Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson to the newsmakers line to discuss the age-inappropriate wit and wisdom curriculum that has many people in the community angered. He also urged parents to get involved in local school board elections and oversight.
Leahy: We welcome to our newsmaker line, our very good friend, Tennessee State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson. Jack, good morning.
Johnson: Good morning Michael. Good to be back with you.
Leahy: Well, it’s great to have you on. Now we’ve got to tell all our listeners is in full disclosure. You and I are pretty good friends.
Johnson: We are! We are! For many years.
Leahy: For many years. So this is just a couple of friends talking about a public issue. But it’s interesting how this one came about. Yesterday, as you know, in addition to hosting The Tennessee Star Report radio program here on Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLC, and owning and operating eight state-based news sites, including The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network, I write for Breitbart.
And I was very surprised yesterday when I saw a featured story at Breitbart News (Johnson chuckles) by my colleague Kyle Olson. And there was Jack Johnson. (Chuckles) It was a story about you, Jack.
And I sent this story to you right away. I said Jack, I didn’t know it was in the story. I said, Jack, I didn’t write this story or push it to anybody. And here it is. The headline. Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Fights Critical Race Theory in Own School District. So I sent you the text with that story, and I guess you’ve just seen it just a few minutes before.
Johnson: Yeah. Someone had sent it to me literally moments before you had as well. I wasn’t aware that it was going to be a national story in Breitbart. It was based off of an interview I had done with another news outlet here in Tennessee on the subject.
And I guess Breitbart picked it up. And by the way, I want to point out you’re a busy guy, you know that? You kind of rattled off all the things you’re involved with. You’re a busy guy. I can certainly relate to that.
Johnson: As are you. (Laughter)
Leahy: But of course, the other thing that’s great about you, Jack, is that you are a mean bass guitarist, right? You play with the Austin Brothers, and it’s always fun to go to a GOP event where you and your team are playing. It’s good music.
Johnson: We have a lot of fun with it. There was a time long ago when I tried to make money doing that. Luckily, that’s not an issue anymore. I just do it for fun.
Leahy: What’s interesting about this story, and I thought, Kyle, although he did not interview you, apparently for this story…
Johnson: Right.
Leahy: It’s very interesting how he put the story together. He started off. He saw a piece in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, where you were talking about the wit and wisdom reading program.
But he added to that three other sources, the Williamson Herald, the Tennessee Lookout, which is kind of the far left, funded by the usual left-wing billionaire types. Our friend Holly McCall, who we are friendly with, although she’s ideologically on the far left is running that operation.
And then, of course, also The Tennessee Star. Let’s go to this wit and wisdom curriculum. What’s going on with that?
Johnson: This is a curriculum that was adopted by the Williamson County School Board recently within the last year or two. And as you know, Michael, with this national debate that’s taking place relative to Critical Race Theory, there is an extremely heightened awareness, I think, on the parts of parents and communities across the nation and certainly here in Williamson County, where I represent.
That is the case. And so I have seen a level of parental engagement and involvement with the school board on a myriad of things. But certainly, I think Critical Race Theory and the debate over that has driven this. And so this curriculum was discovered that is being used in Williamson County.
It’s been used in Davidson County as well. I’m not sure how broadly it’s being used across the state. And it’s problematic in that some would argue that it is an entree if you will. It has elements of Critical Race Theory in it.
Others would say it does not. I care about that. But I’m not going to go into that argument. I have reviewed the curriculum and it’s problematic just from an age appropriateness. This is a curriculum that is used for young kids at school as young as, say, second grade.
And it has some dark themes about some historical events that may be have taken place that might be fine for a junior or a senior in high school, but not for elementary age kids. That’s one aspect of it.
And there are others that I could get into that make it problematic. And so that’s what the interview is about. And that’s what I spoke about. And in one of the interviews I did, I was very clear that I’m not making a case that this is or is not Critical Race Theory. It is problematic. And I don’t believe it’s age-appropriate for small kids.
Leahy: We looked at that. We did a bunch of stories on this. Our ace reporter, Corinne Murdock, showed examples of the curriculum. And you’re absolutely right about not being age-appropriate.
They’re really painting a very, very negative picture of America’s history to second graders, second graders. That’s undeniable. It seems to me to be a judgment problem to include that in the curriculum for second graders.
Johnson: Agreed. And this is why it is so important. And I’m grateful, Michael. This is very reminiscent to me of the whole Common Core debate when Common Core was introduced and it was being pushed in schools in Tennessee and across the nation.
And parents got involved. They learned about Common Core and what it was. They got involved and it led to it being removed. And now we don’t use Common Core in Tennessee. And we passed legislation to guarantee that.
So it’s very similar to the debate and discussion we’ve had about Critical Race Theory. And now it’s transcending into this wit and wisdom curriculum, which is being used in some areas.
And I think that’s healthy. I think it is good the more people involved and the more parents are involved. And I’ve had so many people, Michael, that have come up to me and say, Jack, you know what?
I’m not even sure if I voted in every school board election but you can bet I’m going to now, and I’m going to be involved. And I’ve gotten to know my school board member, and that’s what makes the system better.
Leahy: What’s interesting about this is we watch this and there’s a group of Williamson County parents called Moms for Liberty. I think it’s a national group, but there’s a very active Williamson County group and a friend of ours a man named Robin Steenman.
Steenman is one of the heads of that group. They’ve been very active in talking about the curriculum. Of course, I live in Williamson County, you represent me in the state Senate. And, of course, my children went to Williamson County schools.
But it seems to me that part of the problem is, and maybe you can talk about this in general, perhaps not specifically. Parents have concerns, and they go to the school board and the school board kind of responds to them like they are their children. Get it out of your system but we’re going to keep doing this. That’s what it seems like to me.
Johnson: Well, and that’s not an acceptable answer at any level of government. It’s certainly not acceptable. If a constituent or constituent group comes to talk to me about an issue at the state level, if it’s a city or a county issue, and certainly whenever it comes to our kids.
And I’ll preface this or digress for a moment here Michael. I’ve often said that I think one of the hardest elected positions in the world is to be on the school board. It is a very challenging job, and it’s one of the most important.
And it saddens me and I think you and I talked about voter engagement before. It saddens me. I’m very happy that there was a 70 to 75 percent voter turnout last November for the presidential election in Williamson County and a huge turnout across the state.
But when we have school board elections, typically the turnout is maybe around 15 or 16 percent. And it should be 100 percent across the board. But more people should be engaged with their school board and whether that’s in terms of working with them and lobbying with them and voting for the school board because the children in our Williamson County schools do not belong to the school board, they belong to their parents.
And the parents should make those decisions. We have an elected school board for a reason and that is so they can make appropriate decisions regarding public education that are right for our community.
The state created school boards. We could just have one statewide, and we do have a state-wide school board, but we could have one state-wide school board and do away with all the local school boards and just have one policy across the state.
I don’t think that’s appropriate. Educating a child in Memphis, Tennessee is going to be different than it is in Hancock County or Perry County. And so I believe in the local school board system. But that level of parental engagement as we’re seeing now is so critically important.
Listen to the first hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Senior Editor-At-Large at The Epoch Times Roger Simon in studio weighed in on the indoctrination of children through Critical Race Theory implemented in Williamson County public schools and the need to cut federal funding.
Leahy: I am in studio with the newest all-star panelist and good friend Roger Simon. My former boss at PJTV, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, a refugee from Los Angeles, California, and Editor-At-Large for The Epoch Times.
Roger, you’ve been following Williamson County and the Critical Race Theory curriculum that’s been apparently involved and taught in the schools. Mom’s For Liberty, a Williamson County group that, you know well, has documented that.
A big meeting last week. They invited school board members, and they invited Jason Golden, the director of schools. He didn’t attend that meeting.
Simon: Well, you know what I call Jason Goldman? The Fauci of Williamson County.
Leahy: Jason Goldman, the pouchy of Williamson County. Oh, that is so cruel to Fauci. (Laughter) That’s pretty good. Now, why do you call Jason Golden the director of Williamson County schools the Fauci of Williamson County?
Simon: Because he’s interested only in himself and not in the children.
Leahy: He’s interested only in himself and not the children.
Simon: Also, he gets a prohibitive salary, very similar to Anthony Fauci, who is the highest-paid member of our federal government.
Leahy: The highest-paid member of our federal government. The only other thing is that if you listen to Jason Golden, you get the impression that they’re not teaching Critical Race Theory at all. You get the impression they’re not teaching Critical Race Theory, Roger Simon.
Simon: Well, and when you’re teaching four-year-olds the essence of Critical Race Theory, which is that the color of your skin is the most important thing about you, you’re just doing a bad thing. Critical Race Theory is a fancy word for that. Who cares?
Leahy: Yeah, exactly.
Simon: The whole system is racialized to such a degree that all these children don’t even know who they really are or what’s going on. It’s terrible. Basically, there’s a simpler word for the whole thing, and it’s called child abuse.
Leahy: That’s what we got going on. Jason Golden, we had this guy before him named Mike Looney. Looney was aptly named. He’s gone. He introduced the training back in 2019. We did a big story of White privilege that was being taught to teachers there. We exposed that. Look at how fast this has moved.
Simon: The reason we talk about Williamson County, of course, it’s local here. And I’m sure Williamson County can hear what we’re saying now. But it’s a national problem. And Williamson County is an interesting example of what’s happening because it’s a Republican County where theoretically, this kind of thing should not happen at all.
Secondly, it’s a county famous for its educational system which has been growing by leaps and bounds because of the educational system. And people who can afford it are moving there.
Leahy: (Laughs) Exactly.
Simon: And little do they know, they’re moving there to get their kids indoctrinated. It’s an incredibly crazy situation, but it’s national, too.
Leahy: You said something very important there. People are moving to Williamson County to get their kids indoctrinated to hate America in the public schools.
Simon: They don’t realize it.
Leahy: The key point, isn’t it?
Simon: They think they’re moving to Mayberry.
Leahy: They’re not.
Simon: Obviously not. They’re not. Look, I was in Franklin the other day having dinner, and I live in Green Hills, but I’m up in Franklin all the time. I was up there having dinner and you drive around Franklin, it is Mayberry. It’s like one of the most attractive towns in the United States.
Leahy: Franklin, Tennessee, is a spectacular city. I mean, it’s just a great place. Downtown Main Street, love it!
Simon: It’s right out of some Norman Rockwell meets modern times.
Leahy: A Norman Rockwell meets Modern Times movie. By the way, I’m delighted you mentioned Norman Rockwell. I love his paintings. In fact, I got for a Father’s Day a couple of years ago the Four Freedoms.
Of course one of them, freedom from want, is eh, that was an FDR thing. You may know this. I interviewed his son once and said Norman Rockwell, he thought was probably not that political, but was a sort of a John F. Kennedy type liberal way back when.
Simon: Makes sense.
Leahy: Makes sense doesn’t it?
Simon: Yes, totally. But he was an absolutely great artist.
Leahy: Oh, spectacular.
Simon: When I was younger, I used to think he was corny, but actually, he’s not.
Leahy: This is because you were a sophisticated guy from Manhattan. I was a chump from upstate New York. I was a yahoo from Upstate New York, so I always liked him. (Laughs)
Simon: Listen, give me credit. I got there. But back to Franklin itself. Franklin is a great town, and people really want to live there and it’s coveted because of this educational system. It’s the worst kind of bait and switch.
You’re being sold a junker and something’s got to be done and something needs to be done across the country. But the great thing is something is being done because this Mom’s for Liberty, which is a national group is not just local.
Leahy: Mom’s for Liberty is a national group and it’s a Williamson County chapter.
Simon: Exactly. It is a great movement because it wakes people up. It’s easy to go about your job and your kids going to a good school and you don’t know what is happening. It’s been happening for 50 years.
Leahy: Or even longer. John Dewey. It all started with John Dewey and Columbia University. He basically wanted to turn American kids into robotic lovers of the great state.
Simon: Yes. Trotski-ites.
Leahy: Unfortunately, now that’s kind of the system that K-12 public education is today.
Simon: Yes. Unraveling it is not going to be simple. One of the reasons it’s not going to be simple is there’s no curriculum left that’s any good. My wife has been involved with this.
You can protest these curriculums that they foist on six-year-olds but then you’ve got to have something to give the teachers instead.
But they don’t have anything left anymore. We’re in bad shape, and we got to wake up because we’re making it really easy for Xi Jin Ping.
Leahy: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I’d like to get your reaction to my idea. And I’ve talked to members of the Tennessee General Assembly about this and surprisingly they have become increasingly open to it.
Simon: Great.
Leahy: Part of the problem, Roger, in my view, is that 10 percent of K-12 public education is funded by the federal government.
Simon: That’s a big problem.
Leahy: 40 percent local, 40 percent state. Well, what the feds do is say, we’ll give you this money, but you got to do X, Y and Z. And you see what X, Y, and Z is. What they’re now trying to dis through the Biden administration is promote the teaching of Critical Race Theory. That’s what they’re trying to do. Here’s my idea. Are you ready?
Simon: Cut federal funds.
Leahy: The Tennessee General Assembly should send a very polite note to Joe Biden. Dear Mr. President, you can take that 10 percent and put it somewhere else. I’ve got another way to describe it, but put it somewhere else is a polite way to start.
Simon: I agree. You’re going back to Joy Behar. (Laughter)
Leahy: That is very funny Roger. Here is the thing about all of this. We are going to have to really work with the Tennessee General Assembly. I think the majority of them agree with us intellectually.
There’s pressure from the school districts and the teachers’ unions to keep taking that federal money because nobody turns down money. This is money with such bad strings that it’s leading to the propagandizing of our kids and it’s utterly destructive.
Simon: I couldn’t agree more.
Leahy: Are you with me on that?
Simon: 100 percent. And I’ll add to it. The add to it is, I don’t think money has much to do with education at all.
Leahy: You are exactly right.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles in the studio who talked about his town hall style meeting with 100 conservatives in Leipers Fork Monday evening.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by our good friend, the mayor of Maury County Andy Ogles. Every time you come in, Andy, I learn something new. Here’s what you told me during the break. And I suppose you could say I am slack-jawed to hear this.
Ogles: Amen. (Chuckles)
Leahy: It turns out there are conservatives in Leipers Fork, in Middle Tennessee, in Williamson County. That is surprising to me.
Ogles: Last night we had our County Commission meeting, so I was there for that.
Leahy: Last night Maury County has a commission meeting and as the Mayor, you’re there. I’ve only been to one County Commission meeting ever. Williamson County. Let me just say it dragged on. It dragged on. And on.
Ogles: We’ve got a good group of folks on our county commission, and it was a committee meeting, and it was, well, run and lasted about an hour.
Leahy: Really? Just an hour?
Ogles: Just an hour.
Leahy: I think other county commissions need to go down to Maury County and learn how to run a meeting in one hour.
Ogles: Well, there wasn’t a lot on the agenda. It’s budget season in the state of Tennessee for all your counties. And so that’s really the focus, I think, for a lot of county seats.
Leahy: So this was last night.
Ogles: And last minute I was invited to this conservative meeting in Leipers Fork.
Leahy: Hold on just a minute. (Laughter) I’m still a little bit astonished here. A conservative meeting in Leipers Fork? I love Leipers Fork. It’s a great community. We go up there and go to the galleries and go to the restaurants and just hang out.
It’s a wonderful community. But conservative, it’s not a word and it’s not an adjective that would come to mind when you say Leipers Fork.
Ogles: It’s known for its kind of arts, a lot of musicians up there. But I think in most cycles, and of course, I’m just speaking generically I think most people in Leipers Fork would consider themselves independents, conservative, maybe fiscally conservative, and probably a little more moderate on some of the social issues.
But there’s something happening. So I’m invited to speak across the state because I’ve been so outspoken, not just on COVID, but CRT.
Leahy: Because under your leadership, Maury County is a bastion of freedom.
Ogles: Bastion of freedom. Welcome to America.
Leahy: Welcome to America and freedom. (Laughs) What time do you get an impromptu call? What time does the call come in?
Ogles: It was literally 2:30 p.m. to get involved and say, hey, we’re going to have an event.
Leahy: If I get a call like that, by the way, I go out of curiosity just to say there are conservatives in Leipers Fork. What time do you finish your committee meeting?
Ogles: We finished right at 5:30 p.m. in Columbia. Hopped in the car to go to Leipers Fork.
Leahy: That’s a pretty drive, isn’t it?
Ogles: It’s beautiful back roads.
Leahy: I went out to dinner last night and I came back driving through Williamson County, and I’m looking at it, and I’m saying it’s gonna be one of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s just gorgeous.
Ogles: Tennessee in general is a special place. I’m biased of course. I grew up here. My family has been here forever.
Leahy: But I actively made the choice to move here, right? Because I must confess, I am a Yankee by birth. But I chose to be a Tennesseean 30 plus years ago.
Ogles: You were talking about moving here. I was in the middle of a rant, and I made some kind of derogatory comment about California. And then I paused for a moment. It’s like, okay, I’m sorry.
Leahy: How many people were there?
Ogles: About 100.
Leahy: 100 conservatives in Leiper Fork?
Ogles: Yes.
Leahy: Wow! Now, where was it?
Ogles: Puckett’s.
Leahy: I love that place. What a great place.
Ogles: It was standing room only. Some great folks were there.
Leahy: Who organized this and what do they call themselves and when did they get organized?
Ogles: You know, I don’t know the name of the group. (Leahy laughs) They asked do you want to come and say a few words? And I did. It was more than a few words. I had that last spot. So I was the quasi-keynote.
But we talked about a lot of things, Critical Race Theory, and election integrity, and everything that’s going on in this country. And so whether I’m speaking in Pulaski or Knoxville or like last night, Leipers Fork.
Texas to Pennsylvania to Tennessee, there’s a red wave I think about to hit this country. And I think you see that manifest itself last night in Leipers Fork that otherwise folks who are fairly well off, they’re not overtly politically engaged came out on a Monday evening to hear a Conservative speak, and they are ticked off. Let me tell you. And I’ve got a funny story if you want to hear it.
Leahy: Andy, you always have a funny story. Now, I’ve heard this story a little bit. But it’s really very funny. Tell us the story.
Ogles: I love the town hall-style. Sorry about that. So do the intro hit some hot button issues, kind of talk about the winds of the legislative session and the half measures. And by the way, Tennessee compared to Florida, we were a state of half measures, and we can talk about that or talk about it another time.
So I did Q and A and I’m taking questions. And it’s the 15th or 20th question. It’s time to kind of close this thing.
Leahy: It’s the end of the evening.
Ogles: This thing has gone on.
Leahy: There were 100 people there.
Ogles: Two hours at Puckett’s. We’re hitting the two-hour mark and it’s time to close it out.
Leahy: And you have to get up very early in the morning to come and be on our program.
Ogles: Yeah, I’m tired today, man. I’m energetic. And there’s a Lady with long blonde hair in the back. And I’d seen her a couple of times raising her hand. And I was like, yes, ma’am, in the back. And she says, well, I may be from California, but I’m not a she. I’m a man. Long blonde hair.
Leahy: Long blonde hair!
Ogles: Lights are in my eyes. But the funny thing was, if you remember the rock band, the Nelsons, the Nelson twins. Well, it was Gunner Nelson. He was there and had a question, but I totally just called him a woman.
It was hilarious. The crowd erupted, and I just so happened to be wearing my glasses. And so I took them off and I just said, apparently, I need an eye doctor. But he was very gracious. And afterwards I went up to him and spoke.
And we’re going to be doing this kind of this freedom tour coming up across the state talking about these important issues. And this group was fired up to hear more about it and to be a part of it.
Leahy: So Gunner Nelson, his dad, of course, was the great Ricky Nelson. His grandparents Ozzie and Harriet. A great television program. And he and his twin brother had quite a success in the early 1990s with the band Nelson.
They had the long blonde hair that was sort of their trademark. They’re pretty good musically. They’ve moved from California to Tennessee, apparently.
Ogles: Super nice. Both brothers were there. One of their wives were there and just great family. I felt so bad because again, I couldn’t see because they were at the back of the room. The lights were in my eyes, and I just saw long blond hair.
And I’m just thinking, okay, yes, ma’am. And he says, I’m not a ma’am. But what are you going to do? You just roll with it and self deprecating and just be honest about it. I’m sorry. But a great guy and a Conservative.
Leahy: He’s a conservative.
Ogles: And they may not want me to say that.
Leahy: It’s out! It’s out! But there are so many people that are moving here.
Ogles: But I tell you, there’s this surge in Tennessee. People want to get involved.
Leahy: I think you’re exactly right. There is a surge in Tennessee and other parts of the country.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Leipers Fork” by Michael Gaylard CC 2.0.
