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Will Pinkston
Will Pinkston was a member of the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education in Tennessee, representing District 7. Pinkston assumed office in 2012. Pinkston left office on September 30, 2019.
Pinkston ran for re-election to the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education to represent District 7 in Tennessee. Pinkston won in the general election on August 4, 2016.
In March 2019, Pinkston announced he would resign from the board effective April 12, 2019.[1] In April, Pinkston revised his resignation date, saying he would stay on past April 12. He ultimately resigned effective September 30, 2019.[2]
Pinkston sought another term in the general election on August 4, 2016.[3] He successfully won re-election to his seat.[4] Pinkston participated in Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
A candidate forum held in June 2016 highlighted the charter school debate in the district. Pinkston, along with fellow incumbents Amy Frogge and Jill Speering, refused to attend the event due to concerns that the organization hosting the forum promoted "unabated charter school growth." Only the candidates seeking the District 5 seat were able to face off at the event.[5]
Winners of the district's 2016 board of education election inherited a lawsuit against the state over education funding. In June 2016, the school board voted to approve the lawsuit, saying the state had not provided enough funding for the district's English language learners for the 2016-2017 school year.
Biography
Pinkston graduated from Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. He works as a strategic communications consultant. Pinkston previously worked as a senior advisor to former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D). He also worked as a reporter for The Tennessean and The Wall Street Journal. Pinkston earned a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Tennessee.[6]
Elections
2016
Five of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016.[7] District 1 incumbent Sharon Dixon Gentry defeated challenger Janette Carter to win another term. In District 3, incumbent Jill Speering also won another term by defeating challenger Jane Grimes Meneely. Norman Merrifield originally filed to run for the District 3 seat, but he withdrew from the election. Christiane Buggs, Miranda Christy, Corey Gathings, and Erica Lanier ran for the District 5 seat, which was left open when board member Elissa Kim did not file to run for re-election. Buggs was elected to the seat. The District 7 race featured incumbent Will Pinkston and challenger Jackson Miller. Pinkston was re-elected to another term. District 9 incumbent Amy Frogge faced challenger Thom Druffel. She was also elected to another term.[3][8][4]
Results
| Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Will Pinkston Incumbent |
50.14% | 1,834 |
| Jackson Miller | 49.13% | 1,797 |
| Write-in votes | 0.74% | 27 |
| Total Votes | 3,658 | |
| Source: Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County Election Commission, "August 4 Election Results," accessed January 12, 2017 | ||
Funding
Pinkston began the race with an existing account balance of $10,112.81 from his previous campaign. He reported $81,054.00 in contributions and $88,551.14 in expenditures to Davidson County Election Commission, which left his campaign with $2,615.67 on hand as of September 30, 2016.[9]
Endorsements
Pinkston was endorsed by the following elected organizations and elected officials:[10][11][12][13][14][15]
Click here for a list of Pinkston's endorsements in this election.
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Will Pinkston |
55.3% | 2,256 | |
| Nonpartisan | Hillyard Al Wilkins | 28.1% | 1,146 | |
| Nonpartisan | Alan C. Sharp | 15.9% | 648 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.8% | 33 | |
| Total Votes | 4,083 | |||
| Source: Nashville Election Commission, "Election Results," August 20, 2012 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Will Pinkston participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on May 21, 2016:
| “ | I want Metro Nashville Public Schools to be the fastest-improving urban school system in America.[16][17] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Tennessee. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | While I selected my top four priorities based on a desire to improve student outcomes, I firmly believe that maintaining a responsible, balanced budget is critical to all that we do.[17] | ” |
| —Will Pinkston (May 21, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. When done well, charter schools can add value to a community. However, unabated charter growth in Metro Nashville Public Schools has had a destabilizing effect on the school system's budget. Even if the school board approves no new charter schools, the charter sector will double in size over the next few years due to growth in existing charter schools. It's time for a charter moratorium in Nashville. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Standardized tests are useful in measuring student knowledge and student growth, but they should not be the sole determinant of student achievement. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| States should adopt rigorous academic standards, whether they are Common Core standards or other standards. This is the discretion of the states. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. For teachers who are struggling, the school system should first provide top-notch professional development. Giving teachers the very best tools and supports is critical to improving public education. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. We should consider incentivizing teachers who are willing to go into hard-to-teach environments. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion must be the option of last resort. If our goal as a school system is to educate every child, then that means reducing suspensions and expulsions. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers The teacher in the classroom is the most critical determinant of student success. |
Candidate website
Pinkston highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Will Pinkston is a graduate of Metro Nashville Public Schools and helped Gov. Phil Bredesen shape the education agenda that made Tennessee the fastest-improving state in the history of the Nation’s Report Card. As a public school parent, he believes in the power of public education. As a member of the Nashville School Board, he fights every day for students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers.
On the Nashville School Board, Will Pinkston has helped lead the charge to:
|
” |
| —Will Pinkston (2016)[18] | ||
See also
- Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tennessee
- Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Nashville Scene, "Will Pinkston to Resign from Metro School Board," March 25, 2019
- ↑ Tennessean, "Will Pinkston makes resignation from Nashville school board official," September 30, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Tennesseean, "Who's running for the Nashville school board?" April 7, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County Election Commission, "August 4 Election Results (Unofficial)," accessed August 4, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedriseforum - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbio - ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Calendar 2016," accessed March 30, 2016
- ↑ Davidson County Election Commission, "County General Sample Ballot: August 4, 2016," accessed July 12, 2016
- ↑ Davidson County Election Commission, "Financial Disclosures," accessed November 29, 2016
- ↑ Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, AFL-CIO, "2016 Metro School Board Endorsements," April 19, 2016
- ↑ Pinkston for Schools, "Supporters," accessed May 20, 2016
- ↑ Metropolitan Nashville Education Association, "Facebook Event: Phone Banking Party," accessed June 12, 2016
- ↑ The Tennesseean, "Endorsements: Nashville school board election," July 11, 2016
- ↑ SEIU Local 205, "Local Union Supports Metro School Board Candidates With “Real World” Experience in Public Education," June 29, 2016
- ↑ Diane Ravitch's blog, "Nashville: Vote for the Defenders of Public Education for School Board," July 12, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Will Pinkston's responses," May 21, 2016
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Pinkston for Schools, "Issues," accessed May 20, 2016
