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WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – “It’s become a political battleground.”<\/p>\n
That’s how one parent describes the Wilson County school system.<\/p>\n
During an unscripted briefing Monday night, the schools chief exclaimed that the political divide is pushing qualified teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve had more teachers contact me in the last 72 hours than in the last two years. And the same thing I’m hearing, we can’t take it anymore,” said Wilson County Schools Superintendent Jeff Luttrell.<\/p>\n
\t\tWilson County School Board debates parent notification of child’s gender identity; take no further action<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n It was an impassioned plea from Luttrell at Monday’s school board meeting. He spoke after hearing back-and-forth on the issues of book bans, transgender student discussion and teacher retention.<\/p>\n “You can’t keep bringing politics to every meeting we have \u2014 this community needs to find integration or you’re going to destroy the education system,” Luttrell said.<\/p>\n He noted that the shortage of teachers is affecting the entire country.<\/p>\n “Teachers are where the rubber meets the road in the classroom,” said West Wilson Middles School Principal Josh Johnston.<\/p>\n