A Quick Note on the BOE Vote

I will not be voting for a single, incumbent Kingsport BOE candidate on August 6th. In reality, that is only a symbolic protest on my part, but feel free to join me! Barring a monumental upset by the independent, many don’t realize those elections are already(mostly) decided as the Republican primaries have already decided the elections for the most part. Why? No credible Democrat challenger is on the ballot. The independent candidate is a bit of an unknown. Maybe my bigger concern is whether we have conservative Republicans who have retained their seats??? I don’t care about words. I make my decisions(about whether a candidate is conservative) based on actions.

It is my opinion that the current Kingsport BOE has moved well left of center. They get two thumbs down from me for the past two years and a few Pinocchios. They have challenged Republican Governor Bill Lee (twice) on school vouchers, and even led the movement against his initiative against school choice. We have had No Kings protestors utilizing KCS campuses for parking. The Indian logo was painted over at D-B. Are strong, conservative-Christian men welcome as leaders? I don’t know about that. Has our BOE aligned itself with the liberal Tennessee School Board Association? Maybe. Are we building schools in areas which will augment Kingsport’s potential for economic and residential growth? Firm no – We are redistributing city income away from city communities which pay more than their fair share of taxes. Have we pivoted away from the archaic philosophy of teaching to the test? Also a firm no. Did incumbent candidates keep their promise to bring new people into Central Office? LOL – no. Did we try to help Hurricane Helene communties (as a system) or choose to finish benchmarks? The latter. Did we balk at putting a home school student on the wall of honor even though they had contributed to a state title team? Yes. Is Central Office still loaded with employees who have not been in the classroom since the iPhone was invented? Yep. Even worse, the headlines from last week reflect possible lack of oversight at a couple of schools. Overall, I am not sure I can name a single, conservative decision?

So, for me as a conservative voter and an advocate for great educators regardless of party… I can’t vote for our current incumbents. In short, I was fooled. The current board is the same as the old. Innovation is at an all-time low. Priorities are sideways. Promises have not been kept. But hey, I am probably expecting too much from politicians on that last point.

So, the reality is that I am going to have to do some research on the dark-horse, independent candidate and vote for them, OR simply leave my ballot blank for this BOE section cycle. Sometimes an empty ballot is the best message we can send when trust with the community has been betrayed. I likely will vote for the independent and certainly will leave the incumbent boxes unchecked.

ProTip: Kingsport City Schools will be faced with new challenges moving forward. While KCS is building a school in Lynn Garden, ignoring stakeholders, and generating no new residential neighborhoods or taxable income, Tri-Cities Christian will open a brand-new high school in 2027 in an area of town which desperately needs more classrooms. That campus will rival the state-of-the-art Lakeway campus. If the BOE continues to ignore voters, that problem gets much, much bigger over the next few months and years. It is both an immediate and long term issue, but maybe the competition will help KCS listen. If the last calendar year is repeated, an exodus is probable.

Since the May primaries, my mind has pivoted fully to the 2028 BOE election. Three seats are open. It certainly appears that personnel decisions were made so that current re-election chances would not be harmed by the timing of those decisions – facts are stubborn things. But in 2028, we all have a right to answer those decisions by either running for their seats or voting them out. For certain, the actions of the past eighteen months will not be forgotten when the next election cycle unfolds! The goal at this point is to replace all three incumbents in 2028.