Publisher’s Positions
Good Job, Betsy Henderson
Betsy Henderson, chair of the Knox County Board of Education, was polite and professional under the severe provocation of some rude people who demanded her resignation. Why? Because Henderson dared to go to Nashville and speak up for Governor Bill Lee’s voucher plan. Anybody who knows anything about Betsy Henderson knows she is outspoken in her belief that parents should not only be involved in the education of their children but also ought to be respected and listened to by the school system where their children are taught. Henderson has always believed parents have a right to know just exactly what their children are being taught. Betsy Henderson has never hidden the fact, quite the contrary, she has always been upfront about her belief in parental rights and school choice. Henderson’s position is thoughtful and she has won every election in which she has run, and not by just a little bit, either.
“We can support both public schools and school choice,” Henderson said. Henderson also pointed out the legislature had demonstrated its support for public schools by increasing Knox County schools’ budget by 35% over just the last five years. A letter written by someone living in Henderson’s district condemned Henderson, writing her “enthusiastic public support for school vouchers is an egregious betrayal of the students, teachers, families, employees, and community members of Knox County Schools.” It is no such thing.
Commissioner Terry Hill charging it was a “gross misuse of a position of power” for her to have testified before the Education Committee in Nashville is absurd. Terry Hill’s public service is notable only because she has a well-deserved reputation for talking out of both sides of her mouth. If anything is a gross misuse of a position of power it is Hill’s denouncing Ms. Henderson. Terry, in the United States of America, even public officials have the right to freedom of speech. Just as you have the right to fling a baseless accusation, so, too does Betsy Henderson have the right to speak as a private individual before the state legislature. Ms. Henderson was careful to state she was not there to speak on behalf of the board, but rather as a mother and citizen of the State of Tennessee.
I don’t recall much of anyone condemning former board member Jennifer Owen who went to Nashville every year while she served on the board to lobby against vouchers. Terry Hill served on the board with Ms. Owen and never complained about Ms. Owen lobbying for her own personal point of view. No member of the county commission or board of education speaks for the full body, something anybody with a lick of common sense should know.
Just about everybody in Terry Hill’s family seems to have served on the Knox County Board of Education and so did I, but unfortunately, Commissioner Hill was more interested in representing the teachers’ unions and the bureaucracy than she was in the parents and students. Evidently, Ms. Hill is still representing that same constituency on the Knox County Commission. And would Terry Hill’s comment have been worthy of being printed in the daily newspaper had she not been a member of the county commission? Surely not. Maybe Hill should have followed her own advice and kept her own mouth shut. But then few politicians have kept one finger in the air and a baton in the other hand, ready to run and get in front of the parade as has Terry Hill. Unfortunately for her constituents and Knox County, Terry Hill has a USAID mindset.
Historically, teachers unions do not want any kind of oversight or accountability. These unions and their supporters bray we should fully fund schools, yet they can’t tell anyone what that would be; it just takes more and more money and we aren’t turning out a better product. And Betsy Henderson is representing the people who elected her, much as the vocal teacher unionists would like to disbelieve. Henderson has always put the students and parents above the school bureaucracy. The same people who hate accountability inside the school system also loathe the idea of the taxpayers having any say in what they pay for. Members of the board of education are not elected to represent the system; they are elected to represent the families who are the reason the system exists.
Here in Knox County, fully two-thirds of every local tax dollar goes to support the schools. Three-fourths of the budget goes for just two entities: schools and the sheriff’s department. Every other aspect of county government is run off the remaining quarter out of every tax dollar.
Betsy Henderson was NOT elected to represent the school bureaucracy, teachers, or administrators; she was elected to represent the students and parents. As stated previously, after all it is the parents who pay for it as taxpayers. The Knox County Board of Education has been well represented by those who think of parents as an afterthought. The late Mike McMillan, who served on the board for more than a decade and had spent his entire adult life as a teacher, once observed some of his colleagues constantly mentioned teachers without ever once mentioning taxpayers. McMillan also liked to point out the only time some of his colleagues mentioned students and parents was as a shield to protect themselves.
Betsy Henderson is free to speak her mind, as a member of the Knox County Board of Education, as a parent herself, and as an American just as those who disagree with her can jump on her Facebook page and howl and squall in outrage. That’s what free speech and democracy is, after all.
Sam Lee Would Make A Great U.S. Attorney
Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen has done a good job in serving in a very important office. Sam Lee is General Allen’s chief deputy and has done much to contribute to her success in prosecuting criminals. Lee has made an application to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The U.S. Attorney’s post is a position of great importance to our community and all of East Tennessee.
Sam Lee not only has the legal knowledge necessary to hold such a post but also possesses the administrative ability necessary to make a success of the appointment. Lee also has the vital experience of having served as a prosecutor and is uniquely well-positioned to serve during the second Trump administration. With the U.S. government finally enforcing the laws on the books and making a herculean effort to remove the violent illegal alien gangs from our streets and communities, it makes a great deal of difference just who is appointed to serve as our U.S. Attorney. Sam Lee would be the perfect choice to cooperate with the federal agencies and local governments as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Sam Lee is able, hardworking, and very much a part of our local community. While there may be one or two who rival Lee in ability, patriotic zeal, and experience, there are none better.
