Safeguard Our Schools’ Organizer Joanna Daniels Recaps Sumner County School Board Meeting

Live from Music Row, Friday 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 Safeguard our Schools organizer, California refugee Joanna Daniels to the newsmaker line to talk about why she moved to Tennessee and her impression of the state. Daniels also noted Tuesday night’s school board meeting which addressed BLM and pornographic books in elementary libraries.

Leahy: We are joined now on our newsmaker line by Joanna Daniels. She’s with Free Tennessee and Safeguard our Schools. Joanna, trouble up in Sumner County, tell us about it.

Daniels: Hi, good morning. Thank you so much for having me on this morning. Yes, so we have been having some pretty interesting stuff up in Sumner County.

We had a school board meeting on Tuesday evening, October 18th, and it was to hopefully get a book called A Place Inside of Me by Zetta Elliott out of the elementary school library.

It was brought to light by a mom in Sumner County by the name of Sarah Kearney, she went through an appeals process, and the library felt that it was still appropriate for the schools. And so the school board meeting on Tuesday night, we were hoping that they would vote that it was not appropriate.

And then also Stephen King, who is a school board member up there for District 5, brought up a book by the name of Lawn Boy by John Evison that is in three high schools. And he voted to have it immediately removed because of the pornographic material. And the school board did not vote to have it immediately removed.

However, he did write a letter that he was going to take legal action because that vote on Tuesday evening actually made the school board liable and possibly be sued. And they have removed it right now while they’re looking at it. So a lot of stuff going on up there.

Leahy: So, in Sumner County, there are all sorts of K-12 public schools here that have books in their library, particularly elementary school books that are, I don’t know, they seem to be pornographic or promoting the sexualization of kids. They probably ought not to be there. Tell us about your group and where you are based and what your mission is.

Daniels: Sure. So we are Safeguard our Schools. We’re up in Sumner County. I am a California refugee that came here just a few years ago, and I was made aware last year of what is happening in our schools with the critical race theory and social-emotional learning. And so just decided to say.

Hey. You know what? I saw this happen in California, and I thought I moved here thinking that I was going to be rid of this, and I see that I’m not. And so I was at an in-home meeting with some parents and so we did an event last year, had a lot of speakers at it, making people aware of Wit and Wisdom.

And then just ever since then, we’ve been just trying to get people aware of what is happening to schools. That’s really our mission.

Also, to educate people and to get people aware of not only pornographic books but the books that are teaching Critical Race Theory. And the one book A Place Inside of Me is basically propaganda for Black Lives Matter. And it’s in first grade, it was pretty intense.

Leahy: It used to be that public schools were about teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Now they’re teaching left-wing progressive activism. Where did you live in California? When did you move here, and why did you move here?

Daniels: I lived in San Diego area, and it’s actually where I’m at right now. I came out here to visit some friends and family, but I moved there in late 2018 because of the politics out here, and it was just getting too crazy.

And my husband and I, we’ve been out here for a long time, and we said, you know what, we really need to get out here. And we researched that Tennessee was supposed to be the most conservative state in the United States.

And I really prayed about it and felt that God was telling me to move there. And then we got there and we were a little disappointed.

Leahy: The disappointment comes primarily in the K-12 public schools or in other areas?

Daniels: Well, in a few other areas, I have to tell you, I don’t know if you remember, but in April 2020 I helped form a group called Free TN, which is Free Tennessee and we did the Open Up Tennessee rallies that were downtown at the capitol.

And so I have to say that I was just a little taken aback. And then some of the legislation on medical freedom and everything that the General Assembly has done, I was just a little disappointed.

Leahy: So if you had to do it over again, Joanna, would you move to a different state from California? Would you have stayed in California? What would you have done?

Daniels: Well, I would definitely not of stayed in California, absolutely. But I have to say, Ron DeSantis he’s pretty intense.

Leahy: So you would have moved to Florida instead of Tennessee? Is that what you’re saying?

Daniels: Well, no, I have to say that Tennessee has my heart. I’m just hoping that sometimes the governor will kind of take after Ron DeSantis a little bit, so he’s really fighting for the schools.

Leahy: Let me just tell you, Governor Lee will not take after Ron DeSantis, (Daniels laughs) I’m sorry to say, but it’s just not going to happen. But having said that, you have kids in K 12 public schools in Sumner County now.

Daniels: I actually do not. My kiddos are grown 33 and 28. I do have a grandchild that is three years old. And so I do not have children in K 12. And so a lot of people ask, well, why do you do this?

Well, I’m a Christian, and God has called us to take care of the children. And so when I saw that this was happening, I just said, I have to do something.

And then also not only that, that’s, of course, the largest thing, these children have to be taken care of. My mom was a single parent of four, and so we had to go to public school.

And a lot of people say, well, why don’t people just pull their kids out and home-school? My mom was a single parent of four. There was no way that was going to happen.

Leahy: Couldn’t do that. They had to go through public schools.

Daniels: Absolutely. And our public schools are being paid for by our tax dollars. Up in Sumner County, almost eighty cents of every property tax dollar goes to the schools. And as a taxpayer I’m going, hold on a second, what am I subsidizing?

My money is paying for indoctrination, and I have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that my tax dollars are being used correctly, especially for parents that have to have their kids in the system. So we’re supposed to help each other out, right?

Listen to today’s show highlights, including this 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 “Child Reading Book” by Andrea Piacquadio.