The transition of power last week was personally interesting to me. 

As I watched the changes taking place and reflected on the people moving into new positions of responsibility, I began thinking about something from my own political history that I had not fully appreciated at the time. 

Sometimes, what is perceived to be the least powerful elected position can actually be the foundation for something much bigger. 

For me, that foundation was the Knox County Board of Education. 

On March 14, 2000, I was elected to serve as the Fifth District Knox County School Board Member, defeating the then-Knox County School Board Vice Chair. Later that year, on August 3, I was unopposed and received 1,548 votes. I was sworn into office on September 1, 2000. 

At the time, I certainly understood the responsibility that came with being a School Board member. But I don’t know that I fully appreciated what that experience represented in the larger picture of public service. 

I was one of the few people on the Board who came from a business background, while many of my colleagues were retired educators, coaches, and school administrators. I remember that, early in 2004, my political opponent suggested that I was an aspiring political official who was simply using the School Board as a stepping stone toward becoming a career politician. 

Political rhetoric, I learned, doesn’t always have to be accurate to become part of a campaign. 

I ultimately chose not to seek another term. On September 1, 2004, my successor was sworn into the Fifth District seat, along with another new School Board member: Indya Kincannon. 

Looking back now, that transition is particularly interesting. 

Kincannon would go on to serve multiple terms on the School Board before eventually entering Knoxville’s mayoral race. She won the 2019 mayoral election and was sworn in as Knoxville’s 69th mayor on December 21, 2019. 

The person who followed me in the Fifth District also had a lengthy political journey. While serving on the School Board, she went on to seek additional public office and eventually faced Jason Zachary in a 2015 special election for the Tennessee House of Representatives. That race ended in her loss, Zachary’s win and when her term ended, she left.  

Then there is Terry Hill. 

On May 6, 2014, Hill advanced to the general election for the Sixth District Knox County School Board seat. She won that election on August 7, 2014, and began serving on September 1. 

She was unopposed for another School Board term in 2018. 

In 2020, Hill made the transition from the School Board to the Knox County Commission, winning election to represent the Sixth District. The Knox County Commission’s own biography notes that she served on the Knox County Board of Education from 2014 through 2020 before being elected to the County Commission. 

Hill has continued serving on the Commission and has held a leadership role as Commission Chair. The Commission’s current records list her as the Sixth District Commissioner for the 2024-2028 term. It is spoken in Republican circles that Hill at 76 years old, plans to challenge State Rep. Justin Lafferty in 2028. Lafferty a young 55 years old, is Chairman of the House Government Operations Committee.

And then there is Betsy Henderson. 

Henderson won a 2020 special election to complete the remainder of Hill’s School Board term. She was subsequently elected to a full term in 2022 and served as the district 6 School Board member through August 2026. Knox County Schools records show that she also served as Board Chair from September 2023 through September 2025. 

On August 6, 2026, Henderson won the election for Knox County Mayor and has now  succeed term-limited Mayor Glenn Jacobs. 

Three women. 

Three very different political journeys. 

But there is one common thread: 

The Knox County School Board. 

Indya Kincannon went from the School Board to become Mayor of the City of Knoxville. 

Terry Hill went from the School Board to the Knox County Commission and into county commission leadership. 

Betsy Henderson went from the School Board to become Knox County Mayor. 

And that brings me back to my original thoughts. 

When I was elected in 2000, I don’t think anyone looking at the Knox County School Board would have described it as a launching pad for future mayors and county leaders. 

It was a school board. 

The issues were schools, teachers, students, budgets, buildings, curriculum, and the day-to-day challenges facing families and educators. 

But perhaps that is exactly why it mattered. 

The School Board is where elected officials learn to listen to constituents who don’t agree with them. It is where they learn to sit through long meetings, study budgets, make difficult decisions, and defend those decisions publicly. 

It is where they learn that the government isn’t just about politics. 

It’s about people. 

And perhaps most importantly, it is where someone can learn what it means to be accountable to the people who elected them. 

Looking back more than 26 years later, I find it fascinating that three women who ultimately reached some of the highest levels of local government in Knoxville and Knox County all began their political careers on that same School Board. 

Maybe the lesson isn’t that the School Board is the least powerful position. 

Maybe the lesson is that the position that appears to have the least power may actually provide one of the strongest foundations for leadership. 

You may not know where public service will eventually take you. 

You may not know which election will change the direction of your career. 

And you may not realize that the seat you are occupying today is preparing you for a responsibility you haven’t even imagined yet. 

I certainly didn’t know that when I was sworn in on September 1, 2000. 

But looking back now, I can see it. 

Sometimes the foundation is being built long before anyone realizes there is a building coming.