Back on January 29, 2026, I posted this about the potential Wilberforce Academy and Knox County Schools lawsuit. Granted my post was one sided, based on Knox Schools friendly main stream media little Ty at the daily paper on December 2, 2025 at 5:09 am here and then Kenan at the same daily paper on 1/29/206 at 5:06 am here, then Kenan again on 2/6/2026 at 5:06 am here, then Kenan again on February 6, 2026 at 5:06 a,m, here. (he identifies Whishart as an Attorney, which he ain’t, yet another lazy, lack of fact checking on the proofers and the Publisher/Editor of the daliy paper) I am sure it is merely a coincidence that the daily paper is writing in a negative narrative of a “Christian” “religious” group.
On Compass Knox, Scott Barker wrote this here story on February 5, 2026 pointing out that Sixth District Knox Schools Board Member, two term Former School Board Chair and May 5, 2026 Republican Primary Knox County Mayoral candidate Betsy Henderson and Private Middle School Administrator Zach Whishart are political connected to one another is yet another coincidence. Using the only “potentially controversial image” of Henderson, in an attempt to ‘gin’ up their subscribers, IMHO.
On January 29, 2026 (before the School Board voted to take no action on Wilberforce, I had requested the communication between Wilberforce and KCS) I received 14 pages (responsive to my request) on February 20, 2026 (that is 32 days later, because they needed me to determine the parameters of my request, I am sure Wilberforce Academy is so vast a search in emails)
On November 25, 2025 Whishart submitted a Letter of Intent and Executive Summary for The Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville, which consumes 10 of my 14 pages that was responsive to my request.
On December 1, 2025 at 5:41 p.m. the [email protected] sent an email to [email protected] copied Gary Dupler Knox County Assistant Law Director informing them they left a couple boxes not marked that had been requested.
On December 2, 2026 the email “[email protected] which I am told that the assumption of it being Theresa Nixon is a safe assumption. The Chartering Authority informed Dear Chartering Sponsor: the email was concerned about two items on the Letter of Intent Form (page 4) to which each sponsor is asked to respond. indicating Sponsoring Eligibility. Also the email read “you indicated your 501(c)(3) status but left the other box. Therefore, at this time, your Letter of Intent is considered incomplete.
Three days later on December 5, 2025 at 3:35 p.m. from [email protected] saying since you have not submitted a revised letter, we recognize that you are proceeding in according with T.C.A. 49-13-107
So, while the “requested information” wasn’t marked, it would not seem that “requested” is a “mandatory” mark, I could certainly see where 12 jurors could determine that a school district insisting on “requested information” NOT “mandatory information” was denying an application. Let us just let a black robe and 12 jurors figure this one out, with maybe a little help from the TN Attorney General.
