At the local, state, and federal levels of education, we need to get rid of ineffective, un-elected government bureaucrats. I have seen newly elected governments fail to do this time and time again. Without exception, the incoming administration pays a heavy price when they fail to do this. I often say that many un-elected government bureaucrats are only good at one thing – surviving from one administration to another by being chameleons. I doubt many possess strong held beliefs. What they do possess is the ability to kiss-up. They change their views to match incoming administration, and then undercut elected officials when the time is right.
The bureaucracy in education is stifling. They prevent innovation. In fact, many bureaucrats cleverly prevent it. They literally let great teachers and admin (and their ideas) whither on the vine. In Kingsport, we have bureaucrats who undercut anyone who isn’t in the “club.” They want cookie cutter teachers and principals. True innovators will never fit their mold. In fact, I believe in KCS that we are running off our best innovators. Keep in mind that innovators are rarely “yes people.” They have authentic opinions which are not dependent on group think. What sets innovators apart is their ability to swim against the current if that current is wrong. As the general public, we want innovators. Kingsport used to be full of them. Not so any longer. Where are we finding innovators? Private education and county school systems.
Donald Trump ran on the premise that many in the government are incapable of listening to the American people. But only a rare few politicians are willing or able to force the removal of people who are disconnected from the people they serve.
In Kingsport, for example, many of the same bureaucrats (who forced the excessive closure of our public schools) are still at ASC. Behind closed doors during COVID, many mocked the doctors who provided research based evidence and professional opinions that KCS stay open. Those educators put on their “we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express” hats and pretended that they had four years of pre-med, four years of med school, and three years of residency. We know now that their decisions were catastrophic for the student body and our local economy. But not a soul has held those bureaucrats accountable for that terrible decision. We have voted off every school board member who voted “no.” We have seen the sitting superintendent at the time forced out. Yet, those mocking bureaucrats that were part of the superintendent’s cabinet(and were part of the decision) are still there. Most still hold their original positions or sadly have been promoted.
What we are sure of now…those doctors were right, and their advice was completely ignored by KCS bureaucrats and three board members. In fact, the sitting KCS board chair at the time limited their time to speak to the board. In Sullivan County, doctors were given unlimited time to speak. Why? The Sullivan County School Board valued their opinions. And guess what happened? They rightly opened their schools.
What is the worst part of this? Bureaucrats didn’t do what was best for students. They knew that, and they did it anyway. Their actions behind closed doors were even more despicable. And you might ask how I know that? I will answer with this…Maybe I should ask why those conversations behind closed doors weren’t made public. Conversations by those in government should not be secret. If you are mad about that, maybe you are talking about something that is dishonorable.
Donald Trump is providing us a pathway to fixing this problem of allowing un-elected people to remain in government. He isn’t apologizing for his cabinet picks. They are bold. They are conservative. They are committed to change. Donald Trump is actually acting like he won the election instead of acting out of fear. Trump is on the offense. His message, “If you aren’t serving the American people, you are out of a job.”
As we pivot to the 2026 elections, we need to remember all of this. The road map to removing ineffective bureaucrats is to fire them, and not apologize for it. We need to elect people who publicly commit to protecting our citizens and not protecting the people in our government. Citizens will reap the rewards, and that is what matters. The power of government should be with the people, and not un-elected bureaucrats.
May we finally be unburdened from what has been. May we finally be unburdened from the has-beens.
