Jeanette Brooks Priebe (born July 4, 1937) was the Tennessee-born Director of the
Louisville Civil Service Board in
Kentucky when she instituted the first
affirmative action hiring program for
the Louisville metro area public service personnel. During the 1970s, Priebe directed the integration of the
Louisville Metro Police Department and the
Louisville Division of Fire
The Louisville Division of Fire, commonly known as the Louisville Fire Department or Louisville Fire & Rescue (abbreviated LFD or LFR), is the sole fire suppression agency for the city of Louisville, Kentucky and is one of nineteen fire departme ...
.
Priebe led her department in devising a new method of hiring new applicants. Instead of receiving only the top candidates, the hiring department would be able to review all applicants, assuring then that all were considered – including African Americans and women. The new organizational process included a specific job classification system that took a year of intense analysis to complete. Four years before, these descriptions were vague, and a class action suit had been filed on behalf of the one African-American employee. The county government's Personnel Department became "more centralized and, more importantly, more professional." There were also new procedures for applicant screening and recruiting. Priebe once said, "Unless you're allowed to find the most qualified people, it's a literal misuse of tax money."
["Judge McConnell's Appointee Does Bang-Up Job With Jefferson County Personnel." ''The Portland Anchor'' (Louisville) 26 February 1981: 23. Print.]
After working as the Director of the Civil Service Board, Priebe worked for then-Judge
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConne ...
as Jefferson County Personnel and Executive Council Agency Member-At-Large for th
International Personnel Management Association
Jeanette Brooks Priebe was born in Bolivar, Tennessee and attended
Union University in
Jackson, Tennessee before enrolling in
Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois. She was the first woman to serve as the Director of the Civil Service Board in
Louisville, Kentucky.
See also
*
Workplace discrimination
*
Employment discrimination law in the United States
*
Affirmative Action
References
Other resources
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Kentucky Revised Statutes 344.040 "Discrimination by employers"
* "Kurtz, Priebe Win in IPMA Election,
IPMA News November 1980.
* Shafer, Sheldon. "Fiscal Court accepts nomination of Mrs. Priebe as personnel chief." ''The Courier Journal'' (Louisville), 17 March 1978. Print.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priebe, Jeanette Brooks
1937 births
Living people
People from Louisville, Kentucky
American civil rights activists
American civil servants
Union University alumni
Northwestern University alumni