By Stephenie Steitzer
Enquirer contributor

HEBRON - Conner High School senior Kimberly Taylor has a line for her resume that no other student in Kentucky can claim.

Ms. Taylor, 18, was elected the first student school board representative in the Boone County School District and in the state in November.

Kimberly Taylor, a senior at Conner High School who is the first student school board representative in the state, attends her second official board meeting in December. (Brandi Stafford photos) | ZOOM |

"It's a fast-growing area and there's a lot of things we find to stay on the cutting edge," Superintendent Bryan Blavatt said.

Ms. Taylor may also be the only student school board representative in the Tristate, an Ohio School Board Association spokesman said. A check in southeastern Indiana and Greater Cincinnati found no other student representatives.

A 2001 survey by the National School Board Association found only 200 students who sit on school boards across the nation. More than 85 percent of the districts in the country have no student representative on their boards.

Mr. Blavatt said the school board had been tossing around the idea for several years, and finally decided to put it together last spring.

"So many times we forget the major stakeholders in our school districts are students," he said. "Students tend to be blatantly honest."

While Ms. Taylor can't vote or participate in executive sessions, she can take part in discussions and sit on various board committees, Mr. Blavatt said. Already, Ms. Taylor is helping the field trip committee draft new rules for students on field trips.

Kimberly attends to board business along with Superintendent Bryan Blavatt (left), Stephen Kinman and board secretary Kim Trout. | ZOOM |

Mr. Blavatt said fellow students nominated Ms. Taylor and three other students last October. The candidates campaigned for a month at all the schools in the district and then delegates voted Nov. 4. Ms. Taylor and another candidate tied, but she won the runoff.

"I was very impressed with the elections," Mr. Blavatt said. "Students had an opportunity to go out into a number of schools."

At her first board meeting in November, Ms. Taylor said she was a little nervous and a bit hesitant to speak because she had not received the meeting packet in advance.

"I had been to school board meetings before, but I was a little bit nervous about sitting up there with everybody," she said.

Ms. Taylor was not new to participating in school activities, however. She is a member of the superintendent's student advisory board, president of the Special Olympics club and member of the National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the senior board. She also plays volleyball and track and works part time on Sundays at the Marriott in Hebron.

STUDENT CONCERNS

The top five concerns that Boone County School District students have shared with Kimberly Taylor, the state's first student school board representative: • New playground equipment for elementary schools. • Better cafeteria food. • New classrooms in the high schools (to replace mobile rooms). • Overcrowded buses. • Overcrowded schools.

Her father, Ken Taylor, 46, of Hebron, said he and his wife Kathy, 44, are excited about Kimberly's position on the school board.

"We look forward to great things out of Kimberly," Mr. Taylor, a pilot for Airborne Express said. "We just consider ourselves normal folk and she's an overachiever."

The district has given Ms. Taylor an e-mail address and a small workspace at Conner High School. After AP calculus, AP English, multimedia publishing and the student newspaper, she spends her time answering e-mails and talking to students about their concerns.

Her main goal as a student representative is modest as she works to learn the ropes, she said. Ms. Taylor is working to start a newsletter to inform students of school board issues that directly affect them.

"I really want students to feel like their opinions matter," she said.

Her other goal is to set a high standard for future school board representatives.

"I do realize that I'm the first one and it would seem like there is some pressure," she said.

Ms. Taylor will hold the position through the summer, until she leaves for her freshman year at either DePaul University in Chicago or Stetson University in Deland, Fla. She said she plans to study business or law.