Tag Archives: Williamson County School Board

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Williamson County Teachers Speak Out on Disrespect from School Board

The Williamson County School Board recently made science textbook selections. In an unprecedented move, the Board rejected the science textbooks that received the most votes from teachers. Instead, the Board chose to implement/adopt material that was the last choice.

It’s not entirely clear why this choice was made, though it is worth noting that the Board is now solidly controlled by influences from Moms for Liberty and Americans for Prosperity.

One blogger took the time to review teacher responses to this action. I’ll note some examples here:

“During my time teaching in the district, we’ve lost many excellent teachers to other districts because of pay, climate, and decisions like those made at last night’s meeting regarding textbook adoption. How can you spend the first part of the meeting discussing things like increasing teacher pay and then come back from break so blatantly disregarding us as professionals?” – WCS high school AP teacher

“In my 18 years in public education, I have never witnessed a school board go against teacher input for a textbook adoption. This raises red flags as an employee, parent, and community member.” – WCS middle school instructional coach

The general vibe: Teachers are not happy. They feel disrespected. The school board asked them to do a job and then completely ignored their recommendation.

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Parish Picks Up Endorsement in Williamson County School Board Race

Veteran board member backs Parish for District 9 seat

A longtime Williamson County School Board member is backing a political newcomer in the race for the vacant District 9 school board seat.

Rick Wimberley is endorsing Shandus Parish for the job, praising Parish’s commitment to open communication and willingness to work with all parties to advance excellence.

“Shandus has a good grasp of the challenges of school board work and an understanding of what the real role is and what it’s not,” Wimberly said. “She’s prepared. She’ll be open to input from the public, her colleagues, and WCS staff, and will put aside politics and partisanship when making tough decisions. I think Shandus will make an excellent Williamson County School Board member.”

The election is August 1st.

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Division and Exclusion

A Williamson County advocacy group is accusing an incumbent school board member seeking re-election of bullying and sowing seeds of division and exclusion.

Here’s more from a story originally published on NewsBreak:

The Williamson Social Justice Alliance (WSJA) is speaking out on comments made by Williamson County School Board member Jay Galbreath relative to LGBTQ students and broader diversity issues.

Specifically, the group is condemning remarks Galbreath made in a Facebook comment on his candidate page.

In a statement, WSJA noted:

“Galbreath’s comments on his public Facebook page stated that the progressive agenda looks to ‘inject and normalize things like gender identity, the black lives matter movement, and LGBTQ by weaving it into the curriculum.’ Words like these from an elected official marginalize all of the queer students in our community, as well as students with queer parents, by shaming them and stating other children must be shielded from the knowledge of their existence. Such disregard from an adult, especially one who serves as an elected official responsible for representing a diverse array of constituents in a large community like Williamson County, leads to further division and exclusion in our schools and society as a whole.”

The group specifically highlighted the negative impact comments such as Galbreath’s can have on students and referred to his remarks as “bullying.”

“All children deserve protection from bullying, particularly when it’s coming from adults. Bullying from an adult in a position of power and influence in their community is unacceptable.”

In describing their mission, WSJA says:

“WSJA stands for the equality and liberty of students in our schools and community, inclusive of every skin color, sex, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, or gender identity, and believe that everyone, no matter their personal values, wishes equal treatment and opportunity for each student in Williamson County.”

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