September 9, 2016
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
MURFREESBORO — The Blair family first arrived in Rutherford County in the early 1800s when George William Blair settled in the area six years after the county was founded in October 1803.
In 1820, George, whose father William left Ireland in the 1780’s and found his way to Pennsylvania, eventually purchased 640 acres in Rock Springs.
“We’ve been around for a while,” joked Wayne Blair, a 10-year member of the Rutherford County Board of Education.
Blair, his five siblings and cousins — who all graduated from Smyrna High School — are six generations removed from those who first settled in the Middle Tennessee region.
They’re also the first generation of Blair’s to attend college.
Education has been a priority in the Blair family for more than 100 years. As early as The Blair School, which served local students in the 1870s, to Wayne’s election to the Rutherford County Board of Education, the Blair surname has been synonymous with education in Rutherford County.
Naturally Wayne and his siblings encouraged their children – the seventh generation of Blair’s in Rutherford County – to excel in and out of the classroom. All of them graduated from college, including Wayne’s two children.
Zack graduated from Lipscomb University, while, like her father, Hilary Schmidt graduated from Middle Tennessee State University.
Wayne, an avid Blue Raiders supporter, completed his bachelor’s degree at MTSU in May 2015. Six months later, in November, he was voted the president-elect of the Tennessee School Boards Association. He’ll be sworn in at the annual TSBA conference in early November of this year.
Blair is the first Rutherford County resident to serve on the TSBA board since John Hood was president in 1977, according to an article published in the “Daily News Journal” in November 2015.
The TSBA Board of Directors consists of a president, immediate past president, president-elect, vice-president, treasurer, nine district directors and four at-large members.
The 18-member board carries out the mandates of the Delegate Assembly and acts as a liaison between the association and local school boards. The TSBA represents 141 school districts across the state of Tennessee.
Since its inception in 1939, the organization has provided a collective voice for public school systems and serves as a source of specialized assistance, information and as a strong liaison for Tennessee's school boards, according to the TSBA website.
In 1990 the Tennessee Legislature mandated school board members attend one full-day training session each year, the website explained. The State Board of Education authorized the Tennessee Department of Education to plan and implement the program, which in turn contracts with TSBA to conduct all of the training sessions.
“In my mind, the biggest service or the most valuable service that the Tennessee School Boards Association provides is the continuing (education) piece,” said Blair, who added that school board members in Tennessee are the only elected officials in the state who are required to attend continuing education workshops. “It does an incredible job of training school board members on school issues.”
Blair is one of three Rutherford County school board members – Terry Hodge and Aaron Holladay being the other two – who have been honored by the TSBA as Level V Master Members.
Blair is beginning his 11th year as a member of the Rutherford School Board, as of Sept. 1. He was first elected to the board in 2006 and then reelected in 2010 and again in 2014. In 2008, Blair earned the National School Boards Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
His 2006 campaign was preceded by three years of attending school board meetings, workshops and committee meetings to get acclimated to the issues affecting local schools.
“If I was lucky enough to be elected, I did not want to have a long learning curve,” recalled Blair, who said it’s a lot different sitting behind the desk than it is in the audience. “It still was a learning process, and even today, it continues to be a learning process.”
Until earlier this month, Blair served as board chairman the past two years.
Among its many duties, the School Board develops policy, approves budgets, decided where new schools will be built, handles complicated and oftentimes emotional rezoning issues and works with the public and employees to resolve concerns and strengthen schools.
Blair, vice president of Raborn Insurance Agency, said his enjoyment comes from participating in the growing excellence in the county his family has called home for more than 200 years.
He sees himself as a “small part” of moving Rutherford County forward.
“We want to be a higher achieving district,” Blair said of the success RCS has had with improving graduation rates and overall ACT scores. These accomplishments have been made while the district continues to grow by an average of 1,300 students per year, he added.
Blair complimented the Rutherford County Commission for its ongoing support of schools.
“They see the growth and understand the importance of educating our children,” he said. “We’re blessed to have a funding body that understands the value of education.”
After becoming a father, Blair’s focus was on doing what was best for his children, which led to his involvement in various parent-teacher organizations. That’s when his attention turned toward helping do what’s best for all students attending Rutherford schools.
Blair said he’s been fortunate enough to serve with likeminded school board members and that coincidentally the board has been very effective during the time he’s been representing parts of Smyrna and southwestern Rutherford County.
That success is why Blair said the school district has been able to attract the best talent.
For example, he cited Cedar Grove Elementary. After former Principal Mark Gullion was promoted to the central office, Paige Jorge was promoted to principal and Dr. Larissa Westerfield was hired away from the Metro Nashville district as the new assistant principal at the school.
“Having a system that has a reputation for striving towards excellence attracts people like her,” said Blair, who noted that despite new buildings, additions and renovations throughout the district there are 146 trailer classrooms still in use.
“I want to keep working … so that we’re out of the trailer business.”
RCS has come a long way from when, according to an 1879 contract with Directors of the School District, a single log room known as The Blair School was housed on the property of Jim Blair. Jim was among the early Blair settlers in the county in the 1870s.
Built for the children in the local area, Blair School featured a board roof, split-log benches with peg legs, a wood heater and water was furnished by a spring at the foot of the hill.
And teachers were paid between $25 and $40 a month, Blair said.
Nowadays the 46 schools that make up RCS are collectively one of the most successful school districts in the state.
“Our teachers and educators are so dedicated and so professional,” said Blair, who along with fellow board members – Jeff Jordan, Jim Estes, Lisa Moore, Coy Young, Hodge and Holladay – intends to “continue to do what’s best for our children.”
PHOTO / JAMES EVANS
Rutherford County School Board member Wayne Blair stands in Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium at Middle Tennessee State Univerisity, where he once played on the football team. Blair will soon be sworn in as the president of the Tennessee School Boards Association.