I am pleased to announce my candidacy for the Pendleton
County Magistrate District 2. I have
been married to my husband Bryan for 30 years and together we have three sons –
Jacob, Luke, and Max. My husband and I
both graduated from Pendleton County High School in 1985. I went on to pursue a nursing degree at
Northern Kentucky University and then traveled and worked in many different
states while my husband was in the Air Force.
In 1998, my husband transitioned out of active duty, and we moved back
to Kentucky to raise our family. I
currently work for Northern Kentucky University in their College of Health
& Human Services where I teach nursing to second year nursing students. I also work as a nurse in the summer for St.
Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood’s Cardiac Rehab Unit.
Nurse Advocate
In 2010, I started my doctoral degree in Educational
Leadership at NKU. I knew right away
that I wanted to do my research on something that would improve my
community. Several years prior a
classmate of mine (Dale Kirsch) had passed away due to cardiac arrest at Grassy
Creek Christian Church, and there was some delay before the emergency medical
services arrived at the scene. This event
became the impetus for my research study at Sharp Middle School. Thankfully Mr. Greg Valentine allowed me to
come into his classroom and teach CPR to the students. In turn, these students were given CPR
manikins to take home and teach their parents Hands-Only CPR. My goal with the study was to empower
students and their parents with the knowledge of what to do while they are
waiting for EMS to arrive.
In January 2016, the President of the Kentucky Nurses
Association asked that I come on board as their Governmental Affairs
Chairperson. As
Governmental Affairs Chairperson, you find initiatives that the KNA should
endorse. I soon found a CPR bill that had twice failed to be passed into
legislation. This CPR bill would mandate CPR training of all students in
public schools before they graduate. It failed because legislators felt
it was another unfunded mandate. I immediately started working on a
position statement that was accepted by the KNA and eventually sent to all
legislators. The position statement was concise and focused on why Hands-
Only CPR training is easily implemented without being another unfunded mandate. In fall 2016, the CPR bill (SB 33) was signed
into law by Governor Matt Bevin, and I was able to see the impact of something
that started at a local level making an impact at a state level.
Student Advocate
I served on the Pendleton County
School Board from January 2013 until July 2018. Besides serving as
Chairperson, I also served on the Health & Wellness Committee, Finance
Committee and Curriculum Committee. As Chairperson, I led the Superintendent
Search, which is extremely labor intensive because of all the regulations that
must be followed. In the end, we hired a superintendent that has the work
ethic and integrity to get our district through challenging times. Unfortunately, my involvement with this board ended in July 2018
due to my son moving to another school district in northern Kentucky. I
knew it was best to resign because of the perception that it gave. Plus, staying on the board would take energy
away from the momentum we had achieved with the hiring of our new superintendent. Between serving on the Board and the Site
Based Decision Making Council, I worked in this district for 9.5 years. During my time on the board, I advocated for
student representation on the board and fair and equitable treatment for
employees when it came to their pay.
Community Advocate
My time away from political life has been used wisely, and I
have developed tools that will help me as magistrate. During the pandemic, I served on a five-member
team (Ad Hoc Contingency Budget Development Group) to find ways to improve
efficiencies and invest in revenue producing programs to help make NKU a leader
in higher education. Our recommendations
went to NKU’s President Vaidya and on to the Board of Regents. I also currently serve on the Faculty Senate
Budget Committee at NKU. Most recently,
I successfully wrote and had a grant approved to increase cultural awareness in
our NKU nursing students.
If elected as Magistrate, I pledge to keep the community
interests my number one priority when making decisions. I see the potential for growth in District 2
in the coming years. However, we need to
ensure the growth comes from the needs and desires of the people of Pendleton
County and not from outside entities. I
am currently conducting a needs assessment.
I have been trying to attend community meetings throughout Pendleton
County and reaching out to residents in my district. I will be writing a series of articles about
what the residents of District 2 feel are important to them and how I as magistrate
could impact that change. I am always
open to suggestions. Do not hesitate to
call or text me at 859-472-2799 or email me at smnordheim@aol.com.
PC Strong,
Dr. Shawn Nordheim
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