Gracie Porter 2004 Election Finances

Gleaning from the 2004 Campaign Financial Disclosure Statements of Gracie Porter , District 5 Representative for the Metro Nashville Public Schools reveals the tremendous investment that Democratic PAC's and the unions involved in the public school system made in ensuring Porter's election.

For those unaware, I was appointed by the Metro Council to fill the unexpired term of the former BOE rep in May of 2006. Just 11 weeks later was the general election and Porter and I, and two other candidates, all ran for the seat. It was obvious during the campaign that big guns were pulled out to keep me from retaining my appointment on the MNPS Board of Education. I think many people will be surprised at how much money and manpower these Democratic PACS and these unions expended to ensure that I wasn't around to ask questions, hold people accountable and provide answers to parents, taxpayers and voters.

Here is ample evidence that the foxes are guarding the hen house. No real progress will be made in Nashville schools until we break the conflict of interest that results when a BOE member owes their seat to the folks they are supposed to hold accountable.



This chart shows $18,300 from PACS and unions. That's 88% of her contributions coming from "Democracy" for America/TN, SEIU, MNEA, AFL-CIO, the Tn Democratic Women's PAC, and the Chamber of Commerce's Success PAC which fought hard to keep Pedro Garcia in charge of MNPS.

So, who do you think is going to ensure her reelection?




















All of this is important to keep in mind as this is the final week to qualify to run for any MNPS BOE seat. Petitions must be picked up from the Metro Election Commission and returned before noon on Thursday, April 3. If you are unhappy with how MNPS schools are being run do something about it. Be or back a candidate that will hold the system accountable with your time and your treasure. It's not too late to get 25 fellow district voters to qualify a candidate.

Here are the current BOE members up for re-election in August.










From left to right:
Ed Kindall on the BOE since 7/9/1985, nearly 23 years,
George Thompson on the BOE in 1991 and then back on 8/1/1996, more than 12 years,
MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden on the BOE since 8/24/2004,
Gracie Porter elected in August of 2006 and
Mark North since spring of 2007.

Update of BOE meeting 8/22/06

The MNPS board secretary confirmed that the wording for GP3.10 which passed 9-0 on the consent agenda was the same one discussed at the last BOE meeting and pulled by me for a specific vote. At that time the board voted to remove it all together and now this board has reinstated it without discussion.

"Facilitating timely and efficient communications with the administration and constituents by offering to each Board member the use of a district provided laptop or a residential fax line with fax machine.”

She also provided me with the committee appointments made by Chair Pam Garrett

Charter Schools Committee –
Connie Williams [ Executive Director of PENCIL Foundation] and
Sydney Rodgers [Chamber of Commerce Alignment Nashville]

CGCS [Council of Great City Schools] Convention –
George Thompson, honorary chair [long time BOE member and new chairman of CGCS]
Kathy Nevill, acting chair [former BOE member and vice-chair]
and George [Thompson] announced that
Dr. Garcia [Director of MNPS] would be co-chair

Committee to Evaluate the Director [Dr. Garcia] –
Ed Kindall, chair
Marsha Warden
Pam Garrett [currently BOE chair]
Steve Glover [new board member covering Kathy Nevill's old seat]

It's a whole new BOE

I watched much of last evening's MNPS BOE meeting via the 'net while preparing dinner. Since a great deal of that meeting was a tutorial on the system it didn't require my full attention having received OJT in this over the summer. I was glad that this overview was done at their first meeting. It needed to be and Pam Garrett ought to be commended for ensuring it was.

I would encourage folks who are interested in how the board actually works to view the 'policy governance' portion. I expect that in the near future it will be available to download from the Internet and I'll link to it for your convenience. I think it's very important for the taxpayers, voters and parents of Davidson County to understand this governing system as they attempt to interact with the board. I believe Mr. Ralph Schulz of the Adventure Science Center does an excellent job at clearly explaining it for lay people.

The introduction of the cabinet members is also very handy information and I hope that, as I've suggested, the actual PowerPoint presentation slides will be available to the public so that we can more easily follow along. There was some valuable information being shared but having a hard copy of that information would be a good resource for the community.

I was disappointed to hear that by unanimous consent the first vote of this new board included providing themselves laptops or fax machines and phone lines. I never bought the plea that not having those tools may keep a poor person from participating on the board and I never understood why the taxpayers even had to provide these in the first place. We've got teachers across the county paying for supplies out of their own pockets and taxpayers viewing this as an unnecessary perk. Great, you've staked out your parity with the council members. How does that really help the children of MNPS?

I did miss hearing the committee appointments that were to be announced at the end of the meeting. Mr. Kindall asked early on about when those were going to be announced. Ms Garret, as chair, remained firm though and reiterated that they'd be announced at the end of the meeting. I'm waiting to hear back from MNPS what those were.

The BOE will hold a 'retreat' this Friday and Saturday. I expect it will be an intense time for them as they get to know one another and their jobs, set priorities for the upcoming year, begin the evaluation of Dr. Garcia and decide who is going to lead this newbie board. It will be my earnest prayer that they'll be able to work together, set aside previous allegiances and relationships, hold the director accountable and will be able to quickly bring about the changes that must be made.

It's time to walk the campaign talk. God speed.