LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Two new faces will join the Jefferson County Board of Education after winning their seats in the general election.

Taylor Everett ran unopposed and will represent District 7 on the board. His wife was a teacher and aide at JCPS for 10 years and his daughter is a sophomore attending Ballard High School. He is currently director of government services at the consulting firm Eight Eleven Group.

Trevin Bass defeated candidate Barbara Lewis for the District 4 seat. Bass is grant contract coordinator for the Louisville Metro Office of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods. He is also a JCPS parent and has two children currently attending the district.

With a background in recruiting, Everett believes his experience can help the board address transportation issues caused by the current bus driver shortage.

“With my background, I think we need to put more resources into it,” Everett said. “We need to use outside companies and we probably need to hire more recruiters to find these people because the salary and benefits are there, it’s just a matter of being able to reach enough people to fill the positions.”

Bass tells WAVE he thinks the district should have more support systems for drivers. Last year, the shortage caused massive calls of bus drivers for challenging routes and a perceived lack of discipline by the district when it comes to student behavior on buses.

“Provide support to the bus drivers, let them know we have their back,” Bass said. “You are not just an employee, you are part of a family. “I want to bring that family aspect back to the JCPS culture.”

Another issue that has been a priority for parents is the new security measures JCPS is taking to prevent weapons from being brought into schools. Everett believes the district should expand its use of weapons detection systems.

“It is non-negotiable to me that those weapons detection systems should be in every school where we can install them,” Everett said. “I also think we can probably add more cameras on the outside of school buildings to detect people approaching who maybe shouldn’t be there.”

In September, the shooting outside a Pleasure Ridge Park High School football game that killed a 17-year-old JCPS student left parents shocked.

As executive director of the nonprofit youth mentoring program First Strike of Unity and Peace Inc., Bass said he would like to see more outreach to students to get to the root causes of violence.

“One thing I do is work with kids that way, talk to them and try to find solutions,” Bass said. “I found that most of it comes from financial opportunities. So moving forward with that, bringing everyone to the table, not just the adults, bringing the kids so we can have a full circle of solutions.”

The JCPS school board will also have the opportunity to shape the future of the district when it leads the search for a new superintendent after Marty Pollio’s retirement in July 2025.

Everett said he would like to see candidates with educational backgrounds and possibly business experience.

“Some type of business experience, some type of organizational experience important because JCPS has 100,000 students with thousands of employees,” Everett said. “If you don’t know how to run an operation that size, it just won’t work.”

“They have to be accessible,” Bass said. “They need to be able to go to different schools, attend different events and be recognizable, and also be able to be humbled, to be able to accept it and say, ‘I don’t know what’s going on.'”

Two other members of the board of directors will maintain their positions for the next four years.

Tricia Lister was appointed to the board in September to represent District 2 after the resignation of board member Chris Kolb and ran unopposed in the election.

Incumbent Gail Strange retained her seat representing District 1, beating challenger Mark Gatton.

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