Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Metro Nashville Public School District 6 School Board member and Independent incumbent Fran Bush in-studio to discuss her race, the recent scuff-up at a school district forum, and how her record speaks for itself.
Leahy: We are joined in-studio by our good friend, and I characterize her as the only sane member of the nine-member Metro Nashville Public School Board, Fran Bush. Good morning, Fran.
Bush: Good morning. And good morning to everyone. Happy to be back.
Leahy: You smile every time I say that. (Laughter) Well, you’re up for re-election?
Bush: Yes.
Leahy: To another, what, four-year term?
Bush: Yes.
Leahy: And you’re in District 6.
Bush: Yes.
Leahy: Fran Bush running as an Independent?
Bush: Yes.
Leahy: Very good. Now, Fran, tell our listeners where District 6 is.
Bush: So District 6 runs from – of course, we redistricted all the lines. So it’s almost like we are so confused with our voters, right? So we’re mostly in that Antioch/Priest Lake [area] and now a little bit of Donelson.
So I lost a lot of Cane Ridge, so I’m over by I-24, going back over to middle Antioch, and then, of course, Priest Lake, and then kind of run into Donelson.
Leahy: And you’ve been out campaigning?
Bush: Out campaigning and doing a lot of little ads and marketing and all that great stuff. So it’s been fun.
Leahy: When you go out and campaign and you talk to people and you say, I’ve been on the board now for four years. You don’t say, I’m the only sane member of the board. If I were there, I would say that for you. (Laughter)
Bush: I know you would.
Leahy: But what are people telling you?
Bush: It’s very interesting because what I’m seeing talking to people is that sometimes they don’t really follow and pay attention to the school board because they either don’t have children in the school system or they just zoned out for a little bit.
And so you have to kind of recap with them and say, okay, look at my record, or, I advise you, look at everyone’s record. This is so critical for our school board, so you really want to make sure and stay very mindful when you vote because it can make a huge difference, especially with what we’re dealing with right now.
My spin is to stay focused on my record. My record is my record, right? Very transparent, very experienced, and commonsense, and just making sure I stay focused on what’s right for our kids and our teachers and support staff.
And then bus drivers. We just got them raises. So we’re excited about that. My voting record is impeccable because everything changes for the good.
Leahy: What’s the attitude of voters about the school board when you interact with them?
Bush: Again, it’s like you have to educate them, or they will ask you questions and you’ve just got to be prepared and be able to show them.
Leahy: Are they angry?
Bush: They’re not angry.
Leahy: Disengaged a little bit. It sounds like that, mostly disengaged.
Bush: A little bit. And you just have to just kind of bring them back. And once you have that conversation with them, they walk away and say, thank you, because I just didn’t know.
Leahy: So you go to these forums right now. I saw something about a forum where there was a little bit of a dust-up the other day. What happened? Did the left-wing try to disrupt it or what happened?
Bush: You know, when you have forums, you have to let people be people, because people will have different reasons why they are so compassionate. So we had a forum, and unfortunately …
Leahy: Where was this forum?
Bush: This was over at the Hermitage Police Precinct.
Leahy: The police precinct.
Bush: The police precinct.
Leahy: Well, that sounds like it would be safe, right?
Bush: You would think. It was myself, and Berthena Nabaa-McKinney, who is running against Kelli Phillips, and Cheryl Mayes.
Leahy: Districts 4 and 6. So, do you have an opponent in District 6?
Bush: Yes, Cheryl Mayes.
Leahy: Okay, that was the setting. What happened? Because I heard some of your opponent’s supporters got a little rowdy.
Bush: Yeah, it was very interesting. I had one gentleman who was up front. So Kelli sat next to me and Cheryl sat next to Berthena.
And so it was really weird, because it’s almost like the audience was set up in a way that it was going to be striking. We didn’t know that.
We just kind of start seeing the audience’s reactions. And Berthena kind of got a little aggressive with an audience member when she attacked him, because he shook his head because he didn’t agree with her.
And he hollered back at her, and I’m like, oh, my gosh, you’re going to get into an argument with a member of this forum? And so I was really shocked.
And she left the forum because she got so upset. And I had one gentleman who was up front who was for her, who was kind of mean-mugging me.
Leahy: Mean-mugging you? What is mean-mugging?
Bush: Just like giving you bad faces or whatever. His eyes were on me, fixated. And I was like, oh, my gosh, what is going on?
So I kind of leaned over to Kelli and I said, hey, this gentleman right here is making me feel uncomfortable. And she said, never mind him. He was at the last forum, and he did the same thing. And I said, okay. So I’m assuming …
Leahy: Don’t be mean-mugging Fran Bush, folks, when you’re out there. Mean-mugging, that’s a good phrase. All right, we’ll have more with Fran Bush when we come back. We’re not mean-mugging you here. We’re smiling. (Laughter)
Listen to the interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
