. She explained she became “extremely close” with Kim Trout, the former executive coordinator of Boone County Schools. Trout died in October 2011.
“Losing her was like losing a sister,” Byrd said. “I vowed that whoever took her place, I would not put myself through that again – and then came Karen Evans. Her dedication to what she does, her empathy, her care, has made her another sister.”
Evans received a standing ovation from the crowd, as well as gifts from the board members and members of the school district.