.png)
District 4 has been particularly tumultuous regarding its School Board member turnover.
When Brad Fiscus resigned last year, the County Commission appointed Josh Brown in October 2021 to serve out the remainder of the D4 term until the August 2022 election.
Brown now has to be elected by voters to keep his seat and has three challengers, including a May 3rd Republican primary challenge.
The Candidates
August 4th Election
Josh Brown - R (interim appointed incumbent)
Bob Britton - D
Del Wright - I*
(Wright initially pulled his petition to run as a Republican and switched to Independent in the final days before the deadline)
Our Endorsement
Bob Britton
Our Reasons
All it takes is one conversation with Bob, and you'll know why we're endorsing him. We strongly encourage you to reach out to him personally as he's pretty amazing...we have to admit, we were stressing a bit over District 4's seat until we spoke with him and realized just how lucky we ALL are that he's stepped forward to serve as a public servant for our schools.
Bob is a very involved grandparent who's hands on in raising his Trinity Elementary School student grandsons including being active in their school lives. Like so many of us, he couldn't believe what was happening with WCS in the news and how much bad publicity we were getting from a few bad actors, and didn't know what to do about it....he's worried about his grandsons' teachers leaving, and wants to make sure the kids are all receiving the education they deserve, and so he's standing up for their future by running for this seat.
As a retired corporate executive and small business owner who's lived here for over 20 years, he'll be a strong and steady voice of reason for all of our children.
"At the end of the day, I believe all of us want the same things for our children: a learning environment where all students feel safe, valued and respected; a challenging curriculum that prepares our children to be productive citizens and trusted professionals to guide them through their educational experience."
Overviews
The information in this section was gathered from the Williamson Strong candidate questionnaires, local media coverage, social media posts, and our own historical information, which we've linked to where possible.
Website: www.electbobbritton.com
Facebook: facebook.com/electbobbritton
Candidate Profiles & Interviews: Williamson Herald, Williamson Inc. Meet the Candidates Interview
Current WCS engagement: Grandchildren at Trinity Elementary
Professional: Retired Corporate Executive and small business owner
Local history: Lived in Williamson for 20 years
Completed our Williamson Strong candidate questionnaire: Yes - click to read.
Endorsements: Williamson Strong
Website: www.votejoshbrown.com
Facebook: facebook.com/joshbrownwcs
Twitter: N/A
Candidate Profiles & Interviews: Williamson Herald, Williamson Inc. Meet the Candidates Interview
Current WCS engagement: Trinity Elementary parent. "Our family has supported the Trinity PTO and its events for many years."
Professional: National Vice President at Pfizer Inc.
Local history: Has lived in Williamson County his "entire life with the exception of college years."
Completed our Williamson Strong candidate questionnaire: Yes - click to read.
Endorsements:
Groups: Brown has not been on social media until establishing his campaign pages in January 2022 (months after his appointment.) Per the Tennesseean, "His wife, Mary-Kate Anderson Brown, is an administrator of Back to School-Williamson [as is District 6 school board member Jay Galbreath], a parent Facebook group largely in favor of parents' right to choose, especially when it comes to coronavirus protocols and a return to "normal." She is extremely active and outspoken about School Board matters on social media, including recently launching a new Facebook page, The Bulletin, "to make our collective voices heard in the upcoming election."
Notable Info: Brown's nomination was met with widespread concern from various groups from all sides of the community, triggering protest petitions from Moms for Liberty and Tennessee Stands and coinciding with a joint statement from 7 local community groups.
"A variety of parent groups, despite frequently falling on opposite sides of most debates in Williamson County Schools, declined to endorse the nominee for an open school board seat.
After the announcement of Brown's nomination on Thursday, parent group One WillCo issued a statement in partnership with Be the Bridge Nolensville, Franklin Justice and Equity Coalition, Together Nolensville, The Public Tennesseans for Historical Justice, Williamson Social Justice Alliance and Williamson Strong. The groups advocated for the appointment of a "non-partisan" individual who is an advocate for the safety of all students.
"We understand that multiple applicants for the District 4 school board seat are connected with [certain nationally affiliated groups] and we urge the Commission to consider the community's reputation and act on behalf of the businesses, homeowners, employees, educators and all who live and work here," One WillCo wrote in a news release. "We do not want partisan interests of any stripe to outweigh the best interest of our students."
Summation: Basically, no one was happy about this appointment by Commissioners Gregg Lawrence and Chad Story. (Reminder that Lawrence once nominated anti-Muslim activist Laurie Cardoza-Moore the last time the District 4 seat was open for an appointment.)
Website: https://delwright.com
Facebook:
Twitter: N/A
Current WCS engagement: Centennial High School parent, Volunteer Williamson County Middle School Basketball Coach for two years, Official Williamson County High School Basketball Coach for two years, Staff Member and Volunteer with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) for the past 11 years
Professional: President & CEO of Wright Way Leadership
Local history: Has lived in Williamson County since 2011.
Completed our Williamson Strong candidate questionnaire: Yes - click to read.
Notable info:
1) former WCS Board member Tim McLaughlin is his campaign treasurer, which is an absolute sure sign that the Tea Party 2.0 organizers have recruited Wright to run for this position and are helping him behind the scenes....this is the same group that recruited Susan Curlee, Beth Burgos, Candy Emerson, and Dan Cash in 2014, e.g. national political dark money and Americans for Prosperity involvement in our local elections. We know this is big time "inside baseball" for those not following local politics that closely, but please trust us when we say this is all we need to know to give a big huge thumbs down on Mr. Wright.
2) Website platform includes two major red flags for public school parents in Williamson County - these are not the words of a public school advocate and demonstrate a deep misunderstanding of (or lack of respect for) both the makeup of our community and the role of a School Board member:
Elliott Franklin (eliminated from the race in primary)
Website: www.wcsdistrict4.com
Facebook: facebook.com/wcsdistrict4
Twitter:
Candidate Profiles & Interviews: Williamson Herald, Williamson Inc. Meet the Candidates Interview
Current WCS engagement: Page High School parent. "I have supported WCS at extra-curricular events and attended multiple school board meetings."
Professional: ServiceMaster Brands, Information Technology and Cyber Security
Local history: Moved to Williamson County in 2018.
Completed our Williamson Strong candidate questionnaire: Yes - click to read.
Endorsements: Moms for Liberty's "Williamson Families" PAC, 3/8/22
Groups:
Notable info: Was one of 10 applicants for the interim D4 appointment in 2021 but did not receive a commissioner nomination.
Franklin appears to be associated with far-right extremist organizer Gary Humble of TN Stands (who's one of only 9 friends on his new Facebook page).
In addition to also being one of the Moms for Liberty PAC endorsed candidates, which is enough to disqualify him from coming anywhere near our public school policymaking, he's already making extremely inflammatory statements on his campaign Facebook page.
e.g. Blaming WCS teacher resignations on leadership during a *nationwide* educator crisis is incredibly shortsighted and divisive. (Pssst: they're actually leaving because they're no longer willing to put up with the disrespect and harassment they've taken from parents and extremists, on top of ongoing horrible pay and bogus laws that threaten them for doing their jobs.)
Franklin is also on Gab, the far-right social network.
Our very strong recommendation:
Vote for Bob Britton for District 4
Historical Information for those wanting a deep dive
If you live in District 4, you must read these two articles to get up to speed on the history and people pulling the strings behind the scenes, as this seat has been at the heart of the political shenanigans for years now:
Read 1st:
https://www.williamsonstrong.org/post/2018-district-4-school-board-race-takes-a-partisan-turn
Read 2nd:
https://www.williamsonstrong.org/post/district-4-interim-board-member-appointment-2021-episode