Volume 61, Issue 3
153rd KEA Delegate Assembly Elects New President Wolford and V.P. Hiler
The 153rd KEA Delegate Assembly kicked off with a bang of thunder and lightning and tornado warnings across Louisville April 3rd and 4th. Thankfully, delegates attending from across the Commonwealth were spared any accidents or injuries and quickly got down to the business of electing a new President and Vice President of KEA.
President Joel Wolford and Vice President Jessica Hiler were elected by acclimation and their respective three-year terms will begin June 15, 2025. Wolford served as KEA Vice President for the last six years. Hiler served as president of the Fayette County Education Association for 15 years before being elected as vice president.
PROMOTING, PROTECTING, AND STRENGTHENING PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The theme for this year’s assembly—Promote, Protect, and Strengthen Our Public Schools—was reflected in every moment of discussion, presentations, debate, and decision-making. The highest elected governing body of KEA, the Delegate Assembly passed an amendment to the constitution that will ensure continued elected representation on the KEA Board of Directors for all Active members (see details below), adopted the 2025-26 KEA Legislative Program, and agreed on a 2025-26 Program and Budget. In addition, delegates received reports from the multiple standing committees, KEA Retired and KEA Aspiring Educators, KEA Executive Director, and the members of the KEA Executive Committee.
NEA President Becky Pringle paid a visit and pumped up the delegates with a raucous speech in support of the U.S. Department of Education, which days earlier had been gutted by an executive order from President Trump. She also praised KEA for its work fighting back against school vouchers and defeating Constitutional Amendment 2 last November by a 2-to-1 margin. President Pringle praised outgoing president Eddie Campbell, citing especially his tireless leadership helping to overturn WEP/GPO.
KEA AWARDS
Chris Hartman, the first director of Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign and a steering committee member of the Fairness Coalition, was awarded the 2025 Smith-Wilson Award for Civil and Human Rights in Education. Hartman has helped pass anti-discrimination LGBTQ Fairness Ordinances in 21 Kentucky communities, including the state capital, Frankfort, and the small Appalachian town of Vicco.
KEA’s Teacher of the Year award was presented to Dion Copeland, recognizing his outstanding personal accomplishments, advocacy, dedication, leadership, and professionalism. Copeland, a social studies teacher at Carter G. Woodson Academy High School in Fayette County, received the award after only 4 years in the profession. His name will also be submitted as Kentucky’s nominee for the 2026 NEA Teacher of the Year Award.
Delegates also celebrated KEA’s commitment to investing in the future of the profession by celebrating the recipients of over $50,000 in scholarships to active members and future educators.
AMENDMENT PASSAGE
The constitutional amendments that passed at the 2025 Delegate Assembly will ensure continued elected representation on the KEA Board of Directors for all Active members. Members of the KEA Board are elected from their KEA governance districts on a ratio of 1 to every 1000 Active members or greater fraction thereof. That means a KEA governance district must have at least 501 members (the “greater fraction” of 1000) to maintain a seat on the board. When a governance district falls below that number based on the January 15 membership report, they receive notice that they could lose a board seat and are given one year to raise membership. If membership doesn’t meet the threshold by the second year, the board seat is reduced.
Under the former version of the constitution, there were no provisions regarding what would happen when a governance district falls below 501 members and loses its only board seat. KEA never wants any Active member to go unrepresented on its elected bodies, so this was an important issue to address. After some discussion among all the district leaders, and after considering various options, the recently adopted amendment was proposed and was approved by the delegates.
The constitution will now allow districts that lose their only board seat to cluster with the geographically contiguous district with the smallest Active membership for the purpose of electing representation to the board. That means all the Active members in both districts will work together to elect an appropriate number of representatives to the KEA Board.
EDUCATORS TOGETHER
The 153rd Delegate Assembly was a powerful reminder that when Kentucky educators come together with purpose and unity, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.