Issues

How do we retain the best teachers and staff?

There are two things I want to focus on here: respect and compensation. The best teachers and staff have options. They go where they're paid fairly and where their expertise is valued. Williamson County needs to offer both.

Respect Teachers' Professional Expertise

Attracting and keeping great teachers isn't only about money.  It's also about respect. When educators feel their professional judgment matters, they stay. When they feel ignored or overruled on matters within their own expertise, morale collapses and talented people leave.

We saw this play out locally in March 2025, when the school board voted to adopt Accelerated Learning's "STEMscopes" science curriculum, overriding the direct recommendations of the WCS teachers who had reviewed and evaluated the competing options. The Williamson Herald described the reaction as a "punch in the gut to teachers." That kind of decision drives good teachers out the door.

As a board member, I will only support the curriculum that our teachers, the subject matter experts, actually recommend.

Bring WCS Compensation Up to a Williamson County Living Wage

We cannot attract the best teachers and staff when we pay Tennessee-average salaries in the most expensive county in the state. The numbers tell the story:

• WCS Average Teacher Salary: $67,044

• U.S. Average Teacher Salary: $72,030

• Williamson County Living Wage (2 adults, 1 income, 2 kids): $46.48/hr ($96,678/yr)

Williamson County ranks 22nd among the highest-income counties in the United States. Yet our teacher pay doesn't come close to reflecting that. Our economic peers do better: Fairfax County, VA (#23) pays ~$80k; Delaware County, OH (#21) pays ~$74k. We should be benchmarking against cost of living peers, not statewide averages.

I support a sustained, multi-year commitment to close this gap. I know there are efforts in progress, but frankly they are not enough. This means working with county and state leaders for greater investment in staff and educator pay and ensuring WCS budgets treat compensation as a strategic priority.

Board policy changes in response to student led protests.

TL;DR

I gave a speech at the 3/23 board meeting on this topic. I oppose these punitive changes that appear to be an effort to chill student organizing and instead recommend the board listen should listen to student concerns and adopt polices to protect our students and schools from aggressive and dangerous ICE tactics.

Media

• You can watch my speech on the Williamson County Schools YouTube recording.

• Watch, Link, Comment on my Facebook and Instagram posts of my speech.

• See the The Williamson Herald’s coverage of the board meeting.

My original speech

This is a copy of my original speech and includes segments that I cut to fit in the time allowed by the board.

My name is Jason Greathouse. I'm a proud parent of two Williamson County School graduates, and a candidate for the School Board in District 2.

I'm here tonight to oppose the changes to Policy 6.300, the student code of conduct.

It's clear from the February 17 Board meeting and the March 3rd policy meeting that these changes are in direct reaction to "discipline problems” arising from students organizing and participating in walk-out protests.

I believe that Superintendent Golden and WCS made their policies and stances clear in the February 17 article published to the WCS website. Principals proactively met with organizers and informed students of the consequences and suggested alternatives to skipping school and disrupting school activities.

And still some students chose to walk out and accept the consequences. Why? Because sometimes you need to “get in good trouble” so people will pay attention. 

There are three proposed changes that I am concerned about: 

1. Removing "skipping class" from Level 1 offense. Which effectively elevates it to Level 2 offence.

2. Adding "leaving campus without permission from parent, guardian or school administrator" as a Level 2 offense.

3. Adding ”urging other students to engage in skipping class or leaving campus without permission from parent, guardian or school administration" as a level 2 offence.

Regarding, removing of “skipping class” as a level 1 offense and adding “leaving campus without permission” only as a level 2 offense: I understand the need for discipline, but there are a multitude of reasons why a student may choose to leave campus. The board should allow Principals to have discretion when assigning punishments. 

Punishing a student for “urging others” is not a discipline policy. It is a targeted attempt to chill student organizing and political speech, nothing more. Talking about doing something is not an offense. Organizing is not an offense. If a student chooses to skip class, that's on them.

It was also noted in the March 3rd policy meeting that all students who “skipped class” without parent permission had been assigned appropriate punishments.

As far as I can see, there is no discipline problem that needs to be addressed. Policy 6.300 already covers the conduct in question. And it's already been addressed at the appropriate level.  

But rejecting these changes is not enough. Because the harder question, the one this board has not yet answered, is why students walked out in the first place.

In the weeks before our students protested, ICE agents detained four children from one Minnesota school district. A 5-year-old was taken from his driveway when he was returning home from preschool. A 17-year-old was taken by armed, masked agents while on his way to school. This is just the start, I could go on and on.

Our students see this. This isn’t hypothetical. This is not an “excuse” to get out of class. They walked out because we have done something right. We have raised educated concerned citizens who will speak out to protect their community. It is informed and relevant. 

This board's own foundational document commits WCS to equal educational opportunity for every child without regard to national origin. If that promise means anything, this board needs to act on it.

Instead of adding policy to further punish our students, I am asking this board to develop a policy to protect them.  A formal policy that requires a valid, targeted judicial warrant before any federal officer may access our schools, our students, or our student records. Several districts across the country have already done exactly this.

So, now it's our turn. Instead of punishing, we should let our students know that: we see you, we hear you, and we will protect you.