Born and raised in Nashville, Morton graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.S. in Speech Communications. She earned a master’s in Special Education from Eastern Kentucky University and her administrative certification from Western Kentucky University. More than half her career was spent teaching special education at J.R. Ewan Elementary. Morton has also served as a literacy specialist, professional staff administrator, and as principal at Ashland Elementary. At the district level, her other roles have included interim principal, area director, and principal coach mentor.

Dailey graduated from Midway College with a bachelor’s degree in Business Organizational Management. She began her career as attendance clerk at Bryan Station High School, where she created an attendance incentive program with community and business partners. She also served as bookkeeper/secretary at Arlington Elementary. Outside the district, Dailey worked as office manager for Perimeter Physical Therapy and as marketing director for the Dupree Financial Group. She returned to FCPS in 2007 as administrative assistant for the senior director of Equity, Community, and Family Engagement and subsequently moved into the superintendent’s office. Dailey is a volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

Deffendall, the daughter of two retired public school principals, grew up in Hawaii believing that education is the key to changing the world. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University, she taught science and math in New Orleans and rural Louisiana for four years as a Teach for America corps member and then went back to school to earn her certification in secondary mathematics.

After inadvertently insulting a local editor about the newspaper’s education coverage, Deffendall was hired to cover public schools in 1996. She spent the next nine years covering K-12 education for newspapers in Houma, Louisiana; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and here in Lexington, and garnered multiple awards for her hard-hitting investigative coverage. In 2004, she joined FCPS with a directive to bring transparency to school district communications. Since then, the district has received state and national accolades for its communication efforts.

Thompson provides leadership, direction, and service to ensure district operations are effective, efficient, compliant, and supportive of schools and programs and adhere to the district’s core values and mission. He and his team plan and maintain schools and other facilities and provide transportation, nutritious meals, technology support, and other resources to provide safe and secure learning environments for students.

Thompson earned B.S. degrees from Eastern Kentucky University in Fire & Safety Engineering Technology and Insurance & Risk Management, and received his MBA from the University of Kentucky. He started his career as a safety and health compliance officer for the Kentucky Labor Cabinet. He later worked for the state school boards association as director of Risk Management and oversaw workers’ compensation, property and casualty insurance coverage, and business operations for marketing, underwriting, claims, and loss prevention. He has lobbied at the state level on operational issues and worked on policy and procedure development, implementation, and training for school districts. Thompson joined FCPS in 1995 as director of Risk Management & Safety. He has also served as the district’s health and wellness coordinator.  

Before joining FCPS, White served nearly 20 years in post-secondary education in the area of financial administration – most recently as a district chief business officer with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.  His experience also includes similar positions in the for-profit sector. White earned his MBA with an Accounting Concentration from Indiana Wesleyan University, and two bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration from Eastern Kentucky University. He is also a licensed certified public accountant in Kentucky. 

Thompson, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has spent over 29 years in Kentucky’s educational systems from K-12, higher education, and nearly 10 years with the Kentucky Department of Education. He provides high-quality technical assistance and equity-based policy, practice, and cultural competency leadership for districtwide initiatives that focus on catalyzing educational equity and excellence for all. His work involves fostering the paradigm shift needed to transform educational systems and structures in ways that serve our most marginalized students by offering courageous and thought-provoking solutions to complex challenges that lie within practitioners, educational researchers, as well as the students and families we serve. 

Thompson's work cascades across all offices, departments, and divisions of the district with a through line for intentional success to students and classrooms as we aim to ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion in all we do. He and his team have a laser-like pulse and focus for supporting the education of historically underperforming students (boys of color) and seek to close achievement gaps, increase cultural awareness, cultural responsiveness, and cultural competence by increased engagement with a dual generational approach with families, the community, and business partners. 

Thompson received his B.A. in English with a minor in Criminal Justice from Kentucky State University. 

McAnelly has been a classroom teacher, middle school principal, associate high school principal, and a consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education. At the University of Kentucky, she was a double-major in Political Science and History with an emphasis in Geography, and she earned her master’s in Secondary Education at Murray State. She received her Rank I in Administration and Supervision at UK and completed her doctoral coursework in Educational Leadership. 

McAnelly serves on the FCPS Certified Evaluation Committee, UK Middle Level College of Education Committee, and the EKU Education Preparation Advisory Committee. She has also participated in the Five Freedoms Leadership Academy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Common Assignment Pilot, the AdvancED review team, and the National Institute for School Leadership.

McMillin, who became high schools chief in July 2019, started his career as a biology teacher at Henry Clay High School. He served as an associate principal at Woodford County Middle School and Tates Creek Middle School before accepting the principal’s job at Bryan Station High School. He holds a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Kentucky and two master’s degrees – in curriculum and instruction from UK and in school leadership from Eastern Kentucky University.

Bruno started his career as a seventh grade geography teacher in Nashville, where he later served as an assistant principal at Two Rivers Middle School and Isaac Litton Middle School. He was also principal at Isaac Litton and at Woodford County Middle School in Central Kentucky. Bruno eared a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Kentucky, a master's in Social Studies Secondary Education from UK, and a master's in Administration and Supervision from Tennessee State University. He joined Fayette County Public Schools in July 2020.

Bell came to the district office after serving as principal at Maxwell Elementary for 10 years.  Before becoming a principal, she was the district’s elementary literacy content specialist and taught grades 1-5 at Northern, Harrison, and Meadowthorpe elementary schools. She has been a member of the Fayette County team since 1992. Bell has certification as an education specialist in the area of Supervision as well as her Rank 1 and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Her experience in different roles and passion for continuous learning keep her energized when working with schools and district departments to support students.

Smith holds an Education Specialist degree in Instructional Leadership, a master’s in Reading and Writing from the University of Kentucky, and a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Eastern Kentucky University. She began her career in public education as a fourth-grade teacher in Fayette County Public Schools in 1998. Before accepting the position of chief of elementary schools, she was a principal at Ashland Elementary from 2013-17. Smith also served as a principal in Clark County for three years, from 2010-13.  Other experience includes serving as a classroom teacher, Reading Recovery specialist, and instructional coach.  Before working in the public school system, Smith was a childcare teacher and center director for 13 years in the corporate and nonprofit sectors.

Most recently, Thompson was director of Student Support Services for FCPS. Before joining the district in 2013, she served as a high school associate principal and Freshman Academy principal at a turnaround school, a middle school associate principal, a Kentucky Department of Education branch manager, and a high school Social Studies teacher and department chair. A Lexington native, Thompson earned a B.A. in Secondary Social Studies Education from Kentucky State University, a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, and her Educational Leadership: Principal and Superintendent Certification from the University of Kentucky. 

Adams provides leadership and oversight for colleagues coordinating services under Pupil Personnel, guidance counseling, social work, Family Resource and Youth Services Centers (FRYSC), extended school services, mental health services, and the district’s crisis response team, to name a few. He has also served FCPS as a FRYSC coordinator, child guidance specialist, head teacher, school social worker, assistant director of Pupil Personnel, and Project AWARE grant manager.

Adams earned a bachelor's degree in Family Studies and minor in Musical Performance from the University of Kentucky, a master's in Social Work from the University of Louisville, a Master of Arts in Special Education, LBD, P-12 from Georgetown University, and a Master of Arts in Instructional Leadership from the University of the Cumberlands. He is a certified school social worker, certified DPP, and certified supervisor of instruction; he is also provisionally certified for Instructional Leadership. Adams has taught in UK's College of Social Work graduate program since 2005. In addition, he works part-time providing clinical services. He is also certified as a youth mental health first aid instructor. Notably, he was honored in 2001 as Kentucky’s School Social Worker of the Year. 

Dyar has worked in education in Central Kentucky as a teacher, principal, associate director, and now director of Human Resources in FCPS. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Kentucky, a master’s in Education from Georgetown College, and a master’s in School Administration from Eastern Kentucky University. She also earned the Senior Professional Human Resource Certification in 2009. Dyar is an active member of various local, state, and national chapters of school business leaders and HR manager affiliations, and she received the FCPS Outstanding Service Award in 2010.  

After receiving her B.A. at Washington University in St. Louis, Chatfield began work for U.S. Sen. Wendell H. Ford in Washington, D.C. In 1990, she returned to Kentucky to attend the University of Kentucky College of Law. After graduation, she served as the first law clerk for the Honorable Jennifer Coffman and then joined the staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Chatfield took a decade off from the practice of law to raise three children and moved from New York to Seattle to Chicago to Belgium. A member of the Kentucky and Illinois bars, she returned to Kentucky and joined the Bowling Green firm of English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, specializing in education law. From there, she moved to her current position as general counsel for Fayette County Public Schools. In 2016, she received the UK College of Law’s Professional Achievement Award. To keep her sanity, Chatfield also teaches indoor cycling classes.

Born and raised in Lexington, James spent his K-12 years in Fayette County Public Schools. After participating in the Gifted and Talented Accelerated Program during elementary and middle school, he graduated from the Liberal Arts Academy at Henry Clay High School in 2015. He then attended Centre College, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Spanish.