The Anderson County school counselor saga has a much bigger, more sinister backstory | Opinion

Hundreds attended the Anderson County School Board meeting on Nov. 13— including State Sen. Adrienne Southworth — speaking in defense of the Briscoe family and against a school counselor and superintendent they seem to believe are hiding something.

But this is not a story about the school or the crowd, or even the family at the center this unfortunate controversy.

This is a story about the dark underbelly of evangelical politics, about lobbying lawmakers in the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly on a topic central to today’s GOP platform: school choice.

In a video first posted (then deleted) on the Ballard Baptist Church Facebook page, Pastor Randy Adams tells his congregation, “God is commanding us to protect our children, knowing that they are easily influenced…. Unfortunately, after the stand that we made in our community, the whole point of our stand was to say, ‘Parents shouldn’t be in the dark about what their children are doing; we shouldn’t have secrets from parents.’ And it wasn’t much longer that Brad Briscoe reached out to me.” (At the 29 minute mark).

Briscoe then shares a detailed account of what he believes to be a “romantic involvement between my daughter and this little girl,” as well as how he feels Anderson County Schools is liable for grooming his child.

I first heard Randy Adams’ name a year ago. He was an employee of Anderson County Schools. He had posted a manifesto on his Facebook page stating he would not follow Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) guidance on pronouns, writing in part, “As a Christian, I cannot call a person a gender other than their biological gender. That is a sin against God.”

Adams’ manifesto spread like a gas fire on social media, and I walked into our Oct. 17, 2022 school board meeting to find a packed house, during which David Walls, Executive Director of The Family Foundation — a man I had never seen nor heard of before — spoke out against KDE guidelines and our school administrators, followed by several citizens doing the same.

By the time the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly was in session, Adams had left his job at Anderson County Schools and was notably spending time at the Capitol with Walls, speaking with lawmakers and at rallies to push Senate Bill 150, arguably one of the most pernicious anti-trans bills in the United States.

It seems no coincidence today that, just before hundreds descended on our Nov. 13 Anderson County School Board meeting, demanding a school counselor and superintendent to be fired over the Briscoe matter, Adams suddenly appeared with Walls on a Family Foundation podcast in an episode titled, “Why Educational Freedom & School Choice Are Needed in Kentucky: On today’s episode, David and Greg are joined by Randy Adams, a former KY public school principal, who shares his powerful story of standing against KDE’s guidelines on LGBTQ pronouns. Randy is now a passionate advocate for educational freedom & school choice in Kentucky.”

After explaining how he moved his children to a Christian school, Adams says, “I want to thank The Family Foundation because you all gave me an opportunity to have a new purpose…. We advocated for Senate Bill 150.” And then Walls talks of honoring Adams, saying, “You taking a stand, Randy, taking a public stand for what was true and right, and doing it in a way that honored the Lord, really did impact, really put a face to what we were telling folks… It encouraged a lot of legislators to take a look at this issue.”

Is this not exactly what Adams is doing today, ahead of the 2024 General Assembly? Using the Briscoe family to “really put a face to” lobbying lawmakers?

If the protection of our children is the goal — Recall Pastor Adams telling his congregation, “God is commanding us to protect our children.” — where was Adams this summer when Patrick Brady, Anderson County Schools band director for more than a dozen years, “was indicted on four counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor; promoting sexual performance by a minor; third-degree rape; two counts of third-degree sodomy; first-degree sexual abuse; unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual activities; and tampering with physical evidence?”

Adams was nowhere to be found.

Where were the hundreds of alleged Christians, the folks who were all over social media for two full weeks before our Aug. 14 school board meeting, enraged, quoting Bible verses, saying they were going to show up en masse and find out how many children Brady may have groomed and abused during his tenure at Anderson County Schools?

No one showed up. Not one person spoke at that meeting.

It seems God was not so much commanding Adams to protect children this year as to search as hard as a Triple A baseball scout for just the right poster family for Walls and The Family Foundation to “really put a face to” lobbying lawmakers on the Evangelical topic du jour: School Choice.

That is not protecting children. That is wielding power purely to advance a political agenda. And it is downright shameful.

Teri Carter is a writer in Anderson County.