joining the board that you didn’t
know before?
A. That the budget has a million
different moving pieces to it. When you
are responsible, or partly responsible
for that budget as a board member, you
really feel the different moving parts –
the fact that you have multiple schools,
you have hundreds of staff members,
clubs, activities, everything that goes into
building maintenance.
Q. What is your favorite activity that
you participate in as a board member?
A. As a dad, we have a program called
Watchdogs and that’s where we get to
go into the elementary schools and we
get to spend the day there … Being in the
schools, listening to the teachers, hearing
them work with the students; that has
been one of my favorite parts. But as a
board member, I would say it’s getting
to work with our community partners
and learning how we can connect
with the county, with the city, with the
chamber of commerce - that it’s not just
the educational
system, it’s
the entire
community
that wants to
see us succeed.
BEYOND THE BOARD
Q. You have been on the board for
nearly four years. Why did you want
to serve?
A. We moved to Woodford County in
2018 and right around that time the
district was trying to get a new high
school built. Because my daughters were
so young, I wanted to learn more about
the school system. I’m always interested
in education – in my professional
career I’m the director of training for
a professional company, so I provide
education to professional adults.
It was at a time when building this
new high school, how to pay for it, how
it would affect taxes – it was a pretty
volatile time. The school board meetings
became pretty kind of aggressive
and pretty heated a lot of the times.
My demeanor, my experience in the
workplace – I’ve worked with a lot of
different personalities, a lot of different
companies – I just really felt like maybe
I could add something, a little bit of a
calmer presence, bring the temperature
down. I’m used to seeing things from
different sides and coming up with
solutions, problem solving.
Q. As board chairman now, how
do you manage meetings that can
sometimes become contentious?
A. One of the things I try to do is not
react and not engage in argumentative
types of verbiage. I really try to take
a breath, listen, block out a lot of that
negativity and just focus on what we’re
talking about. I kind of rank everything:
students first, then staff, then parents,
then community members. I try to give
everybody an opportunity to speak, let
them get out whatever they want to say.
I have to step in sometimes to say, ‘Hey,
we need to get back in focus’- but calmly.
I also find it very helpful to have a nice
communication link with the board
members and superintendent so that
when we get to these meetings, we don’t
want things to be huge surprises.
Q. Your two daughters attend
Woodford County schools. What do
they think about their dad being a
school board member?
A. My oldest daughter is in middle
school now, so she gets it. She knows
that I help either talk about the budget
or we help make rules or guidance
for the district and we work with all
these different stakeholders in the
community. My 4th grader is also
picking up on that. They will tell me
what’s going on in their schools, about
struggles – they also talk about really
cool things that schools do. So I get to
see firsthand how our curriculum and
instruction work for our students.
Q. What is something you learned
about school district operations after
Adam Brickler
WOODFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS
Hometown: Springfield, Illinois
Family: Wife, Jessica (a Woodford County
native), married 14 years; daughters Presley
Beth,12; and Violet Marie, 10.
Favorite subjects: In high school, they were
sciences like chemistry and biology. In college,
I gravitated toward communication and
business classes.
Hobbies: My daughters are very active, and
are in a lot of either sports or activities, so as
a dad of young daughters, they’re kind of my
hobby right now.
Book recommendation: The Kent Family
Chronicles series (by John Jakes). The series is
actually historical fiction that follows a family
tree from before the Revolutionary War through
the Civil War. I love book series that follow
multiple characters and connect them.
Interesting fact: I went skydiving for my 40th
birthday. My wife surprised me with the gift
days before it was scheduled. It was an amazing
experience with adrenaline, excitement and fear
all wrapped together.
Getting to know
24 Kentucky School Advocate | MAY 2026