In a three-page letter addressed to the Jefferson County Public School Board of Education, Chris Kolb, who oversaw district two, has resigned “effective immediately.”
Kolb began his letter stating that he would be leaving, and seeking to become a teacher within the JCPS system.
However, as the letter went on, Kolb detailed how “tumultuous” the history of JCPS had been, but that he aided in the recovery of the school district through many different acts, including the hiring of Dr. Marty Polio, fighting off an “all-out assault on JCPS by former Gov. Matt Bevin and the Republican-led state legislature,” increasing property taxes to gain more revenue for JCPS and many others.
Kolb said he would have run for reelection for a third term on the board. However, after not getting an endorsement from the JCPS teachers’ union, he ultimately decided to drop out of the race.
On the last leg of his letter, he called out both Dr. Corrie Shull and Vice Chair James Craig for putting their “own political aspirations above the needs of JCPS students.”
“Even if I was not seeking to become a JCPS teacher I simply cannot be on the board any longer under the current board leadership and so, as I stated at the outset, I am resigning effective immediately,” Kolb stated in his letter.
According to Kolb, since he could not convince the board to focus on “student outcomes” or raise enough revenue to address the “staffing crisis” at JCPS, he said he would do what he could by shifting his focus to teaching.
Both Shull and Craig have not responded to the allegations put forward by Kolb.
This article appears in Jul 17-30, 2024.
