In a statement obtained by The Tennessee Star, candidate for Williamson County School Board District Six Debbie Pace shared the reasons why she is running for office.
“About 20 years ago, when I first started taking my children to school in Brentwood, it was wonderful. Teachers were happy, parents were involved, children were thriving, and the school board reflected the conservative voice of our county. Over the last few years the once-healthy relationship between the board, parents, and teachers has dramatically deteriorated,” she said.
Pace believes that the voices of parents and taxpayers have been silenced when it comes to running Williamson County schools.
“Parents and taxpayers have been pushed out of the classroom. They’ve been muted, gaveled into silence, or escorted out of school board meetings while attempting to voice their concerns. They’ve been stripped of their rights to make medical decisions for their children. They’re making their voices heard by pulling their children out of Williamson County Schools (WCS): 8,087 of them over the last two years.
“Teachers are leaving WCS at an alarming rate (and there are not enough coming up the ranks to replace them – a sobering thought given the rate of growth in our county), because they feel unsupported and scrutinized. Yet to this day, the school board has not performed effective exit interviews to find out why this is the case,” she said.
Pace posits that Williamson’s school board was busy pushing Critical Race Theory.
“Perhaps the school board was too busy ushering in what they knew to be a questionable, harmful, and racially divisive curriculum in Wit & Wisdom, which, as you know, is riddled with Critical Race Theory, based on Common Core, and being forced upon our teachers and children. Earlier this year at a school board meeting, the ‘Republican’ District 6 incumbent said Wit & Wisdom is ‘heavier than many of the kids can really handle at their age’ before he voted to keep the curriculum in our schools for another five years,” Pace said.
Pace said the incumbent school board member refuses to protect children from harmful content.
“Parents expect that a school board will protect their children from harmful, age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, openly anti-American curriculum. The incumbent for District 6 has refused to do that,” Pace emphasized. “He says he takes pride in pushing back on conservatives and liberals alike. Given that progressive liberals make up the majority of our school board, complacency is not what we need from our leadership. Refusing to stand up for conservative values is refusing to reflect the voice of our district,” she said.
“That is the reason I’m running,” added Pace.
Pace then addressed why she’s running as an independent, rather than as a Republican.
“Although I am a lifelong Republican, and originally pulled papers to run as one, I was forced to re-file my paperwork to run as an Independent. That’s when I, along with a few of the other conservative candidates running as Independents on the ballot, learned not all Republicans are created equal in this county,” she said.
“As a 23-year Brentwood resident, a former law enforcement officer, a mother of six, and an American patriot, I urge the conservative citizens of Williamson County to join me in taking back our school board in the upcoming election,” she continued, “[and] to know that an ‘R’ next to a name on the ballot does not signify the most conservative candidates in the race.”
“Together we can remove CRT from our schools and fight for a wholesome curriculum for our children. Bring parents back into the education process. Make sure our teachers are heard and supported. And cultivate a safe learning environment for all children and teachers,” Pace concluded.
Pace invites potential voters to email her at [email protected] for more information.
Debbie Pace has called Brentwood home for the last 23 years. She and her husband, John, will be celebrating 30 years of marriage this fall. They are the proud parents of six children who have attended Williamson County public schools. Three have graduated from Ravenwood High School, and three are currently enrolled in a WC School. Pace is a former police officer who worked for the Metro Nashville and Brentwood City Police Departments for a total of nine years.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
