Sumner County Schools elections (2016)

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← 2014
Sumner County Schools Elections
General election date:
August 4, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
28,715 students

Five of the 11 seats on the Sumner County Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Tim Brewer, Ted Wise, and Glen Gregory ran unopposed and won re-election to the District 2, 8, and 10 seats, respectively. Sarah Andrews also ran unopposed and won the District 4 seat that was left open when incumbent Beth Cox did not file to run to retain her seat. In District 6, incumbent Nancy Glover faced challengers Jim Hawkins and Rachel Souliere. Hawkins was elected to the seat.

Because of the high number of incumbents running unopposed, newcomers in this race had fewer chances to win seats on the board compared to the district's 2014 election. To see how this race compared to past elections in both the district and the state, check out the "Elections trends" section below.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Sumner County Schools in May 2016. At issue was the district's transgender bathroom policy.

See also: Issues in the district

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Sumner County Board of Education consists of 11 members elected by district to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis every August of even-numbered years. The District 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 seats were up for election on August 7, 2014, and the District 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 seats were up for general election on August 4, 2016. There was no primary election.

To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file their qualifying documents by April 7, 2016. The deadline to withdraw from the election was April 14, 2016.

To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by July 5, 2016. Photo identification was required to vote in this election.

District 2

Results

Sumner County Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tim Brewer Incumbent (unopposed)	98.87%	877
Write-in votes	1.13%	10
Total Votes		887
Source: Sumner County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Tim Brewer
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016

District 4

Results

Sumner County Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sarah Andrews  (unopposed)	99.12%	785
Write-in votes	0.88%	7
Total Votes		792
Source: Sumner County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Sarah Andrews

District 6

Results

Sumner County Schools, District 6 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jim Hawkins	42.54%	816
Nancy Glover Incumbent	33.52%	643
Rachel Souliere	23.93%	459
Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes		1,918
Source: Sumner County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Nancy Glover		Jim Hawkins		Rachel Souliere
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016 Graduate, Libscomb University, Austin Peay State University, and Tennessee State University Educator		Graduate, Centre College, the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and the Duke University School of Law Attorney

District 8

Results

Sumner County Schools, District 8 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ted Wise Incumbent (unopposed)	98.73%	777
Write-in votes	1.27%	10
Total Votes		787
Source: Sumner County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Ted Wise
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016 Affiliate broker, Jim Brinkley, Realtors, Inc.

District 10

Results

Sumner County Schools, District 10 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Glen Gregory Incumbent (unopposed)	99.14%	461
Write-in votes	0.86%	4
Total Votes		465
Source: Sumner County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Glen Gregory
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2016

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Tennessee elections, 2016

The Sumner County Schools election shared the ballot with primary elections for the state's 6th Congressional District on the U.S. House of Representatives, the District 18 seat on the Tennessee State Senate, and the District 40, 44, and 45 seats on the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for Tennessee school board elections in 2016:

Deadline	Event
April 7, 2016	Candidate filing deadline
April 11, 2016	1st quarter campaign finance report due
April 14, 2016	Candidate withdrawal deadline
July 5, 2016	Voter registration deadline
July 11, 2016	2nd quarter campaign finance report due
July 15, 2016 - July 30, 2016	Early voting period
July 28, 2016	Pre-election campaign finance report due
August 4, 2016	Election day
October 11, 2016	3rd quarter campaign finance report due
January 25, 2017	4th quarter campaign finance report due

Endorsements

No candidates received official endorsements in the election.

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

The pre-general campaign financial disclosure report for this election was due July 28, 2016. Candidates were also required to file quarterly reports for the 2016 election year. Those reports were due on April 11, 2016; July 11, 2016; October 11, 2016; and January 25, 2017.

Candidates received a total of $16,423.68 and spent a total of $16,104.66 in the election, according to the Sumner County Election Commission.

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Sarah Andrews	$1,485.00	$1,165.98	$319.02
Nancy Glover	$5,929.00	$5,929.00	$0.00
Jim Hawkins	$3,395.01	$3,395.01	$0.00
Rachel Souliere	$5,614.67	$5,614.67	$0.00

Incumbents Tim Brewer, Ted Wise, and Glen Gregory filed financial disclosure statement exemptions detailing they would not raise or spend more than $1,000 on their campaigns. Because of this, they did not have to file any additional campaign finance statements.

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2014 See also: Sumner County Schools elections (2014) Sumner County Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Tammy Hayes 53.5% 1,618      Nonpartisan Vanessa Silkwood Incumbent 46.5% 1,407      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.1% 2 Total Votes 3,027 Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Sumner County Elections Deputy Cheri Tatum," March 9, 2015 Sumner County Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Alice Bachman 50.7% 998      Nonpartisan Don Long Incumbent 49% 965      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 6 Total Votes 1,969 Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Sumner County Elections Deputy Cheri Tatum," March 9, 2015 Sumner County Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Jeff Cordell 69.3% 1,168      Nonpartisan Janet Arnold Incumbent 30.4% 512      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 5 Total Votes 1,685 Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Sumner County Elections Deputy Cheri Tatum," March 9, 2015 Sumner County Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Andy Daniels Incumbent 67.8% 946      Nonpartisan John Ruth 32.2% 450      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 1,396 Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Sumner County Elections Deputy Cheri Tatum," March 9, 2015 Sumner County Schools, District 9 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Patricia H. Brown 99.5% 1,265      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.5% 6 Total Votes 1,271 Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Sumner County Elections Deputy Cheri Tatum," March 9, 2015 Sumner County Schools, District 11 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan David A. Brown Incumbent 57.2% 652      Nonpartisan Jeff Carter 42.8% 487      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 1,139 Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Sumner County Elections Deputy Cheri Tatum," March 9, 2015

What was at stake?

2016

Election trends

See also: School board elections, 2014

Newcomers had fewer chances to win seats on the Sumner County Schools Board of Education in 2016 than they had in 2014 due to the high number of unopposed seats. One new member was guaranteed to take one of the five seats up for election in 2016, and a second one won a seat after defeating an incumbent. In 2014, newcomers took four of the six seats on the ballot. One ran unopposed that year, but the other three defeated incumbents to join the board. Overall in 2014, 45.98 percent of school board seats up for election in Tennessee's largest school districts went to newcomers.

Three incumbents were guaranteed to win re-election in the district's 2016 race. The fourth incumbent who ran for re-election was defeated by a newcomer. In the district's 2014 race, 40 percent of the incumbents running to retain their seats were re-elected. Statewide in 2014, 75.41 percent of school board incumbents who ran to keep their seats won re-election.

The district's 2016 race had a higher percentage of unopposed seats and a lower average number of candidates per seat compared to the 2014 elections held in the district and the state. Seven candidates ran for five seats in 2016, equaling an average of 1.4 candidates per seat. In 2014, an average of 1.83 candidates ran per school board seat up for election in Sumner County, and an average of 1.94 candidates ran per seat in school board elections statewide.

Four of the five seats (80 percent) up for election in the district in 2016 were unopposed. In 2014, 16.67 percent of seats up for election in the district were unopposed, and 36.78 percent of school board seats up for election in the state were unopposed.

Issues in the district

ACLU files complaint with OCR over Sumner County's transgender bathroom policy

See also: Transgender bathroom access laws in the United States

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) filed a complaint against Sumner County Schools with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in May 2016. The OCR did not act on the complaint prior to the election. The complaint regarded the school district's policy of requiring transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room corresponding with their birth gender. The complaint was registered on behalf of a high school freshman and said that the policy was in violation of the requirements of federal anti-discrimination law.

Under the district's policy for the 2015-2016 school year, the student had to use the boys' bathroom, the faculty bathroom, or a special needs bathroom. Through the year, the student tried to avoid using the bathroom altogether, according to the complaint. “No student should have to endure the stigma and marginalization of being segregated from the rest of the student body," said Abby R. Rubenfeld, an ACLU-TN cooperating attorney.

The student's family said they sought to work out new accommodations with the district throughout the 2015-2016 school year, but asked for help from the ACLU-TN after those attemps were unsuccessful. Two months prior to filing the complaint, the ACLU-TN requested a meeting with district officials to discuss new arrangements for the student. After district officials said they were unwilling to change the restroom policy, the ACLU-TN filed the complaint with the OCR. Tom Castelli, legal director of the ACLU-TN, said the family filed a complaint rather than seeking legal action because they were "not looking to get a payday."

Todd Presnell, an attorney for the school district, said district officials believed the gender guidelines followed federal law and met "the needs of transgender students while simultaneously maintaining the privacy rights of all students, regardless of gender or gender identity." In response to the complaint, district officials released the following statement.

“	The Sumner County Board of Education strives to provide all students with a quality education in a safe environment that is respectful to each of its 29,000 students. In this spirit, the school system expressly prohibits harassment and bullying of any student, including transgender students, and also devised a set of guidelines to meet the needs of transgender students while respecting the interests of all students. Under these guidelines, school administrators meet with transgender students’ parents to discuss the student’s needs. Our schools allow transgender students to follow the dress code corresponding to their gender identity, address them with the name and pronoun corresponding to their gender identity, and provide alternative physical-education options. While transgender students must use the general restroom and locker room facilities corresponding to their birth gender, our schools provide alternative, private, unisex restrooms and changing facilities. We are aware of and will take under consideration the guidelines recently issued by the Justice and Education Departments. We believe that our guidelines, after due consideration, comply with federal law and meet the needs of transgender students while simultaneously maintaining the privacy rights of all students, regardless of gender or gender identity.	”
—Sumner County Schools (May 19, 2016)

After the complaint was filed, Congresswoman Diane Black (R-6) released the following statement.

Rep. Diane Black (R-6)

“	Washington liberals’ campaign to compromise the safety and privacy of our students in the name of hyper-political correctness has now hit our backyard,” Congressman Black said. “These days, a complaint by the ACLU is a sure sign you’ve done something right. From the organization’s work to silence expressions of faith in our schools to their attacks on laudable organizations like Boy Scouts of America, they’ve lost all credibility with Tennesseans and they know it. Nonetheless, if the ACLU wants to pick a fight with our Sumner County educators, then they’ll have to pick a fight with me as well. I sent my children to Sumner County public schools. I know our Director of Schools and the Chairman of the Board of Education. I have the utmost confidence in their ability to offer accommodations for transgender students while maintaining reasonable policies that protect the privacy and security of the student population as a whole and I stand with them in the face of this blatantly political complaint.	”
—Diane Black (R-6)

Jennifer Donnals, press secretary for Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R), also released a statement.

“	The governor is aware of the complaint to the U.S. Department of Education. We will do everything we can to assist Sumner County if there is an investigation by OCR because the governor firmly believes decisions on sensitive issues such as these should continue to be made at the local level based on the unique needs of students, families, schools and districts while working closely with the local school board counsel.	”
—Jennifer Donnals (May 19, 2016)

The complaint was filed days after a guidance letter was published by the federal government detailing that transgender students should be able to use the bathroom of their chosen gender. The letter said that not allowing students to do so could be a violation of Title IX.

Issues in the state

Transgender bathroom bill withdrawn

Rep. Susan Lynn (R-57)

State Rep. Susan Lynn (R-57) proposed legislation in January 2016 that would require public school students in kindergarten through college to use the bathroom and locker room that corresponded with the sex listed on their birth certificates. Four months later, she withdrew the bill. "I am still absolutely 100 percent in support of maintaining the privacy of all students. But I'm going to roll the bill over until next year so we can work on those issues," Lynn said.

House Bill 2414 drew criticism from local media and some companies threatened to withhold business from the state if the bill were passed. Lynn said that was not why she withdrew the bill; instead, she put it on hold in order to further study the issue. She said school districts in Tennessee were "largely following what the bill says."

While HB 2414 was still in committee, Gov. Bill Haslam (R) expressed concern about the bill. “I’m hearing that our school boards have figured out how to adjust to each situation that arises, and to date, I’m not hearing parents say we have [a] problem in our schools today,” said Haslam.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R)

State Reps. Mike Stewart (D-52) and Harry Brooks (R-19) asked for an opinion on the issue from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R). Slatery responded by warning that the state could lose federal Title IX funding if the bill were passed.

“	As things currently stand, we must, as a practical matter, assume that H.B. 2414 would violate Title IX, because the enforcer of Title IX has clearly interpreted — and enforced — Title IX to prohibit as 'discriminatory on the basis of sex' what H.B. 2414 is designed to accomplish.	”
—Attorney General Herbert Slatery (April 2016)

Stewart said Slatery's opinion was the "final nail in the coffin" for the bill. He and State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-55) said the bill could also hinder the state's goal of creating a business-friendly climate. Executives of dozens of companies had signed a letter to state lawmakers asking them to reject the bill on the grounds that it was discriminatory.

David Fowler, former state senator and president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, objected to Slatery's opinion. He said the attorney general had used settlement agreements rather than court decisions to warn the state legislature away from passing the bill. "Settlement agreements have no persuasive value as a matter of law, unlike the court decisions that have actually ruled in favor of sex-designated bathrooms," Fowler said.

After the bill was withdrawn, Fowler issued a statement:

“	But we join the thousands of parents across the state who are profoundly disappointed that at this point in the process Rep. Lynn has decided not to proceed with a bill that would have simply protected the privacy of the children they have entrusted to our public schools.	”
—David Fowler (April 2016)

In addition to receiving support from the Family Action Council of Tennessee, the bill was backed by approximately 30 pastors from the Tennessee Pastors Network. At least 67,000 state citizens opposed the bill, as two transgender high school students turned in that many signatures to the governor's office. They were joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the Tennessee Equality Project, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, and the Human Rights Campaign.

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About the district

See also: Sumner County Schools, Tennessee

The Sumner County school district is located in Sumner County, Tennessee.

The Sumner County school district is located in Sumner County in northern Tennessee. The county seat is Gallatin. Sumner County was home to 175,989 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the eighth-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 28,715 students.

Demographics

Sumner County underperformed compared to Tennessee as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 24.0 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 24.4 percent of state residents. The median household income in Sumner County was $56,193, compared to $44,621 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 11.3 percent, compared to 18.3 percent statewide.

Racial Demographics, 2014
Race	Sumner County (%)	Tennessee (%)
White	89.5	78.9
Black or African American	7.1	17.1
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.4	0.4
Asian	1.4	1.7
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.1	0.1
Two or More Races	1.7	1.7
Hispanic or Latino	4.4	5.0

Presidential Voting Pattern, Sumner County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	18,579	46,003
2008	21,487	44,949
2004	21,458	40,181
2000	22,118	27,601

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Sumner County Schools' 'Tennessee'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Sumner County Schools elections (2016) - Google News

See also

Sumner County Schools	Tennessee	School Boards
Sumner County Schools elections (2014) List of school districts in Tennessee	Tennessee school board elections, 2016 Public education in Tennessee Local ballot measures, Tennessee	School board elections, 2016 School board elections, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2015

External links

Suggest a link

• Sumner County Schools
• Sumner County Election Commission