Katye Campbell has always been a high capacity leader at every level.  From being a salutatorian and National Merit Scholar Semi-finalist in high school to graduating in Summa Cum Laude in college, she has always risen to the top.  It only takes a few minutes of conversation with her to realize that you are dealing with a high quality individual who thrives on challenge.

A child of a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who, after finishing at the top of his class, volunteered to serve in Vietnam over the option to stay in the states as an instructor, her parents raised her with a strong sense of civic duty, sacrifice and generosity.  From both her parents, she learned to be a hard-working, no-nonsense person who values honesty.

Katye is a natural born educator with a heart for reaching the underachiever.  Receiving her degree in music education and choosing to teach middle school (her favorite age group), her heart was to return to public school in the inner city of Fort Worth, and make it better. 

Her teaching career spans three states, where she taught in both Title 1 schools, where 90% of kids were on free or reduced lunch.  At this school, Katye led the charge with other teachers who volunteered to come in early every day to serve breakfast to children who were in need.   She collaborated often with the academic and elective teams and led the school’s arts partnership with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.  She was also the only teacher in the building to serve every special education student.  As a choir teacher, she took her students to assessment contests every year, but she also took her singing groups to perform in nursing homes so they could give back to the community. 

This experience gives her a broad perspective on and a heart to speak for the challenges of serving a children and parents with a wide variety of life challenges.  

As a home owner in District 5, she also realizes how schools add value to our area and can be a powerful force in helping make our community not only more desirable place to move, but also, a better place to live. That takes everyone.  “It takes a village to raise a child.” 

As a substitute teacher, she has been in more than 55 classrooms in five schools at all levels in the last two school years.   This experience has given her the opportunity to be in several schools throughout her district and to see first hand the challenges that our students, teachers and parents face every day.  She also served on the Music Instructional Materials Adoption Committee for Brevard Public Schools in 2016.

Katye is a committed follower of Jesus, and served as the Worship Leader at Bay West Church, where her husband, Jim, is Lead Pastor.  They have launched Bay West, which started as a campus of First Baptist Church of Melbourne, as its own autonomous church.  As a volunteer leader in the church, she coordinated and taught a group for moms at First Baptist Melbourne, led small groups, sang and played in the worship teams at First Baptist and Bay West, and helped plan large community events.

Some of the most common characteristics people use to describe her include “wise”, “honest” and a “breath of fresh air” in any situation.  

She is an instinctive problem solver, she is a mentor to other women and is constantly being sought out by others for wisdom and advice on all kinds of issues.  Katye has the ability to assimilate large amounts of data and see positive solutions.  Her relentless discipline and work ethic causes her to become a valued member of any organization.

Naturally, Katye gravitates toward issues to make them better.  When a local charity in Fort Worth, that she supported, was having some problems with their record-keeping, she volunteered for the task and ended up keeping the books for that organization for 7 years.  When she moved to Florida, they asked her to continue the role remotely, so 3 of those years were in another state.

She is a wife of 20+ years, a mother of three BPS students, volunteers with Junior Achievement and serves on the board of The Children’s Hunger Project.  Katye has put in hundreds of volunteer hours over the years in their children’s schools in the classroom, on field trips, and as a piano accompanist.   Her family structure makes her the only candidate in the race where the decisions of the office literally “hit home” at every level.   

Katye sees the opportunity to serve on the School Board as a calling, and she is so very thankful for the encouragement and support she has received from friends in the community.  Her family is on board and ready for the challenges ahead.