Weighing in on the Candidates

I’m sorry we have abandoned you these past weeks. It has certainly been a terrible time for a hiatus since there has been much to address. It has not gone unnoticed the level of interest you have in the school board races. I had fully planned on addressing the candidates before early voting started. At least I can hopefully lend a little additional information to those of you who have not already voted.

I can start off by saying that the SCEA did most of my job for me. Anyone endorsed by the SCEA is the candidate you do not want to vote for. Those individuals were all recruited by Benny Bills and his followers to run in these races. They only want to serve on the school board to be the rubber stamp Bills so desperately needs. Unless you want the inept Benny Bills continuing to use his tyranny to run our schools into the ground, do not elect any of the individuals endorsed by the self-serving, moral-less SCEA. I would not put it past Bills to decide to put in another decade as our superintendent if he has the votes to do so. And it should go without saying that anyone willing to let Bills serve past THIS September does not have the best interest of our schools or our children at heart. I am hopeful that, with all the illegal activity of Bills and his administration, we will not have to put up with him for another year and our schools can finally move on and move up. Maybe you’re tired of all the “warring” on the school board, but the only way to move past it is to rid ourselves of Bills. Until he’s gone, it will not stop. He will stay and reign as long as we let him, dragging our schools down every step of the way. I do not believe that he will retire next June. Before the most recent 4-year extension of his contract, he swore he was on his last term. It is imperative that the right school board members are elected. Else we can look forward to another four years of the same, while all the other school districts in TN move ahead. 

Specifically:

District 1

Andy Spears is Bills’ candidate. That should be enough. But I’ll also note that Spears is in this race only because of his bigger political aspirations. He tweets and blogs as Andy2012. If you’re willing to vote for Spears, you should first ask him if he’s even planning to put in 4 years on the school board. In the last year, he has vied for and lost 2 superintendent positions (Murfreesboro City Schools Director: http://www.murfreesboropost.com/strong-field-in-mcs-director-race-cms-20329 and Cheatham County Superintendent: http://ccsbwatchdogs.blogspot.com/2009/08/tim-webb-tennessee-commissioner-of.html), which makes me wonder if running in this race is part of a plan to land himself the Sumner County Director of Schools position. I’m not clear on his motives, but it is quite clear that they are self-serving.

If you’re having difficulty deciding between John Bradley and Vanessa Silkwood, I am afraid I will not be much help to you. I cannot endorse one over the other. I’m easily persuaded by the pros of both candidates, and I can easily dismiss the cons offered by the opposition of each. Most compelling for Bradley is that he is the city attorney for both Hendersonville and Westmoreland. We have such a diverse county that it would be to the school board’s advantage to have a member who can represent two communities with such differing populations. Most compelling for Silkwood is her enthusiasm and her tenacity. As a relatively newcomer to the Sumner County political scene, she has garnered the endorsement of SURG and the SCYR. She has also attended nearly every school board meeting in the last 1-2 years. She has demonstrated that she is ready to learn and work hard. I’ve heard some compare her to Beth Cox, but I firmly believe that Ms. Silkwood has the spine and security that Ms. Cox so obviously lacks. Furthermore, I do not believe that Ms. Silkwood’s principles are for sale like those of Ms. Cox. This is the only race that I don’t see an obvious choice. And, honestly, when it comes down to the most important issues, I believe that Bradley and Silkwood would give the same vote 99% of the time. My biggest fear is that the rational vote will be split between the two and the Bills fanatics will win a victory with Spears.

District 3

Don Long would be the obvious choice in District 3 no matter who else was running. He has done a good job as Chairman of the School Board this year, and with Mike Fussell not returning, Long will have to be the unvarying force that holds the board to the right path. It is to the benefit of Sumner County Schools that he is running uncontested. As for the “write-in candidate” whom I will not even name on this blog… A person who is willing to fundraise and campaign but is not willing to fill out the necessary paperwork on time is seen by me only to be a silly man who has allowed himself to be a pawn in the game. It actually annoys me to no end that this man has been allowed to participate in the forums and has been included in the media coverage. Why have a procedure at all for local candidates to follow? We already have a superintendent with no regard for rules or laws. Do we really need a school board member with the same philosophy? I have no doubt that this man will be humiliated by the results, and I will have little sympathy for him.

District 5

I find it incredibly amusing that Shannon Dunn was endorsed by the SCEA over Bill Ward, but that alone should make it perfectly evident how Bills-centered the SCEA is. Bill Ward taught and coached in Sumner County Schools for 26 years, leaving only to serve full time as a Logistics Officer in the Tennessee Air National Guard. Ward taught and/or coached at Portland High, Hendersonville High and Hawkins Middle. It seems to me that 26 years in our school system, spent earning titles like “Outstanding Young Educator” and “Coach of the Year”, would qualify someone to serve on the School Board. The SCEA may find it interesting that in Ms. Dunn’s SURG questionnaire she stated that she would strongly favor a law that would prevent government employees from joining a union. I guess the SCEA’s affection is not returned. Dunn was recruited by friend Beth Cox to run, and I’m quite sure another Beth Cox on the School Board would not even be an improvement from Rob Wheeler.

District 7

Since I know that former Bills student, Andy Daniels, was asked to run personally by Mr. Bills, he is naturally the candidate not to vote for. It’s only an added red flag that his Facebook page is full of misspellings like this:

“Interesting article form the Tennessean about TCAP test score expectations. Schools will be providing more information before individual scores are released in September. Good read, espically for parents…”

There’s just not enough information out there about Jim Huffman for me to feel confident saying that he is not a good candidate. I can’t even find anything about the business he owns, The Wood Shop. And in this day and age, that’s a little strange. Would anyone like to offer some insight? However, my pick for District 7 is Don Sadler. He is involved in the Gallatin community, and he ran in the last School Board election, marginally losing to Ben Harris. He is obviously committed to the fight, else why would he try again.

District 9

Will Duncan has the record to show what a miserable school board member he is. I was delighted to hear that someone was running against him. Unfortunately, I hear that Don Ludgate may not know which end is up in regards to public education issues. Much of his focus has been on rhetoric surrounding reinstating prayer in schools. Perhaps a worthy cause, it is not one that can be fought at the local school board level. Nontheless, I still concede that no one could be worse than Duncan.

District 11

David Brown is running uncontested, so I guess we can look forward to another 4 years of him. He was once a commendable board member, before Bills gave his son a job. Perhaps he will return to his convictions.