Education secretary highlights Grand Oaks’ student success

McMahon visit sparks local praise and criticism

August 20, 2025 by Ben Pounds

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon reads to children at Grand Oaks Elementary School.

Panel members were state Rep. Rick Scarbrough; Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank; County Commission Chairman Tyler Mayes; David Coffey, a member of the Heritage Foundation who recently gave the school an award; Parrott; county Board of Education Chairman Scott Gillenwaters; Board of Education member Sherry Beaty; Anderson County Chamber of Commerce President Rick Meredith; county schools Director of Technology Wade Haney; Director of Special Education Kim Towe; Director of Data and Evaluation Andrea Russell; Director of Head Start Anne Ford; Director of Elementary and Federal Programs Katrina Oakley; Grand Oaks Principal Jessica Conatser; academic coach Heather Ferris; Grand Oaks teachers Christy Hicks, Chrissy Rose, Lauren Grosam, Jessica Bray and Nancy Thorton; parent Tara Dunn; Parent Teacher Organization President Allison Wallace; community partner Katherine Sterling; community partner and pastor of Faith Promise Church Anderson Anthony Hamby; and Tennessee Commissioner of Education Lazet Reynolds.

Ryan Sutton, executive director of Anderson County Television, moderated.

“In my 33 years in education, no one from the federal level has ever visited ACS, so this was a meaningful moment for our community,” Parrott said, adding that McMahon now “knows what great public education looks like because this is the first public school she’s been in.”

He described the event as an opportunity for himself and other ACS officials and staff to share their thoughts.

“I personally spoke about the importance of continuing funding for free meals for all students, an issue I care deeply about,” he said. “During the visit we were also able to speak about the importance of maintaining federal funding, and shared how those funds directly support student success.”



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The Anderson County Republican Party, on its official Facebook page, shared a statement from Frank.

“Secretary McMahon was truly engaged, and the roundtable included a lot of great discussion,” Frank said. “In addition to providing feedback to many comments, she also asked many questions. She was very interested in how Grand Oaks and [its] team of educators and partners [are] achieving success. Tennessee’s Education Commissioner Reynolds was also in attendance, and Lt. Gov. McNally participated in the classroom visits.”

During the Aug. 14 Board of Education meeting, criticism came both from citizens during the comment period and from board member David Miller.

“I’m real upset that she was here and that she decided that she was going to put on a dog-and-pony show and convince people that somehow taking away the Department of Education, that dismantling it, was a good thing,” Miller said. “As a person who taught for [more than] 35 years, I know that’s ridiculous.”

He also spoke against vouchers, which he said were included in a federal bill that had recently passed. He said that he had taught a student who had a traumatic brain injury, was quadriplegic, blind and unable to speak.

“Try and tell me that some school was going to take her,” he said, pointing out, however, that a public school did.

“When you’ve got a school that needs to be improved, what you don’t do is not fund it and give the money to people who are already sending their kids to private schools as a wealth transfer,” he said.

He said counter to the current administration’s argument, states and local school boards already had power.

“The federal government is just there to provide a last-ditch place where things can get done,” he said.

Before the Board of Education meeting, Anderson County Democrats’ Chairman Chase Linsey criticized the event for being secret and for the politicians like Gillenwaters and Mayes not announcing it to the public or letting the public speak.

“They made time for a photo op with the secretary of Education,” he stated in an email. “They didn’t make time to tell the people they represent.”

Gillenwaters at the Aug. 14 meeting, however, countered those criticisms while also saying he opposed McMahon and the Trump administration’s education policies.

“I’ve heard this event criticized because it was a marketing event for her, and I’ve heard it criticized because it was a secret event,” he said. “I’m not sure how it could have been both, but I don’t believe it was either.

“I am vehemently opposed to every word that comes out of that secretary’s mouth, as well as the education policy of the current administration,” he said.

However, he said it was a good time to show off Anderson County Schools and public education.

“Oftentimes as an elected official I have to be in the same room shaking hands with and talking with people [who] are promoting policies with which I disagree,” Gillenwaters said.

“As difficult as it was for me to listen to the secretary, I did,” he said. “To hate, to divide, to criticize, that’s easy. What is difficult is to engage with those with whom you disagree.”

He said if the event had been public, the school system would be criticized for putting students in danger.

“This event was fairly scripted, but we wrote that script,” said Gillenwaters regarding the roundtable discussion. “The only thing we didn’t write was the secretary’s brief comment at the end.”

His fellow Board of Education member Dail Cantrell echoed his thoughts.

“If you want to meet the enemy, meet them straight on,” he said.

Parrott defended the event as an opportunity to argue for Grand Oaks Elementary School, Anderson County Schools and public schools generally, not for McMahon to promote herself.

“The concerns about political theater had not crossed my mind, as that was never the intent or focus from our end,” said Parrott in a statement for The Courier News. “Our goal was simply to highlight the incredible work going on at our public schools every day.”