A teachers’ union member who is running for the Metro Nashville Public Schools board has missed out on an endorsement from her own union because she missed the deadline to submit a candidate questionnaire. The reason she missed it? She was too busy teaching, she says.
Natalie Martin is running for the District 6 seat currently held by Fran Bush. Martin is a teacher at Stratford STEM Magnet School, but because board members cannot be MNPS employees, she says she's prepared to leave the position if she wins.
In a Sunday night Facebook post, Martin updated her campaign Facebook page to acknowledge the situation.
“Unfortunately, despite my track record as a career educator and member of the Metro Nashville Education Association (MNEA), the union has endorsed another candidate in the Democratic primary,” reads the post. “As it turns out, I inadvertently missed the deadline to submit my candidate questionnaire because, well, I’ve been busy teaching. It was a simple paperwork oversight during a typically busy semester that’s even busier right now due to the ongoing pandemic recovery and preparing students for TCAP.
“While I regret missing the MNEA questionnaire deadline, I fully understand the reason why it happened," Martin continues. "In fact, it’s the same reason I’m running for school board. That reason is: I care about our students and I’ve been working overtime to help them during this extraordinary time. As long as I’m in the classroom, their needs come first. If I’m fortunate enough to win my school board race, I will retire from teaching, but continue to serve students and my fellow educators in a different role.”
Martin says she has reached out to the union to see if its leaders will “reconsider their endorsement deadline.”
“But [I am] taking full responsibility for missing the deadline,” she adds.
“Our endorsement process, including deadlines, is regulated by the bylaws of our Political Action Committee for Education (PACE)," says Mary Holden, the MNEA-PACE vice chair. "We regret we were unable to interview Natalie Martin for an endorsement in the primary; however, we invite her and any other candidates who win the primary to partake in our endorsement process for the general election in August.”
Last week, an MNEA press release revealed the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association Political Action Committee for Education would endorse Cheryl Mayes for District 6. The release noted that "in District 6, one candidate sought and won the endorsement of MNEA." Mayes is a former school board member who currently works for U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper. The only other person running for the District 6 seat is incumbent Fran Bush, who MNEA members have quarreled with in the past — MNEA filed an ethics complaint against Bush in 2021.
Typically, most school board campaigning happens later in the year. Because the state legislature passed a law allowing partisan school board races last year, the race is ramping up much sooner, with early voting for primaries starting April 13. Situations like Martin’s are a result of this legislation, which distracts attention from schools and students and instead focuses on politics.
Natalie Martin could not be immediately reached for comment.
