Mysterious Firing Of Jefferson County School System Employee Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Image Credit: David Seal

The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal]-

One school system employee was sacked recently for “passing out religious material” and another was reprimanded for “reading and discussing biblical scripture” in Jefferson County.

The personnel action leaves many questions unanswered.

School board members were advised of the employee firing and the reprimand of another during the week of October 20^th, 2025. However, certain board members were not made aware of the identity of the employee, their job title, or given any other details.

A statement from Dr. Tommy Arnold to the Jefferson County School Board, delivered via a group text message, described the personnel action which reads as follows: “Wanted to inform you that I have fired one employee for passing out religious material during the school day to students and another employee has been reprimanded for reading and discussing biblical scripture to students during school day in the last two weeks. This is abnormal as in my 7 years at central office we have not had these type of issues to address with employees.”

The group text was obtained by the Tennessee Conservative News through a formal records request. 

In a separate records request, a copy of the religious materials that led to the firing of the employee was requested. Jefferson County Schools responded by stating as follows: “No such record(s) exists or this office does not maintain record(s) responsive to your request.”

The firing comes on the heels of a school board discussion of commencing their meetings with a personal prayer. At the September School Board Work Session, one board member requested to offer a prayer at the beginning of the meeting but was reminded that school system policy did not permit prayer at board meetings, only a moment of silence.

To the dismay of liberal school board attorneys and progressive school system administrators, an effort is under way to restore religious freedom in Tennessee Public Schools such that school boards would have the statutory authority to open meetings with prayer.

Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions favor religious freedom with respect to public education.

For background on the issue, a TTC news report is linked HERE.

The Tennessee Conservative News has reached out to Jefferson County Schools with a list of questions concerning the personnel action that include the following topics: job title, school assigned to, parent notice, length of investigation, list of district policies violated, number of students affected, and description of religious materials.

As of our publication deadline, those questions remain unanswered. A follow-up report will be published, provided additional information is released by Jefferson County Schools.

About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and past Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.