08/04/2026
With "Reagan Republican" Eric Welch formally announcing his endorsement for Jennifer Parker Konyn for WCS today, it's time to talk about Democrats.
As Welch says, "If a seat like this comes down to blind party loyalty instead of who's actually fit to serve, we've already gotten it wrong."
Let's be very clear: There have been Democrats on the Williamson County School Board for decades. You didn't know it, because it *doesn't matter* when it comes to the business of running our schools - at least not if you're in it for the right reasons, which generally used to be the case for pretty much everyone who ran for these seats. Being on a School Board was super boring. No one knew your name in "regular" parent circles. It was very much a public service job, done by people who just cared a whole darn lot about our schools.
The people making a bit deal out of this are the ones obsessed with politics. Most of us don't operate like that, and most of us certainly don't want that brought into our children's classrooms.
School boards were non-partisan until just 2021 when the state law was changed, and most people working in and around public education agree it wasn't a change designed to help public school students and teachers in any way but was made in the hopes that voters won't do their own research on candidates and just blindly check a box in local elections. It was the only way people in power who care about "winning" could win.
You want someone on the Board who isn't "known" in political circles. Who's proven they care about kids - ALL of them - no matter their parents' political leanings, their religion, race, beliefs or value systems. Because that's what public education is all about....it betters our community and our society by bringing all these kids together to learn side by side and be ready for life in the real world.
Welch has got this endorsement 100% right and we urge you to read every last one of his words on this post today. As seen with Jay Galbreath's recent endorsement of Cory Martin for WCS over current Board member and Republican peer Donna Clements, there are unfortunately repercussions to them personally when they go against party lines to do what they believe is best for our schools, because to some people, blind allegiance is required. It's a dangerous expectation, and these two longtime Board members are doing an admirable thing for the future of our school system and our entire community of neighbors by saying No to that.
You're smart and you know what matters in these races. The qualities and qualifications of the candidates raising their hands to serve our schools for four years are crystal clear, as are the Moms for Liberty associations and dangerous, chaotic platforms of their opponents.
As Welch says, "The ballot box is private and that's one of the most basic rights we have as Americans. You can vote your conscience, quietly, and go on with your day. If you're a lifelong Republican who's uneasy about our party's nominee this year, you don't have to say a word to anyone. You just have to vote."
I am formally endorsing Jennifer Parker Konyn to replace me on the Williamson County School Board for District 10. If you haven’t voted yet, I ask you to do so this Thursday, Aug. 6th.
I was first elected to this board 16 years ago, and my term ends this month. I've chosen not to seek reelection, but before I go, I want to be clear about why I believe Jennifer is by far the best candidate for the 10th District.
Jennifer is a Vanderbilt graduate with a degree in child development and she's spent years doing hands-on research based work with kids, including developmental tracking for children with special needs. Unlike her opponent, Jennifer is a mother of two children who attend public schools, so she has a direct personal stake in the district’s future success. Jennifer’s platform is built around data over ideology, evidence over politics, and representing the many D10 families, of every political stripe, who just want a school board focused on kids instead of culture war. That's the kind of steady, serious leadership this district needs right now, and it's leadership every parent here should get behind, no matter how you vote in other races.
I was elected to this seat before our school board races were partisan and I am a Reagan Republican. Jennifer is running as a Democrat. I expect some people will be unhappy with me. I understand that, but I care deeply about our schools and students and must support and vote for the best candidate. This office decides real things for thousands of kids in this county. I care more about getting that right than about which letter sits next to a candidate's name. If a seat like this comes down to blind party loyalty instead of who's actually fit to serve, we've already gotten it wrong.
The ballot box is private and that's one of the most basic rights we have as Americans. You can vote your conscience, quietly, and go on with your day. If you're a lifelong Republican who's uneasy about our party's nominee this year, you don't have to say a word to anyone. You just have to vote.
Williamson County Schools is the top-performing district in Tennessee by multiple objective measures. I believe toxic elements on this school board forced our superintendent to resign, and I believe we need to fill the D10 seat with someone who supports public schools and who wants to build on the decades of success experienced in WCS. We just lost a highly regarded superintendent, Jason Golden, who resigned days after the board voted to extend his contract. I said at the time that the toxic elements on this board who refused to support him now own whatever comes next, and I still believe that. Whoever wins this seat helps decide whether this district keeps building on what's working, or becomes one more casualty of the same dysfunction that pushed Mr. Golden out the door.
I've spent weeks publicly asking the other candidate to explain his own choices, and I want to lay out why, because it's relevant to this endorsement, not separate from it.
Elliott Franklin follows Nicholas Fuentes on social media, a man who has said Hi**er was right and the Holocaust didn't happen, who has said Black people need to be imprisoned for the most part, and who has mocked a r**e accuser for not simply leaving while she was held down. He retweeted Andrew Tate with "Let's Go!" and left it up for years, deleting it quietly only after Tate's arrest on expanded r**e and trafficking charges, with no explanation until a reporter forced the issue. Franklin publicly endorsed Monty Fritts for governor, replying "Truth!" to his campaign post. Fritts's own campaign has featured a volunteer who has called Hi**er "a great man" and called Jews "a malevolent force throughout history," and Fritts appeared on a show hosted by a man the ADL calls a "prolific antisemite." None of that is guilt by association. Those are Franklin's own follows, retweets, and endorsements, made and kept, over years, on his own account.
This isn't only about who he follows online. Franklin spent years as a Moms for Liberty blogger writing critically about this district. When a commenter told parents to pull their kids out of public school entirely because it's "given over to the enemy of our soul," His reply was, "This is why I am running for school board." He publicly agreed, word for word, with a post claiming public schools are "where it began to decay and rot." As a private citizen, he emailed our entire board accusing WCS teachers of sending "hateful and disrespectful" messages after a textbook vote, and suggested our superintendent might be in breach of contract for not doing more to go after teachers. I reviewed that correspondence myself. None of it was hateful or disrespectful. When I asked Franklin for his source, his answer was that he'd submitted a records request that same day, for records no district could turn around that fast, and that he'd also reviewed the teachers' social media. He praised the board's decision to reject the recommendation of every science teacher in this district after a four month review process, in favor of the lowest rated textbook option, one that was primarily online despite his own stated concerns about screen time. And he supported a charter school application that our board rejected unanimously, twice, a decision the state's own charter commission agreed with unanimously on appeal.
This is also Franklin's third attempt at a WCS board seat in five years, and the pattern holds across all of them. In 2021, he applied for an interim appointment to a different seat and wasn't nominated. In 2022, he tried again in that distric, ran, and was rejected by the voters. In both campaigns, and in the years between, what he built was a record of criticizing WCS teachers and administrators, not leading within it. His WCS interactions are years of blogging for the local Moms for Liberty chapter, the same chapter whose founder once told public school advocates online that they'll never get hold of her kids, calling teachers "brainwashing as****es," and who kept her own children out of WCS. Now, in his third attempt, Franklin is running in a district he only recently moved into.
Even on a simple yes-or-no question, he won't give a straight answer. Asked directly whether his own school-age child attends WCS, the honest answer was one word: No. Instead, Franklin talked about going through "WCS's own out-of-zone enrollment process" and said his child "plays volleyball for Brentwood High today," worded to sound like a current WCS family. Only when pressed again did it come out that his child is actually in private school, playing on a club team that's allowed to use the Brentwood name as a courtesy but without official affiliation. He even said it was under "TSSAA's rules for non-enrolled students," but boys volleyball isn't a TSSAA sanctioned sport in Tennessee. There's no such rule. It's the same thing every time: dress up a hard answer until it sounds like a different one, and hope nobody checks.
D10 families deserve a school board member who tells the truth the first time, who treats our teachers and staff with basic respect, and whose values don't require this much explaining away. Jennifer Konyn is that candidate, and she's the right choice regardless of which party you usually vote with.
I'm proud to endorse her. Whatever your politics, I hope you'll join me on Thursday, August 6th, where it's just you and the ballot, and vote for Jennifer Konyn.
If you agree, I encourage you to like and share to help spread the word for Jennifer Parker Konyn for WCS.
