Image Credit: Heritage High School & Google Earth
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is set to investigate Blount County Schools amidst an ongoing effort to dismiss tenured Blount County special education teacher Kathryn “Katie” Goins, for sexual misconduct.
Blount County Director of Schools Justin Ridge officially brought charges of dismissal against Goins last Thursday.
These charges include incompetence, inefficiency, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct and insubordination related to allegations dating back over at least the last five years.
Goins has worked for Blount County Schools since 2010 when she was hired as an instructional assistant for the Comprehensive Development Classroom for Intellectually Disabled (CDCI) program at Union Grove Middle School.
She was hired as a special education teacher for that CDCI program in 2016.
According to Ridge, a human resources audit from winter of 2024 revealed files of a “sexual nature” regarding Goins going back over the last 10 years.
Ridge added that the current human resources supervisor stated she did not know about a previous case against Goins from 2020 until she pulled the paper file for the 2024 audit which did not show that local law enforcement had ever been notified.
The documents do show, however, that Goins has allegedly been inappropriate around and abusive towards her special education students on various occasions over the years.
According to a report from one instructional assistant, the previous investigation was compromised by Goins’ mother, a secretary at Union Grove Middle School at the time, who was allegedly present and watched each assistant being interviewed.
An instructional assistant emailed Union Grove Middle School Principal John Webb in August of 2020 with “urgent and confidential” concerns about Goins which led to an investigation into her conduct.
At the time, Goins was accused by another staff member of physically subduing students, forcefully yanking, pulling and pushing them around.
Goins allegedly called students “booty-hole,” yelled at her students, told one student “I hate you too!” and intimidated a student by saying that his dad would spank him.
She was also accused of playing with and shaking her hair in a manner that allegedly caused a male student to become sexually aroused. This allegedly took place over 50 times and Goins was allegedly told by co-workers that her behavior was wrong.
Goins was also accused of touching a student’s genitals and other areas, with one instructional assistant saying that Goins was not using “proper bathroom techniques” with the student.
Another report alleged that Goins was witnessed encouraging a student to masturbate and ordered an instructional assistant to “clean it up.”
Goins also allegedly locked herself in the bathroom with a student without another adult present.
One report states that Goins would tell the present instructional assistant that they should technically go in the bathroom together but that they didn’t need to because her “dad was on the school board.”
Fred Goins resigned from the Blount Count Board of Education in February of 2025 after decades of service.
After the August 2020 investigation into Goins, she was transferred to Heritage High School.
Heritage Principal Jed West has stated that he did not know about the investigation or the allegations against Goins that led to the transfer. West is in support of Ridge pursuing the issue.
Goins was granted tenure by the board of education in January 2022.
Once the case against Goins was reopened, she was notified on May 9th of this year that she was being placed on administrative leave.
On May 26th Goins was suspended without pay dependent on the results of an investigation into the allegations of inappropriate conduct. Her pay will stop on June 30th.
Blount County Schools leadership has come out against the improper handling of the 2020 case, calling the previous leadership administration’s failure to take appropriate disciplinary action a mistake.
“Although I was not in the role as director of schools in 2020, I am here now,” said Ridge. “I will lead with honesty, integrity, and a commitment to do what is right.”
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services also now has an open investigation into the issue.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
Why are the folks that knew about this behavior years ago and even wrote reports, not being invisagated for not reporting her and others, activities to law enforcement? One reason is that the Blount County good ole boy system would not allow it. Glad to see the TBI involved!
Lucifer’s own dimmercrap ejikater.