An Extraordinary School Board Member: Kelly Sutherland

Dr. Kelly Sutherland has been on the Fair Grove School Board for six years, and has spent 36 years in education. 

“I ran for the Fair Grove school board for a simple reason; because I love our community and schools! Running for your local school board can be a challenging and exciting experience. It presents many opportunities to contribute to and improve your school and community,” stated Sutherland. She is one of the four school board members that are not currently up for reelection this year, and will continue on the board next year, as board seats are multi-year terms. 

Dr. Sutherland has put her best effort forth to be an effective member of the school board. She said that she, “…contributes her unique talents through collaborating and revisiting district policies, plans and budgets, in an effort to continually improve our classrooms and schools, while at the same time boosting student academic performance.”

Sutherland believes that the imprint that the school board leaves will be felt after this year and that it needs to be positive. “I want to support students, parents, teachers, administration and the community as a school board member. I want to be a part of a school board that will lift up the quality of education available to all our students. My efforts as a board member center on serving all of the children in the community; one child is no more important than another,” she stated. 

This is Dr. Sutherland’s 36th year in the field of education. She currently works at Evangel University as an Education Professor and Coordinator for the Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. This is her tenth year teaching at Evangel and she teaches at all three levels of education; undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral. 

Prior to working at Evangel she was the Elementary Principal here at Fair Grove, she has also been a part of the Willard and Pleasant Hope School Districts in either the role of administration or teaching.

Dr. Sutherland stated that her top focus for this year as a school board member is, “…creating an environment where every child has the opportunity to succeed. A quality education helps position our kids to be successful adults. I will do everything possible to make sure that all of our children have every opportunity available including a wide range of high-quality academic and extra-curricular opportunities. My other priority is to see continual improvements to communication between the school and parents. A child’s success in school relies so much on parent involvement. The school has a responsibility to inform parents and partner with them.”