January is School Board Recognition Month

Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Melissa Bacon, who has lived in Lexington since she was 4 years old, sees the value of community involvement in education.   

“I’ve always been a huge public school advocate and want students to have a good, competitive, rigorous curriculum across the board,” said Bacon, a member of the Fayette County Board of Education.  

She was appointed in October 2006, elected in 2007 to fill the rest of that term and re-elected in 2008 for a full four-year stint. She represents District 1. 

“When my children went to school, I just wanted to do whatever I could to help the teachers. I started helping out as a homeroom mom and PTA mom, then School-Based (Decision Making) Council. And everybody convinced me this was a natural progression,” she said of her board service.

Molly Toney, who grew up with Bacon, described her longtime friend as a reliable leader. 

“What I think she brings to the board is a community-issue interest, in that she’s a real community stakeholder and takes that very seriously,” Toney said. “She wants Lexington to be the best Lexington can be” because it’s her roots.

Toney, business coordinator at the Prichard Committee’s Center for Parent Leadership, recalled seeing people lay out their issues for Bacon. “She takes that to heart,” Toney said, noting how Bacon writes down and researches parents’ concerns. “She wants to be accessible to people and (be) a really good face of Fayette County schools.” 

Bacon’s experience includes PTA work at Garden Springs Elementary and Beaumont Middle School, service on the SBDM council at Garden Springs, the school district’s Elementary Super Council and the Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence’s Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership and its Parents Partners in the Arts program. 

Now, on the school board, “I just want to do my job and kind of stay in the background,” said Bacon, 44.  

She is visible out in the schools, though; one of her favorite tasks is dropping in to see how students are progressing.  

“I enjoy being in the classroom. My strength is knowing what’s supposed to be going on with our core content and making sure that our teachers are all on the same page and collaborating together as a team,” Bacon said. 

“One of our goals is to stay competitive with technology and use technology as much as we can as a teaching tool, having it available to the students for their work,” she added. “We need to make sure we have facilities that can enhance learning and that our kids are equipped for college or the workforce and can compete with other students globally.” 

“There’s a relationship aspect to this whole process, which is where my heart is – making sure people are communicating and relating well to one another, and it all comes out in the end to help our kids.”  

Did you know?

• Melissa Bacon graduated from Lafayette High School and studied English at the University of Kentucky.
• She and her husband, Chris, have a son at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and a daughter at Beaumont Middle School.
• Bacon is a member of St. Luke United Methodist Church, where she has served on the children’s ministry team for 14 years. She also loves to read and plays the flute.