Editor’s note: The Elk Valley Times will publish candidate announcements and photos as we receive them and as space allows before the July 29, 2026, edition. The election is on Aug. 6, 2026. Announcements should be no longer than 700 words and emailed to lscripps@elkvalleytimes.com. They may be edited for length, grammar, style and content.

Longtime resident Kay Campbell has announced her candidacy for the Lincoln County School Board, District 5.

“Our public schools are facing challenging times,” said Campbell, who is retired from more than 20 years of teaching at every level, from kindergarten through college. “Despite parents’ best efforts, students are arriving at school with more social needs, abbreviated attention spans, and significant learning lags. Meanwhile, the Tennessee state legislature has shifted funds and support from public schools to private schools — without requiring the same standards or accountability for those schools.”

Campbell hopes that as a School Board member, she can help bolster the structure for success in Lincoln County for both students and teachers by being a voice of experience as Board members implement required state policies and manage local resources.

“Every vote I take will be balanced against sound educational principles and an insider’s concern for how those policies will impact the day-to-day life of our teachers and students,” Campbell said.

Campbell is also retired from newspaper journalism, first with the Elk Valley Times — where her education coverage won multiple state awards — then with the Tullahoma News. For 17 years she was a reporter and photographer for The Huntsville Times. As reporter, she spent hours listening to and then reporting on School Board meetings.

“I know from the experience of covering their meetings and in conversation with past Board members that School Board members are under on-going pressure from disgruntled parents, outside groups driven by politically motivated censorship campaigns, short-sighted state regulations, and ever more urgent financial and structural needs in our schools,” Campbell said. “But I firmly believe that strong public schools are one of the cornerstones of our democracy’s strength. It would be a privilege to do what I can to build on our strengths here in Lincoln County and to advocate for our schools at the state level.”

Even during her years as a full-time reporter at the Huntsville Times, Campbell continued to co-coach the Lincoln County Academic Team, which she founded in 1998. During her 14 years of volunteer coaching with a teacher co-coach, she said the team consistently qualified for and competed for state champions and twice qualified to compete on the national level.

Campbell said her work as a volunteer coach reminded her of the strengths of a school system still small enough for administrators, teachers, volunteers, and students to know each other. In her years of teaching, Campbell has taught at private religious schools, at Huntland High School and Fayetteville Middle Schools, as well as at Highland Rim and Lincoln County High School. Her last teaching assignment was six years with the Huntsville City Schools, mostly as an elementary Spanish teacher. Additionally, as she completed her graduate work, Campbell taught at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Motlow State Community College, and Vanderbilt University.

“I’ve been blessed with a career that has given me a broad perspective on the possibilities and range of educational experiences in our areas,” Campbell said.

Campbell’s sons were raised in Lincoln County, attending Highland Rim, Fayetteville Junior Academy, and graduating from Lincoln County High School. She and her husband are active members of First Presbyterian Church, where she is also church choir and handbell director, worship pianist, and part of the Children’s Sermon team.

In their spare time, she and her husband tend their beehives and deliver Meals on Wheels for the Lincoln County Senior Center. Since her retirement, Campbell has been able to re-join the Fayetteville Rotary Club. One of the civic projects she said she is especially honored to have been a part of was as a member of the founding board of directors for Leadership Lincoln — an experience, that, along with her work as a local newspaper reporter, has given her a wide perspective on the people and projects blossoming in Lincoln County.

“There are so many volunteers in our community that give their time and energy to improve the lives of citizens of Lincoln County,” Campbell said. “Since I first drove onto the Square in my late 20s, I knew that I wanted to be a contributing member of this community. I’ve been blessed by the work of so many to build up our county. I would be honored to be part of supporting and strengthening our schools for the decades ahead.”