Live from Music Row Wednesday 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 8 Independent candidate Amy Pate in-studio to discuss why she’s decided to run for school board and the motivation behind it.
Leahy: And now, in-studio, our friend Amy Pate, who is an Independent candidate for the school board, Metro Nashville Public Schools in the 8th district of Davidson County. Good morning, Amy.
Pate: Hello. Thanks for having me on this morning.
Leahy: Well, for those of you who are not in-studio, which would be all of our listeners (laughter), Amy Pate is wearing a bright orange shirt that says, Moms for Pate. Pate for 8. Amy Pate for school board.
Pate: Yes. Go Vols. I hope I didn’t lose any votes by saying that.
Leahy: Even Vandy fans, when it’s not Vandy and UT, I think they all root for the Vols.
Pate: I don’t know about that. My husband is a reformed Vandy fan. (Chuckles)
Leahy: Did he go to Vandy?
Pate: He didn’t. My father-in-law did. So my husband grew up as a Vandy fan.
Leahy: Vandy, UT.
Pate: That makes you tough to be a Vandy fan. (Leahy chuckles) You have dealt with some disappointment, you know, character building.
Leahy: Except in the baseball program.
Pate: True.
Leahy: They’ve had a fantastic baseball program and a great coach, Tim Corbin.
Pate: Yes.
Leahy: And just done extraordinarily well.
Pate: Very inspirational.
Leahy: Now, let’s talk about District 8.
Pate: Let’s do it.
Leahy: What are the boundaries of District 8?
Pate: So District 8 in Nashville is Oak Hill, Green Hills, Forest Hills. We go up into 12 South, a little bit over into the Vanderbilt area, and Belle Meade.
Leahy: Oh, that’s quite a district. Now, what are some of the schools in that district?
Pate: So we only have one high school, and that’s Hillsboro High School. And then there are two junior high schools or middle schools, West End and J.T. Moore.
And then we have Julia Green, Percy Priest, Glendale, Waverly Belmont, Sylvan Park – not everybody in my district goes to Sylvan Park, but that’s pretty much it.
Leahy: So tell us a little bit about who Amy Pate is.
Pate: Yes.
Leahy: Who are you, Amy Pate?
Pate: Well, that’s a broad question. So I’m a Nashville native. I’m a graduate of Metro Schools.
Leahy: Where did you go to high school?
Pate: I graduated from Overton High School. I’m a Bobcat. Don’t mess with me.
Leahy: Overton Bobcats.
Pate: So that’s another thing my husband jokes that, you know, when I start to get a little sassy, he’s like, oh, that Bobcat. Bobcat coming out, like, don’t mess with me.
And now I have three kids in Metro Schools, and I never thought I would run for school board, never planned on running for school board. But I had always been a really active volunteer in school, PTO president.
Leahy: You were PTO president? When?
Pate: Glendale, that was when my middle daughter was in kindergarten. So she’s going into the 7th grade. So a while ago.
Leahy: What was that like, being president in the PTO?
Pate: So fun. Wonderful. Yes, just so fun.
Leahy: What did the PTO do?
Pate: We really supported the school, and I felt like our role was trying to be a support organization for the school and the teachers, but also a conduit to the principal to kind of let her know what parents were thinking and feeling. And it was such a wonderful, sweet community and a great place. We didn’t have any big issues.
Leahy: A lot has changed.
Pate: (Sighs) Yes.
Leahy: Why are the schools so outrageously contentious these days and so politicized?
Pate: It doesn’t have to be. And that is why I’m running
Leahy: Is that why you’re running? You’re running as an Independent.
Pate: Yes. I’d always followed education policy closely, but then during COVID, I became a lot more active and advocated to get their schools open.
Leahy: Just the basics of opening the school.
Pate: Exactly. Just the essential of education. It was so disheartening to me, because I really thought that Metro Schools was going to honor the choice that they had given parents, or said they were giving parents, for a virtual or in-person option during COVID.
But they didn’t do that. And we saw all of the counties around us open. We saw every private school in town open. And my kids were out of school for eight months.
Leahy: Yikes! All right, we’ll have more with Amy Rate, Independent candidate for Metro Nashville Public School board in District 8, after this.
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.
Photo “Amy Pate” by Amy Pate.Â
