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From losing some political power in the Tennessee General Assembly to workers standing on Highway 31 to strike General Motors, Williamson County has witnessed a myriad of changes throughout 2019.
Franklin
At the start of the year, Franklin residents finally saw progress on the much awaited Mack Hatcher Parkway extension project, which will provide additional access to the northwestern part of town.
Outside of road projects, the legislative session brought attention to the need for barriers on the Natchez Trace Bridge to derail suicide attempts. It also brought forth scandal for Franklin Rep. Glen Casada, who stepped down as Speaker of the House during the summer after reports surfaced after he and his former chief of staff exchanged sexually explicit text messages.
Only a month later, the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival celebrated its fifth year at the Park at Harlinsdale Farm without floods, storms or cancellations. After five years of the event, Pilgrimage Festival organizers shared its first economic impact report of $3 million.
But music wasn’t the only project played out to fruition in the city.
After months of waiting and collaboration, Fuller Story markers finally appeared on the Franklin square in October to depict the African American story in Williamson County.
The debate over who owns the public square will continue in 2020.
Homicides
Franklin ended the year with its first homicide of 2019. Investigators believe Rachel Narancich shot and killed her son inside their Franklin home on Dec. 10 before she killed herself.
Two people who were arrested in the shooting death of Brentwood resident Clark Cable in December 2018 appeared in court in February for a preliminary hearing. Dustin Russell and Lyndsey Bronston’s cases were bound over to a grand jury; both have been charged with criminal homicide in the bizarre shooting. Police believe they parked a vehicle outside Cable’s home and fired several shots into the house, fatally wounding Cable. Both await their next hearing in the Williamson County Jail.
GM strike
United Auto Workers at the Spring Hill General Motors assembly plant joined GM employees across the nation in a six-week strike this fall.
In Spring Hill, several people were arrested and the plant obtained a court order to prevent picketers from blocking its entrance. On Oct. 22, tragedy struck when picketer Roy A. McCombs, 55, died after being hit by a passing Chevrolet Equinox in what a union official called an “innocent tragic accident.”
The strike ended after the UAW ratified a new four-year contract with GM on Oct. 25.
Williamson County Schools
In a victory for Williamson County’s wallet, a judge ruled in the county’s favor in a contentious lawsuit this spring that was brought by home builders over an education impact fee, which imposes thousands of dollars in additional fees for new residential construction. While the builders appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the higher court is likely to uphold the trial court’s ruling.
Williamson County Schools officials found themselves apologizing in February after a teacher at Sunset Middle School gave a homework assignment that asked students to pretend their family owned slaves and to create a list of tasks for them. Not long after, the district came under fire again. The Williamson County Republican Party accused WCS of attempting to indoctrinate students by hosting a cultural sensitivity training for teachers that addressed the topic of white privilege.
Ultimately, the district apologized again and pulled the cultural competency series from teacher professional development training. However, former WCS superintendent Mike Looney explained that the district-created professional development series was actually intended to bring people together. A parent cultural competency council, formed under Looney in 2018, still meets quarterly to discuss cultural sensitivity in WCS, after incidents of racial insensitivity among students and teachers were reported in the district.
New superintendent Jason Golden picked up the baton, attending the cultural competency parent committee meetings this year, emphasizing that teachers would use empathy toward all students.
The district was also flagged by the state for disciplining African American students with disabilities disproportionately compared to other races. An intervention plan is in place.
Golden, a longtime attorney and deputy superintendent for WCS, took the helm as the district’s new superintendent in May when Looney, who began his tenure in 2008, was chosen to head Fulton County Schools in Atlanta.
In July, a raise for first-year teachers was approved as part of the WCS $386.2 million operational budget, which led to a 7-cent property tax increase for county residents. Golden called the raise (an increase from approximately $37,000 to $40,150) a paradigm shift. However, the county commission cut WCS’s capital budget request of $13.2 million to $10 million for maintenance, technology and safety. The school’s budget makes up over 60% of the county’s $626 million general budget.
Over the next five years, 10 new schools are projected for construction to contend with the county’s growth. In 2019, the school district opened new school facilities and completed additions, including the district wide Entrepreneurial and Innovation Center in Franklin, 10 new classrooms at Scales Elementary in Brentwood, the Grassland Middle School Performing Arts Center and the Brentwood High School STEM building.
In January, the district will open Creekside Elementary School on Gosey Hill Road in Franklin.
Franklin Special School District
The Franklin Special School District Board of Education was named as a Board of Distinction by the Tennessee School Board Association this fall, marking the seventh time the board has earned the honor.
FSSD partnered with Mercy Community Healthcare to provide rotating mental health therapists for all of its eight schools. Plus, a therapy dog is on duty in the district.
An $80.6 million budget was approved by the FSSD Board of Education in July, setting the foundation for monumental capital projects, such as a new gym at Poplar Grove, a districtwide performing arts center, ball parks in partnership with city of Franklin and raises for all employees.
Reach Emily West at erwest@tennessean.com or 615-613-1380 and on Twitter at @emwest22.
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