Five Metro Nashville Public Schools board district seats are on Davidson County’s Aug. 1 ballot — but only one race will leave voters with a decision to make. Seats in districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are all up for election this year, but only District 1, in the northwest quadrant of the county, has a contested race. Though school board elections historically have not been partisan, a 2021 law changed that for Nashville. That means now, in the general election, any district without a Republican candidate has only an unopposed Democratic candidate.
A few candidates already serving on the school board will remain in their roles after the election. Democratic incumbents Freda Player (District 7) and Abigail Tylor (District 9) ran uncontested and will each begin another four-year term. Uniquely, District 5 candidate TK Fayne was temporarily appointed to the school board by the Metro Council in March after former representative Christiane Buggs resigned to take on the role of CEO at education nonprofit PENCIL. Fayne is uncontested so will presumably continue serving. Former Metro Councilmember Zach Young is running for the District 3 seat currently held by outgoing representative Emily Masters, who announced she would not seek reelection. Young has no challengers.
That leaves the race for District 1 between Republican Demytris Savage-Short and Democrat Robert Taylor, who are vying for a seat held by Sharon Gentry since 2008.
The MNPS district — which covers the northwest quadrant of the county — is the only contested seat in the election
Taylor is an educator at Meharry Medical College who has also worked as a family involvement specialist for Whites Creek Cluster schools and who founded the nonprofit New Life Center, among other roles. Taylor unsuccessfully ran for this seat in 2020, but he previously served on the board of charter school Smithson Craighead Academy. Taylor has several children who have attended traditional public, magnet and private schools. He says the range of experience broadens his ideas about different strategies, which he would channel into his input on district-level policies. He told the Scene in February he thinks Nashville has enough charter schools, and recently told the Nashville Banner he supports vouchers for students not already attending private schools who need more options, but not for students already attending them. Taylor says he’d like to implement a policy inspired by charter schools: a family-engagement policy that would encourage parents to become more involved. He emphasizes a desire to involve the community in schools more deeply, and says becoming a school board member will allow him to continue work he's been doing on a larger scale.
Republican candidate and pediatric nurse Savage-Short is focusing her campaign on parental rights and a renewed emphasis on traditional academic subjects over social and emotional learning. Her son attends a community-based training program run by a district school that specifically supports students with disabilities. She shares on her website that, because she has experience advocating for her son, she will be able to do so for other students. Savage-Short homeschools another child, whom she says she pulled from the public education system because of “indoctrination.”
“Kids need to go back to a classical education instead of being made into social justice warriors, instead of being taught social emotional learning,” Savage-Short tells the Scene.
Other topics she’s campaigning on include enhancing school safety, preserving Judeo-Christian values and preventing age-inappropriate content. If elected, she wants to make the MNPS opt-out forms and parental rights information more accessible to parents. While she didn’t support Gov. Bill Lee’s universal school voucher program because of how it would have affected homeschooling and private schools, she says she supports parents’ right to school choice, the current Education Savings Account program and charter schools.
Both candidates express desire to support teachers and address school finances. According to campaign financial disclosures, Savage-Short raised $2,537.53 in the second quarter of this year, while Taylor raised $8,685.
With early voting now open, see our coverage of state and federal primary matchups, the Nashville Banner’s extensive ballot guide and more
