Four elected Republicans will represent the majority of the Rutherford County Board of Education for the first time.
The GOP winners in 2022 include Tammy Sharp, an incumbent who won a second four-year term in an uncontested primary May 3 and election Aug. 4. She’s hoping the majority of the seven-member board will choose her to be their chairwoman when they meet at 5 p.m. Sept. 13.
The Republican count overall will be at least five when counting Claire Maxwell, who’s one of three up for re-election on the seven-member board in 2024. Maxwell, past chairman Coy Young and Shelia Bratton, the previous year’s vice chairwoman, won as independents in 2020 prior to the law changing to allow partisan school board elections in 2022.
Sharp and fellow GOP winners Frances Rosales, Katie Darby and Caleb Tidwell should all be viewed as solid conservative Republicans, said state Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro.
Democrat Mariah Phillips worries the board could be controlled by right-wing extremists. She fears the Republicans will follow what other far-right school officials have done in other districts by banning books and firing teachers for failing to indoctrinate children in American exceptionalism ideology of “white washing history.”
“Teachers are getting fired for simply teaching critical thinking, which is something that should be foundational to education,” Phillips said.
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Phillips has unsuccessfully campaigned as the Democratic nominee against three incumbent Republicans: U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais in 2018; state Rep. Charlie Baum in 2020; and Rutherford County Commission member Jeff Phillips in 2022. Jeff Phillips is now the chairman of the commission after retaining his seat by 33 votes. He had nearly 52.3% of the low turnout vote in the Aug. 4 election.
While Mariah Phillips worries about a Republican school board emphasizing American exceptionalism, Sharp said her goal as a candidate to be the next chairwoman will be to focus on an agenda that’s about helping children learn.
“Let’s concentrate on education and getting our literacy numbers up,” Sharp said. “Let’s do education well.”
Sharp said she does expect the board to be conservative, including the three new elected Republicans who all have children in the schools.
“Our focus is going to be with the parents and the students,” Sharp said.
Rosales agreed.
“I ran because I was a concerned parent,” said Rosales, who witnessed her children being impacted by the changing school polices for COVID-19. Her family initially chose distance learning and had adapt to this approach. She could see what her children were being taught through the virtual instruction, but that’s not the case with in-person learning.
Rosales said she opposes critical race theory being taught in K-12 public schools and wants transparency in the curriculum.
A biracial woman with Black, Indian and Puerto Rican heritage, Rosales said her parents taught her to not look at her skin color as being imperfect and focus on “the integrity of my character.”
“I didn’t want my children to feel less than because of how they were teaching racism,” Rosales said.
She wants the district to build a bridge between the teachers and the parents.
Rosales said she supports talking about our differences as people but wants a positive outlook and not a negative outlook.
Sharp has had a contrasting position on charter schools with other board members prior to the election. Charter schools are public and use tax dollars to operate independent from school districts.
Unlike the six other board members in July that rejected American Classical Education from being approved, Sharp backed the proposed charter school that plans to use a conservative and controversial curriculum established by Hillsdale College.
“It’s another choice for parents,” Sharp said.
Charter schools also can help the fast-growing district respond to overcrowding campuses particularly in La Vergne and Smyrna, Sharp said.
“We need seats,” said Sharp, who resides in La Vergne.
Although rejecting one application, the board in July voted 5-2 in support of the plan from California-based Springs Public Schools Tennessee to open Empower Academy in the La Vergne and Smyrna. The approved charter school will operate a Montessori hands-on, personalized learning approach, according to a press release from the applicant.
Mariah Phillips opposes charter schools being needed locally because she said both Rutherford County and Murfreesboro districts provide good public schools.
Phillips has concerns that the Hillsdale College approach could be what the new Republican-led board wants.
Students should be learning all about the nation’s history, including slavery and segregation that prevented Black Americans from pursuing opportunities in an integrated country, Phillips said.
Children also should learn about the Trail of Tears that started in the 1830s, Phillips said. The route went through Rutherford County and led to many deaths of native tribal people faced with harsh climate conditions while forced to leave their homes in the southeast part of the country to resettle west of the Mississippi River.
“That is something we should talk about in education,” Phillips said.
The trail involved the Indian Removal Act signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. He was a Tennessee resident and founder of the Democratic Party more than a century before the modern progressive party of Phillips advocated for civil rights.
“Our education system should be embracing actual learning, learning history, learning math, learning science,” said Phillips, a former seven-year teacher of government and personal finance at the county’s Daniel-McKee Alternative School serving grades 6-12 for students expelled from other schools. “We should be encouraging reading and growth and critical thinking. These are the kinds of things we should be supporting in the classroom.”
Phillips also worries that the board will seek to remove books or videos with gay characters from school libraries.
Students will still be able to find these books or videos if they want, she said.
Sharp confirmed she and others have discussed following the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 in offering age appropriate materials in school libraries.
The new law requires each public school to maintain and post on the school’s website a list of the materials in the school’s library collection. The legislation also stipulates that the board adopt a policy to establish procedures for the development and review of school library collections.
“We’re not going to be burning any books,” Sharp said.
Sharp, however, does worry about books, such as “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas being available in high school libraries.
“It was very risqué,” said Sharp, who’d rather see students buy the book or borrow it from a city library than from high school libraries. “Some of the (reading material) that has made its way into our libraries is inappropriate.”
Maxwell does not expect the board to be going over any list of books deemed not appropriate. She said many decisions on reading materials are made by state officials.
“We don’t choose the textbooks,” Maxwell said. “We don’t pick the curriculum.”
Sharp and other school board members opposed the change in the law that allowed partisan school board elections.
“I just think it further divides us,” said Sharp, adding that Republicans who ran as independents in prior years held most of the seven school board seats.
Maxwell agreed.
“When we get on the board, we’re just board members,” said Maxwell, adding that party affiliation has not been the focus of board members. “We care about kids, and we care about the system.”
Maxwell, however, said she will run as a Republican in 2024 because of the change in the law.
“I will continue to be myself, and I will always do what I think is right in representing my entire district,” Maxwell said. “We need to do what’s right and what’s best for the people who elected us to be there.”
Her husband, Austin Maxwell, is the chairman of the Rutherford County Republican Party. He won election Aug. 4 in a nonpartisan election to serve on the Murfreesboro City Council.
Rudd, the Republican lawmaker from Murfreesboro, has been a long-time advocate that candidates always be able to declare their political party for any public office.
“To deny them that right is to deny them freedom of speech,” said Rudd, adding he’s held his position on partisan elections since 1988 when he served as chairman of the Young Republican Federation for Rutherford County. “We have made the decision in this country to be part of a two-party system, and we should be allowed to run as a Republican or Democratic or for any party we want.”
The Rutherford County Democratic Party decided against holding a 2022 primary for school board candidates after existing board members expressed a desire to keep their elections nonpartisan, chairwoman Cathy Watts said.
Democrats, however, will be holding a primary for school board candidates in 2024, Watts said. Her party hopes to win more than the two seats it now has in the Rutherford County Commission with Commissioners Chantho Sourinho and Hope Oliver.
Democrats had been the dominant party in Rutherford County for over a century until Republicans swept local elections in 2010 when local voters were upset about the Affordable Care Act in particular.
“I don’t think you should be ashamed to be a Democrat,” Watts said. “You should be proud of it.”
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription for all dnj.com stories.
Rutherford County Board of Education members will choose their chairperson and vice chairperson when they meet at 5 p.m. Sept. 13 at the district’s administration office, 2240 Southpark Drive, Murfreesboro.
