Right now, counties across the country are less than a month away from selecting new County Mayors, County Commissioners, judges, and prosecutors. In Tennessee and other places, school board races are now partisan exercises, bringing an uncomfortable and unwelcome political dimension to a role that should be entirely focused on doing what’s best for kids.

The stakes are high. Book banning, school safety, and teacher retention are just a few of the important issues that the school board here in Hamilton County will need to confront straightaway. Third-grade reading levels, test scores, and post-secondary readiness are still far from where they should be.

If public education is now another arena for the right’s endless appetite for culture war hysterics, we need focused, compassionate, collaborative leaders like never before.

Jill Black is running in the newly created District 11, which includes neighborhoods from Lookout Mountain to Missionary Ridge, including large swaths of Alton Park, East Lake, and the Southside. She’s a social worker with a long-time interest in advocating for better schools. Ben Connor is a nonprofit executive and highly engaged public school father running in District 6, which includes parts of Red Bank, the North Shore, and North Chattanooga. Katie Perkins is a teacher running in District 8, which is predominantly East Brainerd and East Ridge.

I was grateful that they made time to talk to me about why they’re running, the issues they look forward to tackling, and their paths to winning for this special episode of The Scanner.

Learn more:
Jill Black - District 11: jillblackforschoolboard.com
Katie Perkins - District 8: katieperkinsforschoolboard.com
Ben Connor - District 6: votebenconnor.com