Tag: Williamson County School System

Ben Carson Tells Williamson County Audience that Critical Race Theory Violates Martin Luther King Jr.’s Core Philosophy

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Three days before the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Ben Carson traveled to Williamson County to tell a packed audience that Critical Race Theory (CRT) defies the teachings of the late civil rights activist. Carson, the former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke at The Factory in Franklin, only a few miles away from the Williamson County School System’s (WCS’s) main office. Several frustrated parents have long said that the WCS continues to teach CRT, against those parents’ wishes.

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Brentwood High School Students Allegedly Asked About Their Gender Pronouns

Chris Butler

Brentwood High School staff members gave students a questionnaire on the first day of school this year and allegedly asked them to identify themselves by the gender pronouns “She/her/hers,” “He/him/his,” “They/them/theirs,” or “other.” Middle Tennessee residents posted a screenshot of the questionnaire on their Facebook pages late last week. The posters said someone at Brentwood High — whom they did not identify — took the photograph.

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Williamson County School System in Tennessee Won’t Comment on Texas Cultural Competency Plan That Preaches All Whites Are Racist

Chris Butler

Officials at one public school system in Texas use a cultural competency plan that teaches that all whites are racist, and it was unclear Tuesday if those ideas have made their way to Tennessee. Officials at the Williamson County School System in Tennessee wouldn’t say Tuesday if their own cultural competency plan mirrors the one that teachers use in Texas’ Southlake Carroll Independent School District. The Federalist describes the Texas curriculum in a report this week.

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Local Williamson County Group Describes Required Elementary School Readings That Allegedly Push Critical Race Theory

Chris Butler

Members of the group Moms for Liberty — Williamson County (ML-WC) have detailed examples of books that elementary students within the Williamson County School System must read that allegedly perpetuate Critical Race Theory (CRT).

ML-WC said last week they want to alert parents about this curriculum called, “Wit and Wisdom.” They have published a website detailing examples of CRT within the school system.

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Williamson County School System Officials Deny They Are Pushing Critical Race Theory, Critics Call it Marxist

Chris Butler

Staff at the Williamson County School System say on their official website that they are not implementing Critical Race Theory (CRT) into their curriculum, although other people insist that, yes, it has infested the schools.

And those same people who want the alleged Critical Race Theory removed said WCS officials must withdraw from it immediately.

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William County Schools Sets ‘Listen and Learn’ Sessions with Diversity Firm

Chris Butler

Members of the Williamson County School System have already held three of nine sessions as part of a program they say will stamp out what they call a pattern of racism within the school district. As The Tennessee Star reported in February, Williamson County School Board members voted unanimously that month to hire a firm, Fostering Healthy Solutions, to help carry out their objectives.

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Carol Swain Says Williamson County Risks Increasing Racial Tension with Cultural Competency Program

Chris Butler

Members of the Williamson County School System are reportedly looking to implement a cultural competency program, but former Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain said it will likely divide different categories of people even further.

The Nashville-based FOX 17 reported last week that Williamson County School System Superintendent Jason Golden wants a cultural strategy program.

But Swain told The Tennessee Star Monday that Golden and school board members need to ponder what, exactly, they want to accomplish.

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Williamson County Teachers Suspended Without Pay for Not Wearing COVID-19 Masks

Chris Butler

Two Williamson County School (WCS) System teachers, both of whom said they have previously unblemished records, said Tuesday that school administrators have suspended them without pay, indefinitely, because they refuse to wear COVID-19 masks.

And both of those teachers, Aundrea Laramee-Gomez and Tonya Homme, spoke on the record about their respective suspensions — even if they said it means they both might lose their jobs.

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Williamson County Parents Can Review Curriculum for Left-Wing Bias

Chris Butler

  FRANKLIN — Parents of students in the Williamson County School System who worry that school officials politicize their child’s social studies curriculum have a right to view the material if they wish. The Tennessee Star reviewed a portion of the school system’s social studies curriculum Tuesday, with the caveat that we had to do it at the school system’s main office in Franklin and with school staff monitoring us. We also could not take screenshots of the curriculum, which is online. But if it is online then why could we not simply review the material on our own from a location of our choosing? Could WCS officials cite a specific state statute or statutory authority to explain that? When asked, WCS spokeswoman Carol Birdsong did not cite any statute or statutory authority. But Birdsong did say the following in an emailed statement: “The information that you saw today is part of the social studies OER which contains the materials designed for teachers to access and utilize in their classrooms. Teachers may choose to use any or all of those resources. What you reviewed was not for students to directly access through a password. Also, remember that each resource you…

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TIP: Williamson County School System Blocks The Tennessee Star on Servers

Chris Butler

The Tennessee Star has apparently fallen out of the good graces of the Williamson County School System. Sources in-the-know, who requested anonymity, told us last week The Star was no longer available for viewing through the school district’s Internet network. Teachers, students, school administrators could not read The Tennessee Star, at least not at work, and not while using the school system’s Internet. This week sources told us our stories are still unavailable for viewing. The Star emailed school system spokeswoman Carol Birdsong for comment early Thursday afternoon. By Friday evening Birdsong had not responded to our request for comment. As The Star reported during March, school teachers had to watch videos preaching “white privilege” and America’s supposed dysfunctional history. Superintendent Mike Looney thought up the idea. At a gathering in Franklin late last month, Looney told parents they were never supposed to see these videos and even publicly scolded a County Commissioner for asking questions about this curriculum. Many parents have told The Tennessee Star they don’t believe Looney has shown enough transparency with board members, the public, or the media. Many parents wonder if transparency is the order of the day when it comes to how the Williamson County School…

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Williamson County School Board Member Rick Wimberly Passes the Buck to Mike Looney on Cultural Competency Committee Questions

Chris Butler

If you live in Williamson County and have questions or misgivings about the school system’s Cultural Competency video series then, like most people, you’re likely to contact your school board representative. And you would expect your school board representative is on top of things and knows just as much as the superintendent. If you’re in Williamson County, however, assume nothing. Your local school board representative might just pass the buck to Superintendent Mike Looney. Franklin resident Christine Deekens said she learned that lesson this week when she tried to reach out to school board member Rick Wimberly about the videos. Teachers in the school district must watch these videos, which preach “white privilege” and America’s supposed dysfunctional history. Deekens said she met with Wimberly for an hour but, afterwards, said he still didn’t address her concerns. “His responses to me were outright copouts,” Deekens told The Tennessee Star this week. So, she sent Wimberly an email recapping their meeting and all her questions that remain unanswered. Deekens forwarded those emails to The Star, which, among other things, communicated the following to Wimberly: “As I reflect on our meeting, however, I am troubled by what you supposedly DIDN’T know – given…

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WCS Superintendent Mike Looney Refuses to Answer The Tennessee Star’s Questions About Violations of State Law

Chris Butler

Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney has long evaded The Tennessee Star’s questions about the “white privilege” in-service training he imposed on teachers during the current academic year, but Thursday he made clear he refuses to talk to us. “You have mislead [sic], editorializied [sic] and been less than honest in your ‘reporting’ [sic] until this changes I will not recognize your online publication as legitimate and will not respond to requests for comment,” Looney wrote in an emailed statement. In his email to us, Looney failed to identify a single factual error in any of the stories The Star has published regarding the “white privilege” “Cultural Competency” series. This was the first time Looney responded directly to The Star, even though for weeks we have sent several emails with several questions to him and his public information officer Carol Birdsong. As reported, the “white privilege” training is part of a “Cultural Competency series of videos that preach left-leaning social justice themes and America’s supposed dysfunctional history. On Thursday, The Star tried to ask Looney about an email he sent a parent about the fourth video in that “Cultural Competency” series. We also wanted to ask him about his claim to that…

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Report: Williamson County Schools Teaming Up with Leftist Southern Poverty Law Center 

Chris Butler

Williamson County Schools will send teachers to a series of workshops in Franklin this coming May that is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, according to a source. Those workshops, called Teaching Tolerance, are scheduled for May 3 and May 4 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Franklin, according to tolerance.org The event’s website clearly states that Teaching Tolerance is “a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.” “Social Justice 101” is one of the scheduled topics. The move is seen as further evidence that Williamson County Schools superintendent Mike Looney, who created and launched a series of videos titled Williamson County Schools Cultural Competency Series that promote the concept of “white privilege” and the anti-American exceptionalism “privilege theory”–now required viewing by all teachers in the system during in-service training, has his own educational agenda. The Teaching Tolerance project has a full time staff of 20 who are dedicated to teaching teachers about left wing views of America that are inconsistent with Gov. Bill Lee’s statement on March 4 at his State of the State address that Tennessee public schools will teach students “unapologetic American exceptionalism.” The project’s website notes that “Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants support educators who…

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The Tennessee Star Wants to Hear from Parents, Students, and Teachers for Eyewitness Accounts of Alleged ‘Racist Incident’ at Sunset Middle School in Brentwood 

Chris Butler

An alleged “racist incident” occurred in January at Brentwood’s Sunset Middle School, according to Friday’s Tennessean, five months after the Williamson County School System launched a system-wide “Cultural Competency Series” of In-Service training days for teachers. Allegedly, some students at the school linked arms in between classes, formed a human chain, and then barred non-white students from passing as a play on U.S. President Donald Trump’s border wall. As The Tennessee Star reported, the In-service training for teachers included several videos the school system created that focused on “white privilege.” The Tennessean offered rather thin evidence to support their assertion that a racist incident had, in fact, occurred Jan. 18. The paper’s evidence included on-the-record statements from two members of the WCS cultural competency committee. Neither of the two women quoted apparently witnessed the alleged incident. Williamson County Schools addressed the details of the alleged incident in a way that was unusual. A Tennessean reporter emailed school system officials to confirm the event. But rather than respond to The Tennessean reporter, WCS officials printed out the email and someone hand wrote “Yes it happened,” on it and included that document — unsolicited —in a package to The Tennessee Star, along…

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Williamson County Schools Spending 22 Percent More on In-Service Training for Teachers This Academic Year

Chris Butler

The Williamson County School System is serious about prioritizing its In-Service teacher training, so much so administrators spent 22 percent more on it for this 2018-19 school year versus the prior one. According to the school system’s budget, administrators spent $689,989 on their In-Service/Staff Development training this school year. For the 2017-18 school year, administrators budgeted $564,508. This school year’s budget for the In-Service teacher training is a 57 percent increase over what it got in the 2013-14 school year, $439,847. Other budgeted items, including materials and supplies, got less than a 1 percent budget increase over the previous school year, while workers compensation insurance got a 2 percent increase. Budgeted liability insurance costs remained the same, while the school system’s building and contents insurance got a 17 percent decrease. You can see the budget breakdown for In-Service training expenditures by Williamson County Schools from the 2013-2014 academic year to the 2018-2019 academic year here: As The Tennessee Star reported this week, as part of this In-Service teacher training, Williamson County School System officials made teachers watch a video that tried to instruct them on how to teach students about “white privilege.” The 26-minute in-service training video, the third in…

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Williamson County School System Director Apologizes for ‘Gross Error in Judgement’ on Slavery Assignment

Chris Butler

As part of an assignment, eighth-grade social studies teachers at Brentwood’s Sunset Middle School asked students to pretend their family owns slaves. Students then had to create a list of expectations for the family’s slaves. The assignment didn’t sit well with Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney, who has publicly apologized for what he said was a “gross error in judgement from WCS personnel.” [Editors note: “Judgement” is not generally accepted as the proper spelling of ‘judgment” in American English, although it is considered acceptable in British English, primarily in legal documents.] “We have been providing professional training to our staff members on cultural awareness this year, but I admit that we have more work to do in this area,” Looney said in an email sent out to school parents Thursday. “Please know, we are absolutely committed to ensuring all of our students feel welcome, wanted and worthwhile.” Looney also tweeted a copy of his letter. School officials pulled the assignment, and they will not take grades on it, Looney went on to say. In the same email, school Principal Tim Brown said he was “very remorseful that this situation occurred.” “I recognize this assignment was inappropriate, and steps are…

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