Bellevue race may define new school board

District 9 school board candidate Alan Coverstone is already touting his campaign fund-raising in what will likely be one of the most-watched school board races this fall. Matthew Williams/The City Paper

With five candidates vying for a single West Nashville school board seat, little is certain about the outcome of the August race other than the fact that change is coming.

District 9 — which encompasses Bellevue as well as parts of Belle Meade — is geographically large and includes a large number of affluent as well as middle class neighborhoods. The board member currently representing the area, Marsha Warden, is stepping down this fall.

The district is home to about one-fourth of the private school students living in areas zoned to Metro Nashville Public Schools, according to 2006-2007 figures from the district, so it’s no wonder that many familiar with Bellevue say market share will be a key election issue.

And with one candidate, Alan Coverstone, already making City Paper headlines with publicly reported funds raised in excess of $20,000 and an upcoming fund-raiser to be hosted by politically connected public relations firm McNeely Pigott & Fox, chatter is beginning to grow about the effect that dollars and endorsements will play in such a crowded race.

The high wattage of the current spotlight on Nashville public education, as well as the number of candidates in the race, bode well for an active public conversation leading up to the elections and, perhaps, a stronger voter turnout than in other years.

“Bellevue [residents] have a great sense of civic pride, and they want to have a great sense of pride in their schools,” Warden said Thursday. “Bellevue thinks of itself as a small, independent community. We’re part of Nashville, but Bellevue has its own identity.”

Warden’s exit to create change on board

While it’s anybody’s guess as to who will be elected to fill her place, the one known factor is that Warden will no longer be on the Board of Education as of this fall. Though she has her fair share of both supporters and critics, most can agree that she is an extremely active board member who spends time getting out among her constituents as well as in political circles.

Warden has been board chair for the last two years, and her absence will leave a vacancy in that leadership role. Education-watchers are not certain who will ultimately fill that role.

Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Board President Bill Robertson credits Warden with strong leadership and active participation among the constituents she represents. And a number of Warden supporters credit her with bringing the perspective of a very active parent to the board. That perspective is what Warden herself, when asked, said she believed was a contribution she made on the board over the years.

But Warden has also been associated with a high level of loyalty to former Director of Schools Pedro Garcia, at least until the weeks preceding Garcia’s January resignation. Shortly before Garcia’s resignation, an e-mail was released to the public in which Garcia told Warden that she had repeatedly reminded him of his upcoming evaluation.

Erick Huth, president of teachers’ union the Metro Nashville Education Association (MNEA), said Thursday that he believes the school board is moving away from following the director of schools as “blindly” as Warden did. The district as a whole, he added, is also moving away from the leadership style of Garcia’s administration.

“My general impression of all the [District 9] candidates is that none of them would follow the director of schools quite as blindly as she has,” Huth said. “Depending on who the director of schools is, maybe following blindly is good. But at some level board members are supposed to be held accountable for making sure the director does what he’s supposed to do, and I don’t think that that has always happened in the past. This race may help to move the board in the right direction.”

Steve Glover, a current school board member, calls criticisms of that nature “cheap shots” that are “easy” to sling. Glover says he also was a supporter of Garcia until the months before the former director’s resignation.

“When you have a director, regardless of who they are, as a board member you hope that the whole unit works as a team, and I think she did that for as long as she could. When it came time to realize he wasn’t part of the team, she moved on — as did I, very frankly,” Glover said. “What will sorely be missed is a very, very good friend of public education, and a very strong ally and advocate of public education.”

At least two members of the existing nine-person board — Warden as well as District 1’s George Thompson — will be replaced after the election, as they are stepping down. Two more are seeking re-election, but face opposition. That means big changes are coming, no matter who is elected.

Though Warden has been a prominent and active board member, her absence will cause changes to the “personality” of the board, in the opinion of Phil Trella, chair of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s education-oriented SuccessPAC.

“[The new board] will take on a completely different personality,” Trella said. “That’s not bad.”

Market share, academics expected to drive race

As for the issues that may play a role in determining who is elected in Warden’s place, there are plenty of possibilities. Many believe the ante of the election is raised by the fact that the newly elected school board will be hiring a new director of schools shortly after elections, and corrective action status of the district under federal No Child Left Behind laws.

There are no run-offs in school board elections, meaning that a winning candidate for the District 9 seat could command as little as 20 percent of the total vote. Many education-watchers — including some of the District 9 candidates — say there are two anticipated front-runners in the race, Coverstone as well as Lee Limbird. Both are perceived to have solid relationships in the right places; Coverstone has already reported high success raising funds, and Limbird has earned the public endorsement of Warden.

But in an election with five candidates and no run-offs, there’s no writing off of the other candidates, Paul Brenner, Stephen Hicks and James Lech.

“The two front-runners, I think, may split off some votes. I hope so,” Hicks said Thursday. “I’m impressed with [all] the candidates.”

The five candidates have subtly different views as to what will drive the race.

Brenner, a retired MNPS teacher, says the factors most important to voters are “neighborhood-type schools,” safety and parental involvement.

Coverstone, a teacher and administrator at Montgomery Bell Academy and the parent of one MNPS student and one private school student, believes voters are looking for a board member who can help bring back “lost credibility” and improve communication between the district and parents.

Hicks, a former juvenile courts worker, says he thinks District 9 residents want a representative who is very familiar with day-to-day operations at schools, who will promote school safety and vocational education, and who is not swayed by certain “big groups” — he declined to name examples — with stakes in public education.

Lech, a city planner who recently earned a doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University, believes neighborhood schools are at the forefront of voters’ minds, as well as teacher quality and its role in market share.

And Limbird, who has worked as a high-level leader at both Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College, says the biggest issues are “excellence” in each school, a willingness to study the addition of another high school to the district in keeping with the fast growth of the area, the implementation of career academies and increasing principal authority over individual high schools.

Upcoming weeks will bring public endorsements as well as endorsements from several high-profile local political action committees. The MNEA is interviewing school board candidates for all races over the weekend, Huth said, and will probably make its endorsements next week. SuccessPAC endorsement interviews have already been completed, with committee decisions to be made in early June, according to Trella.