Lilley chooses a different path in education
By GORDON ANDERSON
anderson@sanfordherald.com
SANFORD — As a young woman, Kim Lilley hoped to make a career in music education.
But although she gives a few students piano and voice lessons locally during her spare time, education never became a full-time job for Lilley, who works in quality control at Wyeth Vaccines in Sanford.
Now, with a run for one of the four available seats on the Lee County Board of Education, Lilley is looking to add another aspect to her life as an educator.
“I had always intended to go into music education,” said Lilley, explaining that music was her initial course of study at her native Tennessee’s Tennessee Temple University before she eventually earned an associate’s degree in business. “But its so hard to make a living in that field that I eventually changed my focus.”
Along the way, Lilley met and married her husband Mark, who after several television stations across the south now helps run WBF TV-46 in Sanford. They have four children and have lived in Sanford since 2003.
Lilley’s commitment to her own education has shown — since December, she’s completed a bachelor’s degree and begun work on a master’s degree — and she said that she’d bring that attitude to the school board.
“Education is very important to me on a very personal level,” she said. “I come from a background where there never was a lot of education. It wasn’t the fault of my parents, it was just the situation we were in.”
Lilley said she first came to the realization that she’d be interested in serving as a school board member one day while at the TV station where her husband works.
“I told Mark that one day I really wanted to make a difference in the community and run for school board,” she said. “I think I can have a real, positive impact on education here in Lee County.”
Lilley singled out renovations at Lee County High School as one of the most serious issues facing not just the school board, but the entire county.
“I’m disappointed that we’re not doing our students there and our faculty there any favors by continuing to prolong the process of having the school renovated,” she said.
While Lee County residents will vote May 6 on a quarter-cent sales tax that could conceivably fund renovations to the school, many candidates have said they doubt the tax will pass because county commissioners have declined to specify whether the money would actually be used for repairs to the school.
“If the tax doesn’t pass, we need to cut spending,” she said. “Because we still need to renovate that school, no matter what. If it was my house we were talking about, I’d cut whatever I had to in order to keep a roof over my head.”
Kim Lilley
Age: 44
Occupation: Quality control administration at Wyeth Vaccines
Office sought: One of four at-large seats on the Lee County Board of Education
Political experience: None
Education: Associate’s degree in business from Tennessee Temple University, bachelor’s degree in business management from Liberty University, currently working on a master’s degree in management from Liberty University.
