Emily Booth Masters, a former member of the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education and founder of the PTSO at Stratford STEM Magnet High School, wants you to know that her son, a 2026 graduate of Stratford, had a great experience at the school.
“At Stratford, he was known, supported and taught,” she wrote in a guest column for the Tennessean. “Stratford’s educators and administration helped him rebuild his academic footing and his belief that school could be a place where he belonged.”
Masters wants you to know this because I, a reporter with an obligation to keep the people of Nashville informed, dared to report on the Tennessee Department of Education’s current investigationinto an alleged credit recovery abuse at Stratford and, more
broadly, MNPS.
But there’s a critical element of the investigation Masters failed to acknowledge, or apparently even consider, in her response.
The TDOE investigation is being conducted by its Office of Civil Rights, a direct response to evidence detailed in the whistleblower complaint filed by former Stratford counselor Constance Wade. According to the complaint, Stratford and MNPS’s alleged academic misconduct disproportionately impacted students of color.
Masters, however, is white. And judging from a photo on her Instagram page, in which she is seen smiling next to her cap-and-gown-clad son, he is, too.
MNPS does one job well
The idea to rebut any allegations made on behalf of Black students by offering up the experience of a child who is both white and the son of a former MNPS board member should’ve never made it out of Masters’ head, let alone into an op-ed for publication in the city’s daily paper of record.
But, hey: Maybe Masters has taken it upon herself to singlehandedly prove that all the comments about white liberal privilege are, indeed, true.
Or: Maybe she is still fully committed to fulfilling her board member duties, even though she no longer holds her District 3 seat. Because if you know anything about MNPS, or have followed my column for some time, you know that Masters’ response to my column fits squarely in the district’s modus operandi.
The goal, always, is to protect the shield at all costs, to skirt critique like a snake sheds skin.
Protect the system. Question the critics.
About a year ago, I wrote about the $6.5 million settlementthe district made with five former employees who alleged that superintendent Adrienne Battle had retaliated against them for various actions. I then wrote a follow-up column because, in response to reasonable public criticism about the historic settlement (paid for by taxpayers but largely unaddressed by the district), the MNPS board allowed its meeting on Aug. 12, 2025, to devolve into a spectacle of performative disrespect.
During the public comment period, community concerns about struggling students and more appropriate ways to spend $6.5 million were silenced by assertions that Battle was the victim of a coordinated smear campaign.
“After five years of success after success, what you’ve heard here tonight is simply their best gotcha,” said former District 1 board member Sharon Gentry. “Ma’am, you’re scaring folks. Creating symptoms, using a problem from five years ago to develop a narrative, a narrative designed to support a political agenda, an agenda that politicizes and uses as pawns students with disabilities; students from economically disadvantaged environments; English language learners; Blacks, Hispanics, Native American students – the students that you, ma’am, are seeing, knowing and serving.”
The numbers tell their own story
Ironically, one of the plaintiffs named in the settlement was Damon Cathey, a former associate superintendentwho raised concerns about grade falsification at an MNPS high school and recommended the school’s principal be fired. An internal investigation found that grades had, in fact, been artificially raised after students were placed in credit recovery.
The principal orchestrating the fabrication: Michael Steele. Of Stratford High School.
Steele was suspended without pay for three days. Cathey’s position was eliminated altogether.
Meanwhile, here’s what we know now, setting aside the past credit recovery allegations that were proven, as well as the current allegations still pending investigation: At Stratford, kids of color comprise more than 80% of the student body (Black – 66%, Hispanic – 15%), and they are objectively struggling.
Only 16.4% of Black students and 16.9% of Hispanic students were proficient in ELA in 2025. In math, those numbers dropped to 12.7% and 12.8%, respectively. In science, at the STEM magnet school, only 21.9% of Black students and 12.5% of Hispanic students were proficient.
Does this data contradict Masters’ assertion that her son was “known, supported and taught”? Not at all, because educational outcomes for white students at Stratford are markedly different: 53.3% of white students are proficient in ELA, 22.9% are proficient in math and 50% meet science benchmarks.
Who supports the struggling students?
Regarding my column questioning why Mayor Freddie O’Connell has yet to address any of the allegations against MNPS and its member schools – including, but definitely not limited to, Wade’s Stratford claims – Masters suggests the mayor’s silence is prudence.
“What, precisely, should he do while a state investigation is underway?” she asked. “Announce its conclusion in advance? Publicly condemn the district before investigators determine the facts? The mayor does not manage MNPS or adjudicate state complaints.”
On this, I will agree to disagree. I believe, firmly, that O’Connell has an obligation to his constituents, even if it’s just to acknowledge the numerous educators who’ve come forward with varying claims of dysfunction and deceit at MNPS. He can insist on transparency, corrective action and accountability, where necessary, just as Masters did. To simply ignore the growing dissent is to foment greater discontent, and I don’t think that’s a risk MNPS, or Nashville, can afford.
But if Masters is, indeed, correct, and silence is the optimal choice before conclusions are made, why would she condemn my right and obligation to make the public aware of the pending allegations? Why would she offer up her white son’s experience as context for an investigation involving non-white students?
And why, when she no longer has a seat on the MNPS board and is therefore no longer in the position to govern the superintendent who oversees district operations, would she tout the district’s “Level 5 growth” and “record academic results” when so many students have had the opposite experience?
Andrea Williams is an opinion columnist for The Tennessean and curator of the Black Tennessee Voices initiative. She has an extensive background covering country music, sports, race and society. Email her at adwilliams@tennessean.com or follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @AndreaWillWrite and BlueSky at @andreawillwrite.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Non-white Stratford students struggled before recent claims | Opinion
