Penny Schwinn, the former Tennessee Education Commissioner who was controversially nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as Deputy Secretary of Education, reportedly offered a response to two criticisms levied against her, though seems to have failed to address the claims.
Education journalist and author Christopher Rufo reported on Tuesday that he met with Schwinn, who he wrote “addressed the criticisms directly and outlined her plan to fight CRT, gender cultism, and DEI in America’s schools.”
Schwinn, according to Rufo, denied that she allowed “porn in schools” during her tenure in Tennessee, as was alleged by Tennessee-based filmmaker Robby Starbuck and musician John Rich, and instead asserted that Tennessee improved its safeguards against such materials in schools during her time in the state.
“Under her tenure, Tennessee strengthened restrictions on explicit materials and Penny worked hard to enforce the law, threatening non-compliant schools with up to $5 million dollars in fines and license revocation for teachers who pushed porn in the classroom. In addition, she implemented a policy that all teachers must publish the full classroom book list and make it available to parents. These are some of the best policies of any state,” wrote Rufo.
Schwinn was criticized in 2021 for Tennessee’s use of the “Wit and Wisdom” school curriculum that some, including the parental rights group Moms for Liberty, said contained materials that were sexually explicit and unfit for consumption by children.
Neither Rufo nor Schwinn reported that her office initially only stated that she recognized the importance of the “conversation” related to obscene reading materials offered to students in 2021, nor that Tennessee lawmakers successfully passed the Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 to require schools to publicly post a list of library books after the controversy. Schwinn seems to have noted to Rufo that she implemented the law.
Parents and school boards have continued to object to the literature currently available to Tennessee school children, including as recently as last September, when six books were removed from schools in Rutherford County after it was determined they contained graphic sex scenes and depictions of slavery.
According to Rufo, Schwinn also denied endorsing “wellbeing checks” for students during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the journalist reporting the former Tennessee official instead allowed, “one of her staff members” to include “a line in a PDF that mentioned ‘wellbeing checks,'” which she immediately retracted upon discovering.
It is unclear whether explanation references the August 11, 2020 web page containing a press release that remains available on Tennessee’s state website, in which Schwinn specifically endorsed “wellbeing checks” for students.
“Since we know many children have experienced adversity due to the pandemic, child wellbeing checks are a deliberate way all stakeholders in the community can help ensure the needs of our children are met,” stated Schwinn.
Rufo did not report whether Schwinn offered answers for criticisms, outlined by The Tennessee Star, about the allegations she was late to share plans for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, or her work for Never Trump political consultant Blake Harris, at whose Schwinn remains listed as the Chief Operating Officer.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Penny Schwinn” by The College System of Tennessee.
She also failed to mention that when she came to TN from TX (because of scandal in that state) it was her 7th job in 10 years. If you follow her tracks you will see that she caused havoc in every job she had and when the going got tough she then bailed. 7 jobs in 10 years is not a good record. There is so much that is not being told about her. She comes from Teach For America. While in Sacramento (messing up her Charter school) she ran for school board in a contentious race but she had the support of StudentsFirst Michelle Rhee’s 2nd hubby (her first hubby was Kevin Huffman….both TFA alumni and Kevin was the TN Commissioner of TN before Penny…how cozy) who was the Mayor. She left that position after less than a year. What took place in TX was a huge scandal. She is also an alumni of the Broad Institute. She is all about charters and vouchers. Given Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education it is no surprise Schwinn was chosen as Deputy.