SINGER JOHN RICH COMPARES TEACHERS & LIBRARIANS TO PEDOPHILES (and owes them an apology)

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On Thursday, singer John Rich showed up at the Tennessee state legislature to testify on behalf of Rep. Scott Cepicky’s HB 1944, a bill to crack down on library books Scott and his friends feel violate the definition of “obscenity”, which appears to vary from state to state and from legislator to legislator.

The Tennessee Library Association has spoken out against this bill. So have many teachers and parents. But it has a lot of support from those Moms For Ignorance aka Bored Moms for Liberty (whose Williamson County chapter was just scorched to the ground by a Republican school board member this week).

It also has the support of John Rich, who has been very outspoken about the issue of obscene library books and the curriculum, despite the fact that his kids go to an expensive private school, and despite the fact that his big hit was “SAVE A HORSE, RIDE A COWBOY”, with a music video featuring women dancing provocatively on a bridge in Nashville.

Rich took to the podium during the committee meeting and honed in on one point in particular, reading the legal definition of “Grooming”, saying that he only sees one difference between library books having what he deems to be sexual content in them and pedophiles in white vans luring kids in to show them sexually illicit content: “Kids can run away from the guy with the van.”

Here’s the VIDEO:

Never mind that teachers and librarians are trained to educate kids. Never mind that pedophiles are actually out to physically harm children. Never mind that there’s a state rep named David Byrd STILL in the Tennessee legislature who has apologized on tape to 1 of 3 women who say he sexually abused them when they were on his high school basketball team in Wayne County, and these same Republicans still continue to serve with him every day without saying a damn thing.

None of that matters to Rich. Nor, apparently, do the feelings of librarians and educators in our state, who had to be horrified by being compared to “groomers” and pedophiles in white vans.

What a disgrace.

He owes them an apology, as do the legislators who brought him there that day (hi Scott Cepicky).

Last week at a Williamson County works session the head of the WCEA gave a tearful speech saying teachers in Tennessee feel attacked these days, and that it feels like “death by 1000 cuts”.

And understandably so. Rich and the bored moms attacking them over books is just a small part of a much bigger attack on our public schools intended to help Governor Lee and his co-conspirators overhaul our public education funding system to steer billions of taxpayer dollars to privately run charter schools to fill kids with their moral , political, and yes religious ideologies.

READ Holler founder Justin Kanew’s op-ed in the Tennessean that lays it all out.

It’s a heist happening right before our eyes. Now is the time to speak up – not only against HB 1944, but also against the many bills intended to help privatize and voucherize our public education system, even against the will of local school boards.

Our librarians, and our schools, are under attack. Who will defend them?

EXPLAINED: GOV. LEE’S “STUDENT-BASED FUNDING FORMULA” MONEY GRAB

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LEE’S NEW PUBLIC SCHOOL MONEY GRAB COMES INTO VIEW

 For months Governor Lee has been touting his new “STUDENT BASED FUNDING FORMULA” which he says will revolutionize how Tennessee funds our public schools. The plan has been very short on details by design, but after the press conference he gave yesterday we now have enough clues to understand what’s really going on.
Previously, Governor Lee did all he could to get private school vouchers passed, even reportedly offering military promotions as bribes to squeak it through the house. Unfortunately for him, the courts held up his unconstitutional plan (SO FAR).Now, instead of steering public dollars to private schools, Lee has begun a partnership with HILLSDALE COLLEGE, a private Christian school in MICHIGAN with close ties to BETSY DEVOS led by Larry Arnn, who Trump appointed to lead his history-whitewashing “1776 Commission” in response to the 1619 Project.

In the State of the State, Lee talked about bringing in Hillsdale to teach our kids to be “informed patriots”, by which he means he wants to fill their heads with propaganda and avoid them learning the the harsh truths of our past.

What Lee didn’t mention in his speech was the fact that he has apparently asked Hillsadale to bring 50-100 CHARTER SCHOOLS to Tennessee, which Arnn mentioned at a meeting in Franklin last September in AUDIO WE UNCOVERED THIS WEEK:

“Governor Lee wanted 100 charter schools in TN.”

When asked about it at a press conference yesterday, Lee did not deny it. He instead leaned into it, saying CHARTER SCHOOLS are a big part of his plan, and repeatedly making a point to call them “PUBLIC” schools – by which he means they’ll be taking our PUBLIC SCHOOL funds.

So instead of strengthening our public schools and funding them properly, Lee is telling us he’s willing to pour another $1 BILLION into our schools BUT ONLY IF WE ADOPT HIS STUDENT-LED FUNDING PROGRAM – which would mean those dollars would follow kids to Charter schools like these Hillsdale schools.

Charters are privately run enterprises. Now Lee thinks he can dodge the accusation of “Steering public funds to private schools” by saying these charter schools are “public schools”, but as someone said recently: Calling charter schools “PUBLIC” because they get public funds is like calling defense contractors public companies.

This has clearly been the plan for a long time. Even the MOMS FOR LIBERTY WILLIAMSON COUNTY CHAIR has been posting about the Hillsdale Charter school planned for Williamson since last year – and we’re told a petition has been pulled in Montgomery county as well.
They want our (underfunded) public school funds to send their kids to what will essentially amount to a publicly-funded private school.

It’s an attack on our public schools. A heist. They’re steering our public school funds towards a network of private schools by another name, run by a Trump loyalist who wants to whitewash our history and fill kids’ heads with propaganda.

And to top it all off, Lee has rigged the charter approval process. So even when communities vote to REJECT these schools, a state board handpicked by the governor can overrule these local decisions.

Worried yet? You should be. Strengthening our public schools should be our top priority. This new “STUDENT-BASED FUNDING FORMULA” SCHEME is just a new way for Governor Lee to steer our public dollars to private companies run by his friends, and he’s using these “PUBLIC” Charter schools as a vessel to do it… and our public schools will suffer.

Florida’s ed commish praised Lee and put it in this distasteful way at Hillsdale College👇🏽WATCH: “YOU CAN’T PUT THE ANIMALS BACK IN THE BARN”😳 – meaning once kids go to a charter school, we have no choice but to keep sending them money because you can’t force them to go back.

OUR QUESTION: Is Gov. Lee’s attempt to use public funds to create a network of private schools (while calling them “public”) even constitutional? Hopefully someone smarter than us can figure that out.

We’ll be here to cover it, and that’s thanks to your support, so Please consider chipping in monthly if you’re not yet doing so, even if it’s just a few bucks – the monthly support truly keeps us going. 

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HILLSDALE PREZ: “GOV. LEE ASKED FOR 100 TN CHARTER SCHOOLS”

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This week at the propaganda-filled State of the State Governor Lee went on a diatribe about “informed patriotism”, saying schools have become “centers of anti-American thought” it would be a priority of his to make sure Tennessee kids learn “unbiased” history – by which he meant very biased history viewed only through his own white, Confederate-uniform-in-college-wearing prism.

To *help* TN kids learn that Deformed Patriotism, Lee said he was going to hire HILLSDALE COLLEGE, a Christian school in Michigan headed up by Larry Arnn, who Trump appointed to lead his “1776 Commission” to write a report to county the harsh truths of the 161 Project. (the first thing Biden did was unpublish its whitewashing view of our history… Arnn once made headlines for calling minority students “dark ones”)

Lee’s speech contained few details about the contract, but we’ve since uncovered some audio from a meeting in FRANKLIN, TN in September of last year (see below) when Arnn revealed that Governor Lee had asked him to bring 100 CHARTER SCHOOLS (!) to Tennessee.

Arnn says he only promised to deliver 50.

We know from sources that charter school applications have already been submitted in WILLIAMSON and MONTGOMERY Counties at least – possibly more.

This is more evidence that Governor Lee is no friend to public schools. The $1 BILLION in new funding he promised our public schools is coming with strings, and the goal is clearly to fund a network of private Christian schools in Tennessee, where he can steer our money to through his vouchers – and the state-level charter school approval board he has rigged to overrule local officials that may not want charters in their area is clearly also part of the plan.

This is an attack on public schools. All of it. From the book censorship, to history-whitewashing, threatening teachers, the mask fight, vouchers, Lee’s charter program…

There is a LOT of money in education, and they’re coming for it.

Are you paying attention yet?

Here’s the part of Lee’s speech we’re referring to:

MCMINN COUNTY BANS “MAUS”, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING HOLOCAUST BOOK

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Continuing the recent spate of conservative book-banning initiatives, The Mcminn County School board just voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “MAUS” by Art Spiegelman from all of its schools, citing the inclusion of words like “God Damn” and “naked pictures” (illustrations) of women.

There is no video available of the meeting, but here are the MINUTES in their entirety.

We called the board and asked if the book being about the Holocaust had anything to do with the decision, and were told it did not. Still, the climate of conservative censorship, the passage of history-whitewashing laws that threaten fines to teachers who teach the truth, and the push towards the banning of books across the state by groups like “Moms for Liberty” makes it fair to question the timing.

The Vote was  10-0, with Yes votes from: Denise Cunningham, Bill Irvin, Quinten Howard, Sharon Brown, Mike Cochran, Mike Lowry, Donna Casteel, Jonathan Pierce, Tony Allman, Rob Shamblin.

Much of the discussion revolved around how books are selected for the curriculum, with finger-pointing at state standards which have become a popular punching bag among conservatives lately. They also discussed the possibility of redacting the words they found objectionable, but decided it would be better to ban the graphic novel altogether.

Let’s also remember that in East Tennessee we recently saw Coach Hawn fired after 17 years for leading a discussion about White Privilege, which is as real as oxygen. And the Tennessee state legislature recently passed their history-whitewashing “anti-CRT ban” which actually threatens to impose massive fines on teachers/districts that teach the truth about our history, and race.

Regardless of why this decision was made, we’re in a climate where a sustained attack is being made on our schools, our teachers, and the truth. The anti-Critical Race Theory furor ginned up by Republican think tanks for political gain morphed into an excuse for right wing folks to try to cancel diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and things they don’t agree with in general — and now Conservative book-banning is really having a moment.

We have to teach the truth about our history. Or it will be repeated.

Below is what some of the various board members had to say in the meeting (contact info here):

Tony Allman, School Board Member: “Why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff, it is not wise or healthy… I am not denying it was horrible, brutal, and cruel. It’s like when you’re watching tv and a cuss word or nude scene comes on it would be the same movie without it. Well, this would be the same book without it… If I had a child in the eighth grade, this ain’t happening. If I had to move him out and homeschool him or put him somewhere else, this is not happening.”

Jonathan Pierce, School Board Member: “My objection, and I apologize to everyone sitting here, is that my standards matter- and I am probably the biggest sinner and crudest person in this room, can I lay that in front of a child and say read it, or this is part of your reading assignment?”

Mike Cochran, School Board Member: “I went to school here thirteen years. I learned math, English, Reading and History. I never had a book with a naked picture in it, never had one with foul language. In third grade I had one of my classmates come up to me and say hey what’s this word? I sounded it out and it was “damn,” and I was real proud of myself because I sounded it out. She ran straight to the teacher and told her I was cussing. Besides that one book which I think she brought from home, now I’ve seen a cuss word in a textbook at school. So, this idea that we have to have this kind of material in the class in order to teach history, I don’t buy it. “

A few in the room came to the book’s defense. We’re told many teachers in the county are upset about the decision, some seemed in favor of just removing the objectionable words:

Julie Goodin, Instructional Supervisor: “I can talk of the history, I was a history teacher and there is nothing pretty about the Holocaust and for me this was a great way to depict a horrific time in history. Mr. Spiegelman did his very best to depict his mother passing away and we are almost 80 years away. It’s hard for this generation, these kids don’t even know 9/11, they were not even born. For me this was his way to convey the message. Are the words objectionable? Yes, there is no one that thinks they aren’t but by taking away the first part, it’s not changing the meaning of what he is trying to portray and copyright… I have an eighth grader and even if you did pull this book I would want him to read it because we have to teach our kids. Are these words ok? No, not at all that is not acceptable, but the problem is that we are 80 years removed from the Holocaust itself. I just think this is a grave starting point for our teachers. I am very passionate about history, and I would hate to rob our kids of this opportunity. Are we going to be teaching these words outside of this book as vocabulary words? No, you know me better than that Tony Allman. ”

Melasawn Knights, Federal Programs Supervisor: “I think any time you are teaching something from history, people did hang from trees, people did commit suicide and people were killed, over six million were murdered. I think the author is portraying that because it is a true story about his father that lived through that. He is trying to portray that the best he can with the language that he chooses that would relate to that time, maybe to help people who haven’t been in that aspect in time to actually relate to the horrors of it. Is the language objectionable? Sure. I think that is how he uses that language to portray that… We are trying our best to redact the best we can and follow the law and that is what we felt like we have done to address the concerns of that language, the best we could. We think it is a valuable book and most of the supervisors here have read it.”

Steven Brady, Instructional Supervisor: “Every lesson we teach gives us a chance to make a change for the better for our students. When we teach habits of character, we are teaching our students how to be better people. There was a time where that happened every day at home, but when we think about what’s going on now and in the lives our students live in, many of them live in broken homes when they are at one house one day and another house the next. The list goes on and on of the things they have to deal with. Whether we realize it or not, school is the most stable thing in many of our students lives. What students see and hear where they live, may not be appropriate in some settings and we have a chance with every lesson to change what our students see is ok. We get a chance to kind of influence their ethics, their morals, their upbringing. I appreciate the stand that you all are taking to assure the public that we care about our kids, and we believe it’s important to teach our students the difference between right and wrong and help them be ethical people with compassion and morals with respect for others. We are not promoting the use of these words, if anything we are promoting that these words are inappropriate and it’s best that we not use them. It’s inappropriate for school, for our conversation here and you may hear that at home, you may see that on tv, but we do not promote that. There are many lessons that can be learned through this book about how we treat others, how we speak, things that we say, how we act and how to persevere. I just wanted you to get an idea of why these lessons are structured like they are and how this text is just surrounded by excerpts and articles and the things we do to build that background knowledge and the opportunity we have to make a difference in our students lives.”

 

TN ED REPORT: IS SEXTON SERIOUS?

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IS SEXTON SERIOUS?

by Andy Spears

House Speaker Cameron Sexton offered some concerning commentary on school funding ahead of an expected announcement this month on Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed changes to the state’s school funding formula (BEP).

Meghan Mangrum highlighted the comments in an article published in the Citizen-Tribune out of Morristown:

It seems the Speaker is not all that familiar with how schools actually work. The suggestion he makes here is that teachers and schools lack the proper incentive system. That is, schools fail students because there’s no threat of losing money no matter the outcome. This reflects a fairly depressing view of humanity. Further, it suggests that Sexton believes that teachers are currently “holding back” simply because they don’t fear punishment.

If only a punishment-based incentive system were in force, Tennessee teachers in every school system would rapidly accelerate learning, Sexton seems to be saying.

This type of thinking is especially alarming as the state considers revamping the school funding formula. Gov. Lee has promised a “student-centered” approach but has also stopped short of calling for more overall spending.

TN School Funding Report Card: 1 D, 2 Fs

Here’s an analogy that might help explain the flaw in Sexton’s approach. UT Football has experienced a bit of a resurgence in recent years, but most fans would admit the last decade has been pretty rough. Under Sexton’s approach, the right answer is to offer less resources to the football program and then that will motivate them to get better and thus “earn” better resources. Want 10+ wins each season? Deduct $100,000 from the coach’s pay for each win under 10. Then, when the team only wins 6 or 7 games, take some more cash away so that they’ll be fired up to get after it next season. Maybe if the defense has a really bad game, the next game they could play without helmets? Surely, the proper punishment-based incentive will yield the desired results.

Of course, some have speculated that the whole movement on the part of Lee to change the BEP is really about a backdoor path to school vouchers:

The BEP Voucher Plan

In any event, I’m sure teachers across the state are working hard and polishing off all that knowledge they’ve been holding back thanks to the threat of lost resources made by Sexton. Once the punishment-based BEP formula is in place, I’m sure only good things will happen. In fact, I bet such a system will cause a rapid influx of people into the teaching profession in Tennessee – if only policymakers in previous years had thought of such a plan, Tennessee would be at the top of the nation by now.

The Teacher Shortage Crisis is Here

Here’s a piece on merit pay that addresses (to some degree) the type of incentive plan Sexton may be envisioning:

Pay For Test Scores: The Price of my Humanity

And, here’s a piece that makes the argument for an across-the-board increase in school funding:

What Matters? Money!

Finally, a note on the importance of raising teacher pay – not simply as a means of addressing the teacher shortage but also as a key factor in improving student achievement:

When teachers get paid more, students do better. In one study, a 10% increase in teacher pay was estimated to produce a 5 to 10% increase in student performance. Teacher pay also has long-term benefits for students. A 10% increase in per-pupil spending for each of the 12 years of education results in students completing more education, having 7% higher wages, and having a reduced rate of adult poverty. These benefits are even greater for families who are in poverty.

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

CHATTANOOGA KID VS. MOMS FOR CENSORSHIP

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WATCH: “FILTERING HISTORY IS MUCH MORE DESTRUCTIVE TO OUR GROWING MINDS.” As radical Moms For Liberty and board member Rhonda Thurman force Hamilton County Schools to create a committee to censor library books (to censor MLK, other black authors) — A WISE 5TH GRADER PUSHES BACK.

MTSU TRUSTEE’S RACISM TRUTH BOMB

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WATCH: “RACISM IS PRESENT IN THIS BOARDROOM, AND ON THIS CAMPUS.”

Darrell Freeman, the 1 black MTSU trustees board member, says he “cannot stay silent” — and puts his where his mouth is to fight racial inequities as he unleashes hard truths.

GOV. LEE’S BOARD OF ED APPOINTEE LINKED TO AMMO SALE TO AURORA KILLER

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Governor Bill Lee has just appointed Jordan Mollenhour of Knoxville to the State Board of Education, the governing and policy-making body for Tennessee’s Pre-K-12 public education system – which through partnership with the TN Department of Education maintains oversight in K-12 implementation and academic standards.

According to Knox TN Today:

“Mollenhour is co-CEO of Mollenhour Gross LLC, an investment company based in Knoxville. He will represent the Second Congressional District… Mollenhour’s term of service is for five years….”

What the article does not mention is Mollenhour’s very concerning history as an online ammunition dealer, owning an online company with an obscure ownership trail that according to the St. Louis Dispatch sold thousands of bullets to at least one mass shooter.

In a 2014 article called “HOW THE AURORA SHOOTER GOT HIS AMMO” by Todd Frankel, then of the St. Louis Dispatch, Frankel follows the trail of the sale of the bullets used in the murder of 12 people and the injuring of 58 others in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater all the way to Knoxville, and then on to Atlanta.

The article reads:

“The answer appeared to be an online company in St. Louis… but the trail leads not to St. Louis but to Knoxville, TN, and on to Atlanta, to a secretive company considered to be among the nation’s top online ammunition dealers. It’s founders – a pair of former real estate developers – sell bullets using far-flung P.O. Boxes, different corporate entities, and online marketing tactics that have offended even some firearm enthusiasts. By last summer, these entrepreneurs stood perfectly positioned to close on a quick, legal sale to a deranged killer.”

Those “former real estate developers” were Jordan Mollenhour and his partner Dustin Gross. Both are University of Tennessee graduates. Governor Lee has just appointed Mollenhour to the Board of Education.

According to the article, their company was called www.BulkAmmo.com, and operated under the names www.luckygunner.com, www.ammoforsale.com, and others. In the article Frankel tracks their web of corporations and business names to a distributor in Atlanta, but he’s never able to contact them for comment.

Frankel also summarizes the history of the ammo business in America, pointing out that it wasn’t always possible to order thousands of bullets online and have them show up to your door no questions asked, but that a piece of legislation in 1986 changed it so that they could.

Maybe Chris Rock is right – If gun control is impossible to pass in our messed up, gun-sick nation – maybe restricting the ammo is what we should be focusing on? But in the meantime it seems fair to ask why Governor Lee is appointing someone with a sordid past that includes enabling at least one mass shooting in Colorado to a board of education overseeing what our kids learn.

Selling thousands of bullets online to a mass killer wasn’t illegal, but it probably should be, and at the very least we shouldn’t be putting people who think it’s ok to make a living doing that in charge of our children’s education.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t Lee’s only questionable education appointment – Lee and Speaker Sexton just also recently appointed anti-Muslim 9/11 Truther Laurie Cardoza-Moore to the textbook commission.

Extremism at the highest levels of Tennessee’s government is on full display. And it’s our kids who will suffer.

TSSAA ON REF USING THE “N WORD” AT SMYRNA HIGH: “WE’RE INVESTIGATING.”

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Last night we learned the STEM PREP boys & girls basketball teams left their games against Smyrna High after a referee allegedly used the “N Word” towards one of the female players.

The student was not the only one who heard it. Her grandmother did too, and she promptly recorded herself on Facebook reacting emotionally to the racist referee’s actions:

We called TSSAA, the organization responsible for staffing high school games with officials throughout Tennessee. They’re based in Hermitage.

Gene Menees, Assistant Executive Director, called us back. This is how our conversation went.

HOLLER: Can you shine any light on what happened? Will the ref still be reffing games? Does the TSSAA have a statement?

MENEES: We’re investigating.

HOLLER: Ok. And if the ref did use the N word towards a player, what would the outcome potentially be?

MENEES: We’re looking into it and we’re investigating.

HOLLER: Theoretically, would you still allow them to referee games?

MENEES: I can’t answer that question because it’s an allegation. We’re investigating into the allegation.

HOLLER: I understand, but it seems like people would be interested to know what the TSSAA’s policy is towards a ref using that word in general.

MENEES: Well, let’s reverse it. We will deal with an official obviously if the official used a racial slur. Just as an administration of a school, I would assume, would deal with it if a player used a racial slur directed towards an opponent. Or fans used a racial slur directed towards a player. So if an official used a racial slur, we would certainly deal with that official.

HOLLER: In what way would you deal with them?

MENEES: We would deal with them. We’re investigating.

HOLLER: Right, but would you suspend them? Fire them?

MENEES: We would look into it. We would talk. We would meet and make a decision.

HOLLER: So it’s not a zero tolerance policy?

MENEES: I didn’t say that. I said we would look into it, and if it was verified we would deal with the official and take care of the situation.

HOLLER: What does that mean? Is there a world where a ref can use the N Word towards a player and still ref games for TSSAA?

MENEES: I didn’t say that. You said it.

HOLLER: I’m asking.

MENEES: I’m gonna be honest with you – we’ve never dealt with this before. We’ve had allegations before, but the allegations have never been confirmed… we’re not an organization that’s going to tolerate racial slurs. So if it’s confirmed we would deal with it.

HOLLER: And what’s the process for confirming? Are you talking to the refs? Players? Fans? Who are you talking to?

MENEES: We’re an association of schools. I’ve been in touch with STEM Academy, Smyrna, and the officials.

HOLLER: And when you make your decision, do you have a sense of a time frame?

MENEES: We’ll look into it, get the reports in, we’ll talk to STEM. There were other situations that occurred in the game as well. So we’ve gotta work through all that. This is is one of the things involved in that game that we’re working through?

HOLLER: What other things were involved?

MENEES: We had 2 players ejected. We had a fan that came on the floor. We’ve got policies in place for that as well. We’ve gotta deal with the entire situation that occurred at Smyrna. The racial slur is one of the things we’ve got to deal with, obviously. But it’s not the only thing.

HOLLER: Have you had any issues with that referee in the past?

MENEES: What referee?

HOLLER: The one that allegedly used the racial slur?

MENEES: Who allegedly said it? I’ve never been given a name? Which name do you have?

HOLLER: How are you investigating if you don’t even know who we’re talking about.

MENEES: I’ve not been given a name. Nobody has given me a name of the official who allegedly made the racial slur.

HOLLER: Do you know who was assigned to that game?

MENEES: There was a crew of officials.

HOLLER: There were 3. How would you go about figuring out which ref it was?

At this point Menees goes on telling us a story about when he was a high school football player in Kingsport and got ejected for using profanity, but says there was no tape with audio to prove it.

HOLLER: So because there may not be video of this happening, it might end up being just what people heard vs. what the ref says happened, what happens in that scenario?

MENEES: That’s what we’re investigating. We’re looking into it. And once we get the reports in we’ll take a look at it and make a decision.

HOLLER: You said you talked to STEM and Smyrna. Is there a crew chief?

MENEES: There’s always an R on the game.

HOLLER: Well I guess figuring out who the ref is would be the first step, right?

MENEES: We’ll talk to the officials, talk to STEM, talk to Smyrna… let’s be fair. It’s an allegation. Right? Let’s be fair.

HOLLER: It’s allegation, but multiple people have told us they heard it.

MENEES: I understand. But momentarily, let’s be fair. Multiple people didn’t hear it.

HOLLER: They did. I’m happy to send you a video. We have a video of a grandmother who heard it. It was her granddaughter that was called it.

MENEES: We’ll hear the racial slur on the video? That’s what you’re saying?

HOLLER: No. You’ll hear a grandmother saying she was right there and heard it.

MENEES: The video will prove someone said it, correct?

HOLLER: No. The video will prove more than one person heard it. And so I guess at that point what you’re saying is unless a racial slur gets caught on camera…

MENEES: No, I didn’t say that. I didn’t say it didn’t happen…  If we get a video… I’ll go back to the football example…

Here he goes back to the story getting thrown out for profanity and there not being video of it to prove it, and a coach denying it.

We then asked him what a time frame would be for making their decision, and he told us schools and people are busy and wouldn’t commit to anything specific.

The thing to remember here is both teams forfeited, so clearly the teams were convinced that this happened. But Menees certainly gave the impression that without video of the incident this could potentially get treated as nothing more than an allegation.

We’d also add that this tweet by Smyrna basketball mentioning the forfeit without explaining the context seemed highly inappropriate, and appears to have been deleted.

Here’s hoping TSSAA does the right thing. Their contact info, should you feel like hollering at them: 615-889-6740 [email protected]

And as always, film everything.

 

 

TWO VERY DIFFERENT PUBLIC SCHOOL FIGHTS

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Even though the VA governor race has gone opposite the president basically every time historically, everyone seems to have their own hot take about why the Democrats lost in Virginia, a need to treat the race as a bellwether for the impending doom of the Democratic party.

Some are blaming it on progressives, saying Biden is overreaching with his Build Back Better agenda (despite the fact that everything in it is extremely popular).

Others are saying it’s the gridlock that had Biden’s popular budget and the infrastructure package stuck in gear (and gutted) that caused people to sour on the Dems.

And then there’s the schools issue.

Glenn Youngkin seized on a big misstep by Terry Mcauliffe in the closing weeks of the race where he said:

“I’m not going to let parents come into schools, and actually take books out, and make their own decision.”

Republicans seized on the quote as Mcauliffe saying parents should have “no role” in public schools, which is something no candidate is arguing for or running on.

Those who want the truth taught, believe masks keep kids safe, and who insist Critical Race Theory is not being taught are not saying parents have “no place” in schools. School boards were elected by parents to make many of those decisions, and parental involvement is obviously an important key to a child’s education.

Youngkin seizing on that unfortunate Mcauliffe quote was fair play. His closing ads that insisted Mcauliffe was lying about CRT being taught in schools, however, were not. The slides Youngkin featured in those ads were not from a Virginia public schools curriculum, but were instead from a presentation given to adults about student discipline – according to the woman whose presentation it was, and who was horrified by Youngkin’s tactics.

Never one to let facts to get in the way of a good story, that didn’t matter to Youngkin. He featured them anyway, which led to many Virginians pointing to CRT in schools as their main issue in the election even when they couldn’t tell you what CRT actually is.

Whether or not you believe the CRT lie turned the election, one thing is clear: Republicans are going to make public schools an issue throughout the country in future elections.

And they’re finding sympathy for their causes in some unlikely places – the bluest cities in America.

There’s now no shortage of think pieces about how school issues in places like New York City and San Francisco where people believe the push for equity and inclusion have gone too far have laid the groundwork for the conflicts we’re seeing in places like Virginia – as though the discussions surrounding public schools in these very different places are somehow even remotely the same.

But they are not.

In Tennessee for instance, the fights at school board meetings are about refusing to mask children, banning books, and not even letting teachers talk about race, which is essentially the bill Tennessee legislators just proudly passed.

Notably, that anti-CRT bill didn’t even mention CRT, but instead basically banned teachers from putting history in the context of race.

The state legislature is also banning the ability of teachers to even mention LGBT people, and passing bills that threaten heavy fines if teachers teach the truth about our history, instead insisting that they both-sides things like the Civil War (while they fight to keep KKK Grand Wizard statues in our capitol and refuse to acknowledge that the Civil War was fought over slavery).

This is all against a backdrop of having Governor Bill Lee as our governor, who has made “school choice” and private school vouchers his #1 priority, getting them passed through “bribes and threats” according to members of his own party before they were struck down by a federal judge.

Yet he’s still trying.

Lee even had Trump Secretary of Education Betsy Devos come to town to help him push the vouchers through. Devos once revealed on a Christian radio show that her agenda was to steer public funds to private Christian schools to “Advance God’s Kingdom” – a goal Governor Lee very much seems to share.

Steering funds away from our public schools is especially problematic considering we’re already #46 in the nation in per pupil spending. We have BILLIONS in our “rainy day fund”, we just awarded $900 MILLION to Ford for a new plant in West Tennessee… yet when it comes to our kids and paying our teachers properly, it’s pockets empty.

That’s the backdrop for the school board fights in Southern states like ours. It isn’t about renaming a school away from a founding father to be more politically correct here, or about whether or not there’s a more racially equitable way we can teach math.

It’s about DEFUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION.

It’s worth noting the chair of Moms For Liberty in Williamson County doesn’t even have her kids in public schools (Lee doesn’t either), openly says we shouldn’t teach the truth, and has called public school teachers “brainwashing assholes”. Governor Lee once told a woman at a town hall he agreed people without kids in schools should have the option not to pay for them.

So when Virginia makes headlines, and moderate Democrats who otherwise believe in public schools and want to fix them start to see those Republicans as brothers and sisters-in-arms in a war against progressives, they need to realize the fight they’re fighting is a MUCH DIFFERENT FIGHT than the fight those Republicans they sympathize with are fighting, and that tying the two together ultimately runs cover for people who are hellbent on destroying public education.

As we move towards a more equitable and inclusive country, and public schools more and more become the center of the discussion, there may be things some think go too far – but please think twice before making common cause with those who don’t want to fix public schools, but instead would prefer they, and government-backed anything, go away completely – which would inevitably hurt those with the least, the most.

Public education is a bedrock of our American democracy. It isn’t perfect, but we need it. Let’s fix it and defend it, not attack it and defund it.

Justin Kanew is the founder of the Tennessee Holler. Subscribe & Support HERE.