In this engaging interview on Tuesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) previews for listeners his new idea for school safety. The longtime lawmaker emphasizes the importance of this comprehensive approach to school safety and highlights the need to protect teachers from assaults and false accusations.
In addition to discussing the school safety bill, the interview offers a peek behind the curtain of the Tennessee General Assembly into the complex process of navigating and passing legislation.
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Patrick Leahy: In studio, our very good friend for many years, State Senator Mark Pody.
Good morning, Mark.
Mark Pody: Good morning, it’s great to be here.
And I gotta tell you, I love your studio here. This is incredible.
Michael Patrick Leahy: It’s really cool, isn’t it?
Mark Pody: Yes, it is.
Michael Patrick Leahy: We’re in downtown Nashville, about a quarter mile from the state Capitol.
Mark Pody: Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And making it easy for all the members of the Tennessee General Assembly and Tennessee government officials to stop by and give us a word or two. And now Mark, you and I have known each other for a long time.
Mark Pody:Â We sure have. And you’ve always been the voice of reason and conservative.
In fact, you were talking about Carol Swain.
I was reading that on The Tennessee Star.
You know, and I get a lot of my news from The Tennessee Star. So if you’re not signed in, you need to be plugged in to know what’s going on.
Michael Patrick Leahy: We launched The Tennessee Star when you were in the State House. Remember, February 2017 and the big issue was the Gas Tax.
Mark Pody: Yes.
That which we were opposed to and you were opposed to and so we’ve been at it ever since. It’ll be our seventh-year anniversary in February of 2024. How about that?
Mark Pody: Oh, the time goes by so fast.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And then you, in 2018, were elected to the State Senate.
Mark Pody: That’s correct. Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And your current district, you represent all of Wilson County?
Mark Pody: All of Wilson County.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And just as well, more than a smidgen of Davidson County, right?
Mark Pody: Yes. One-third of my district is in Davidson County. So it’s about 70,000 people. I have, kind of like, from Wilson County up to the airport. So the airport’s actually in my district.
Michael Patrick Leahy: No kidding. Yeah, that’s great. And you were re-elected with no challenge in 2022.
Mark Pody: That’s correct.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And we’ll get in, in our next segment, we’ll get to a little few twists and turns on —
Mark Pody: A lot of twists and turns on this.
Michael Patrick Leahy: I bet. But right now I want to talk about your agenda in this upcoming session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
You have a bill on safety for schools. Tell us about that.
Mark Pody: All right.
So I’m actually on the education committee, and Michael, when I got to the General Assembly, they have you list all of the committees that you want to be on. And I will tell you, education has always been on the bottom of that list.
I’ve never taught. I’ve never been in the school systems to teach and such. So it wasn’t something that I was passionate about.
However, now that I’m here and on the education committee, it is one of the most important committees out there. What we do and how we do it can actually have a real effect on the future generations.
And I think that I’ve lost that sight when I first got here, not understanding how important making sure our education system is right for kids.
Michael Patrick Leahy: When you say you first got here, you first were elected to the Tennessee House, and what was your first term?
Mark Pody: First term? 2010. So I came in with Governor Haslam.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Been here a long time.
Mark Pody: Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: You know the ropes.
Mark Pody: I do. I do. And it takes a little bit to get your feet on the ground. And once you are, you can navigate the system a lot better.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, you know, this is one of the things that we’d like to do for our listeners to give them an understanding of how the state legislature, the Tennessee General Assembly works.
People have an idea. I want this to happen, which is great.
But in the Tennessee General Assembly. There are 33 members of the Tennessee State Senate. And then there are 99 members of the House. And they all have their own ideas. And just because you have a great idea, which everybody acknowledges is a great idea, your job as a legislator is to persuade a majority of your colleagues that your great idea is also their great idea.
Mark Pody: You’re exactly right. And then you got to get the governor to go along with it or help fund it some way or another. But one of the things in education that I’m very passionate about is following the money. And watching in higher education, how much money we’re spending there, what our results are, and what bottom line that we’re getting back from it.
And also with the school shooting that happened, of course, recently has brought that school safety to light and, you know, some people just say, ‘take away guns’ and that’s not the right approach.
So I’ve come up with something a little bit different that I’m going to be proposing and you’re going to be the first person hearing about it.
Michael Patrick Leahy:Â We’re going to break the story of your proposed safety legislation right now.
So tune in everybody, listen up, tell me what it’s about.
Mark Pody: All right. So more than just school safety, part of the issues that we’re having – and I’ve got one of my own relatives that’s going into the school system – and when I talked to him, they say the kids would act up and when they go to the parents, the parents say, ‘well, my child would never do that.’
Except they just did. And in Davidson County, it was interesting because there was actually somebody that was assaulted, a teacher that was assaulted, who came back from the emergency room and that student was still in front of him. There’s been sexual assaults on our teachers here in Davidson County. There’s a lot of things that are happening.
So, if you can imagine almost something like a lanyard that a teacher would wear with their ID, with their picture, and the classroom, and it would have three buttons on there.
And the first button would be a button that they would hit to send a signal to the SRO in that school as well as the principal.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Tell everybody what the SRO is.
Mark Pody: It’s a Safety Resource Officer. This is going to indicate that there is an issue with student discipline. So it says, ‘come here,’ basically, and it starts recording. There’s a little camera on there. It doesn’t activate until the teacher hits the button.
But that way everybody would know what is happening with that student. So a parent can’t say, ‘well, my child didn’t do it.’ The teacher can say they did, here’s the recording of what happened, both the video and the audio.
Michael Patrick Leahy: A little bit like those commercials where they say, ‘I said this, I said that, well, let’s go to the tape.’
Mark Pody: ‘Let’s go to the tape.’ That’s exactly right.
So then the second button would be a button that if it was a very serious thing with somebody who’s having a medical issue in their class or a fire. Okay. And you hit it. It’s going to go right to 911.
But the third one is going to be the most important.
This is going to be, if you can almost imagine something of a Ring doorbell type, okay, you can see what’s going on. So if you hit that button, it means that there’s an active shooter. So this would go directly to the police department and the police would be able to literally be seeing what is going on in that classroom.
If there’s a shooter, they see the shooter. It’s going to be GPS-tracked, so if you’re in the cafeteria, the police would know that, that teacher is in the cafeteria. And they know exactly where that shooter is; or if they’re outside of the art room; or their classroom. But no matter where they are, the police have an instant picture.
They can hear, they can see, they know what’s going on. They know a lot more if it’s, hey, it’s a false alarm or whatever. They’re right there. In the classroom, almost with them, it’s not activated unless the teacher activates it. So it’s not recording what the teacher is doing, unless that teacher says, I need help.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Is there a company that makes such a product now?
Mark Pody: Yes, more than one; and they’re making it.
We’re going to be actually announcing the bill next week. You’re getting a week early.
Okay, you are on this show. You’re getting everything a week early.
Michael Patrick Leahy: That’s the whole point of this show to give everybody, our listeners here in Nashville, the inside scoop about what’s happening in the Tennessee General Assembly, Tennessee government, and metro Nashville government.
And so I appreciate your bringing that up.
Now, how much do these things cost?
Mark Pody: We’re actually going to have it funded by the state and I’m going to tell you how we’re doing it. I’ve already met with the governor’s office.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Oh, you have?
Mark Pody: Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Okay, good.
Mark Pody: So, so it’s going to be, the systems themselves are going to be about 300 per year per teacher.
Okay. So, I mean, it’s not cheap, but it is something that, that teacher.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So you say it’s a system, which means it’s like a seat license, if you will, per teacher, I guess that is how you do it.
Mark Pody: If you think from a technology point of view, that’s correct. That’s correct. It’s a system. The system is not just the lanyard with the three buttons that are attached to a camera, there’s a more, more sophisticated, it’s much more sophisticated.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Has this been deployed anywhere?
Mark Pody: So far, I believe that there’s another state looking at the system and doing it right now.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And there is another system that is in use somewhere.
Mark Pody: Yeah. So they, they, this is out there and we’re just bringing it here to Tennessee. And, and so there’s a safety budget, and there’s actually that.
The governor, the General Assembly, earlier this year, we put a lot of money into a bucket, if we’re going to call it a bucket, that school systems can apply for safety grants out of that bucket.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, that sounds like a really fascinating idea, good technology approach. Just briefly before we go on, what are the odds you think you’ll get support for this bill in the State Senate and in the House?
Mark Pody: Ninety nine percent.
Michael Patrick Leahy: I like those odds.
Mark Pody: Yes. You know, this should be very well received by teachers, by everybody. This is going to be a good bill.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, I look forward to getting the details on that when you actually release it to everybody else. All right. All our listeners, you’ve got some inside scoop here, only listeners to this program.
We’ll be back with more after this. You’re listening to The Tennessee Star Report. I’m Michael Patrick Leahy.
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Photo “Mark Pody” by Mark Pody.Â
