“From small things mama, big things one day come.”
-Bruce Springsteen (Dave Edmunds)

The death of Rosa Parks reminded us that the American civil rights movement can be traced to one ordinary woman who did something extraordinary.

Someday, Kentucky’s gifted children may be able to say the same thing about Shauna Bomkamp.

Shauna and her husband John have a gifted daughter named Allison. Allison was smart enough to skip kindergarten and go to first grade.

Someday, Kentucky’s gifted children may be able to say the same thing about Shauna Bomkamp.

Shauna and her husband John have a gifted daughter named Allison. Allison was smart enough to skip kindergarten and go to first grade.

The school board in Kenton County sent the Bomkamp’s a bill for $3000 for skipping the grade.

I wrote a column last year, called “Bureaucrats Gone Wild in Kenton County” about the incident.  I was afraid that the Bomkamp family would be overwhelmed by the red tape and put Allison in the kindergarten classes.

I obviously did not know Shauna Bomkamp.

With the intensity of Tiger Woods, Shauna set forth to do battle with bureaucrats.

Shauna and John operated as a team but Shauna was the one I never wanted to encounter in a dark alley.  She is very nice but a tough and fearless woman.

She enlisted a lot of help along the way. Allison’s fight was a big story in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky media.  Her State Senator, Jack Westwood, sponsored legislation to make sure Allison was the last Kentuckian to be charged for skipping kindergarten.

She will be. 

I heard from Shauna many times as she persistently moved forward.  The Bomkamp’s kept up the fight until the Kentucky Board of Education changed the regulations.

Gifted children will not have to waste their time keeping bureaucrats happy.   Senator Westwood’s legislation is breezing through the Kentucky legislature.   It will make sure a future school board does not change it mind.

For generations to come, gifted children around Kentucky will benefit from the stance that Shauna and John Bomkamp took.

Shauna and John aren’t political people.  They just seemed like good parents.  They have a talented child and did not want arbitrary rules or stupid regulations to get in her way.

They were fed up and willing to fight.

It is probably the same emotion that made Rosa Parks refuse to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.

Most historic moments are caused by ordinary people doing something extraordinary.

Shauna Bomkamp’s name can be added to that list.

Don McNay is President of McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Ky.  where we also want to change the world.   His award winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.  You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things he has written at DonMcNay.com