Blogger Andy Spears reports that an admitted sex offender in the legislature has a key role in shaping education policy.
He wrote:
Yesterday, the House Education Administration Subcommittee met for the first time. The meeting was the first chaired by admitted sex offender David Byrd.
Readers will recall that while both former House Speaker Beth Harwell and current Lt. Governor Randy McNally called on Byrd to resign from the legislature last year, current House Speaker Glen Casada gave Byrd a key leadership role on education policy.
At yesterday’s meeting, Byrd asked each committee member to introduce himself (the committee is made up of seven men) and state an interesting fact.
Each member proceeded to attempt humor. Not a single member used the opportunity to call on Byrd to resign from his committee leadership post. Instead, they acted as if having an admitted sex offender at the helm of a legislative committee was just business as usual.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The way things are going in DC and other places is not surprise. Leadership across the United States has lost the will to stand up and do what is right. The best example is in DC where the Republicans are afraid to hold Trump accountable. This form of leadership is flowing downhill to the states. A very poor example to set for our children who will be our future leaders. Shame on the committee members.
Where to even begin with the voucher loving tea party controlled State Legislature of Tennessee. This particular lawmaker had a Democrat running against him I believe, but TN hates Democrats so much they would rather have this guy. Vote against their own self interest as usual. It’s embarrassing and the brainwashing is thick
Committee member, Jason Hodges is a Democrat. He should know better.
True . But this district TN had the choice not to re-elect Byrd
Does Rep. Sexton have a furniture outlet in Morristown, Tenn.?
May KARMA get these beasts.
Clearly, it’s possible in Tennessee. Doesn’t say much for that state.
Sure doesn’t. Evidently Byrd had less baggage than the other Republicans in the district. Sad.
Don’t cuss all of us on account of one buffoon. There is a reasonable minority in my beloved state. Some of us know that both our senators refused to sign the Southern Manifesto back in 1948.
Are the people of Tennessee drinking too much of that ‘Tennessee whiskey’ so they cannot soundly understand right from wrong? There is nothing funny about having a sex offender leading the education committee.
“Byrd is the third Tennessee lawmaker to face allegations of sexual misdeeds in as many years. The allegations date back to when Byrd served as head coach of the Wayne County High School women’s basketball team, the Lady Cats. Out of more than a dozen former players who spoke with WSMV reporter Alanna Autler over the last three months, three reported unwanted sexual contact initiated by Byrd. Two of the victims were 15 and one was 16 at the time they say their then-28-year-old coach sexually assaulted them.”
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/27/harwell-calls-rep-david-byrd-facing-allegations-sexual-misconduct-dating-back-his-days-basketball-co/460660002/
There’s another David Byrd in Kentucky who is a registered sex offender. Does this perversion run in the Byrd family?
http://kspsor.state.ky.us/Home/OffenderDetails/3579
Did you know that there is or was a lawsuit charging Donald Trump with raping a 13-year old girl?
As of now, all of the information about this lawsuit comes solely from the complaint filed by “Katie Johnson,” and no one has as yet located, identified, or interviewed her. She was scheduled to appear at a press conference on 2 November 2016 but didn’t show up, claiming that threats to her life kept her away. She reportedly dropped the lawsuit again on 4 November 2016 for the same reason.
A status conference for the lawsuit was scheduled to be held on 16 December 2016.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/06/23/donald-trump-rape-lawsuit/
Who else fears for the safety of his family due to threats from Trump?
“Michael Cohen says Trump’s threats against his family’ will delay his testimony before the House.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/michael-cohen-says-trump-s-threats-against-his-family-will-n961816
And what party has repeatedly blocked the Equal Rights Amendment?
https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/06/15/equal-rights-amendment-scary-to-gop-but-is-only-way-to-equality/
And what political party has members that are calling for watering down the Child Labor Laws?
“Indiana Republican who employs hundreds of teens wants to roll back child labor laws”
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/a3bvde/indiana-republican-who-employs-hundreds-of-teens-wants-to-roll-back-child-labor-laws
Tennessee and 21 other states have state Houses of Representatives with fewer than 24% women members. That explains a government committee, like the one David Byrd is on, which ends up with a sorry-looking bunch of men who think their gender should entitle them to unrestrained power in every aspect of community life.
More Tennessee women should run for state office, and more Tennesseans concerned about the relative scarcity of female legislators (including Tennessee women, who presumably number approximately 50% of all Tennesseans) should vote for them.
Men and women tend to hold the same societal prejudices. Example- jurors, regardless of their own genders, overwhelmingly select male foremen. But, FLERP!, male privilege was on your radar already?
Do state GOP parties encourage women to run, provide financing? The Koch-gilded Joni Ernst is one in 45,000,000.
Intelligent Tennessee women are Democrats in a red state. No win there.
I’m curious why the religious GOP men on the subcommittee don’t apply WWJD and say it’s absurdly unfair for us to be over represented on this committee. Actually, I’m not curious, I know their comfort zone is hypocrisy.
If men and women tend to hold the same prejudices, why would anyone think it’s concerning that a minority of legislative seats are held by women? After all, female legislators should be expected to simply replicate the same prejudices of male legislators, no?
If there is a paucity of women in political positions, and if that is a problem (for both women and men), then more women should run for office, regardless of whether state parties actively encourage women to run for office. This isn’t 1920.
Really? Having one of the political parties backing a candidate’s campaign isn’t advantageous to a win. Running as an independent and winning is highly likely because it’s no longer 1920.
hmmm.
If society held a prejudice for women in leadership roles, men’s experiences and perspectives warrant their inclusion-
say, for example, if the discussion was the prevention of sperm production. It’s concerning that you disagree.
Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but Marsha Blackburn kind of refutes that argument. She refutes a lot of them.
Educational level of Tennessee state House Representatives-
(1) As a percentage, twice as many (30%) of the Republicans, contrasted with Dems, stopped educational advancement after high school.
(2) 60% more Dems than Repubs have advanced degrees.
Like Trump, entitled Tennessee Republicans find comfort in narrow, uninformed views.
How does a serial groper become president of the US?
Susan-compelling perspective. The Republicans launched Roy Moore, next, David Byrd.
This is a disgrace to Tennessee!
We have three systems of law in the United States, one for the wealthy; one for poor, brown people; and another for everyone else.
But the corrupt and rich are slowly merging those three systems of laws into two.
One for them and the second one for everyone else.
Not a single [House Education Administration Subcommittee] member used the opportunity to call on Byrd to resign from his committee leadership post. Instead, they acted as if having an admitted sex offender at the helm of a legislative committee was just business as usual.”
Sexual predation by persons in position of trust [teacher, coach, counselor, pastor]– or in position of power over one’s life or livelihood [boss, jailer]– is just a half-step removed from incest. And, as survivors often say: “the only thing taboo about incest is talking about it.”
If Byrd was a Democrat that the billionaire oligarchs didn’t own, the hew-and-cry for him to resign would be as loud as the one that everyone in both parties demanded of Senator Al Franken who only pretended to squeeze a sleeping reporter woman’s breast, a woman wearing a Kevlar vest, a flack jacket, over her torso.
The only reason there was a photo was because Franken, a former comedian, thought it was funny and asked someone else on the plane to take a photo of him doing it.
The GOP will only protest when a Democrat does it even when someone pretends to squeeze a sleeping woman’s breast under a Kevlar vest but doesn’t actually grab the breast compared to a Republican adult coach forcing teenage girls he coached to have sex with him.
Democrats will protest both actions but when it is a Republican they are protesting their protests will be ignored.
What did we learn?
Next time an elected Democrat is caught doing something like Franken did or even worse, Democrats don’t demand he/she resign unless every Republican, like Byrd, Thomas and Kavanaugh also resign from their public positions.
I think this might be the same guy who used to coach girls basketball down at Collinwood about 30 years ago when I first started teaching. I could be wrong.
Some news reports suggest that he is indeed the guy I remember. I think he took a few teams to the state tournament back then.
Unrelated to this specific situation-
Family values. Fathers have young, teen daughters. They expect men who are decades older to use the girls for sexual gratification. Move along, nothing to see here.
I have not read a lot, but I think the accusations are left over from years ago. Of course that does not change anything.
IMHO, each state has its own SOLID preference = each person has his/her own ignorance.
It is fine to each race or each party as long as they are content with their own conscience, for example the slave and the master for thousand years up to this modern day.
Revolution, fight for our own right… has been shown in the GLOBAL history. Yes, unite we stand – divide we fall.
All educators MUST UNITE nationally in USA to set the best example by cultivating about the IMPORTANT CHARACTER + ATTITUDE of a LEADER for both A COUNTRY AND A STATE to parents and to students. Back2basic
Well said. May.
Florida is at it again…
“Bill to exempt school taxes for people 65 and over a slippery slope to chaos”
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/lake/lauren-ritchie/os-ne-lauren-ritchie-school-tax-homestead-20190201-story.html
Another way to starve public schools.
Social security works when everyone pays.
Public schools when everyone invests in the future. Our future.
The statement should be in bronze and hung in every state capitol and the Rotunda.
Almost 1/3 of the members of the Tennessee state House stopped their educations at a high school degree. If they were part of a college ready cohort, they didn’t reach the goal. If they weren’t, the lack of education didn’t prevent them from passing laws that their fellow citizens have to adhere to. For Tennessee to promote the Bill Gates’ agenda reflects the hypocrisy that Republicans are known for.