[Editor’s Note: A Rutherford County judge dismissed the charges against Mr. Williams on Feb. 4, 2022].
Did you know that registered sex offenders are allowed to pick their children up from school, but that certain other parents have been banned from doing just that?
In fact, after picking up his 7-year-old son from school in November, one Murfreesboro parent was arrested. Adam Williams, lifelong resident of Rutherford County, was arrested by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office within 24 hours of picking his child up from school in early November 2021. Williams alleges that the arrest is retaliation for a formal complaint that he filed on Blackman Elementary Principal Cynthia Ford, and this is not the only time someone in Rutherford County government retaliated against Williams for speaking his mind.
Williams home schooled his son during the 2020–21 school year after his son’s religious exemption for the mask mandate was denied. By April of 2021, knowing he could no longer continue to home school his son because of the burden it was placing on him and his wife, Williams did what most parents never get around to—he began attending county school board meetings. The first meeting he went to, Adam was denied entry. The school district had imposed a mask mandate and Williams was forced to watch the meeting from his cellphone while standing on the sidewalk outside—almost certainly a violation of state and federal laws. (In May, the school system dropped the mask mandate.)
After pressure from outside groups and a surge in the “Delta variant,” the school board called two meetings and were once again voting on the mask issue. Williams isn’t one who enjoys public speaking, so he simply brought a poster that said “Forced Masking Is Child Abuse.” The mask mandate passed, despite an overwhelming turnout of people who were against it, albeit this one had a slight difference—parents could opt their children out. The Williams family immediately opted their son out and within a few days their 7-year-old was sent home from school because he was demonstrating “COVID symptoms.”
There was just one problem: Williams’ son only had one of the two required symptoms listed. The boy agrees he had a headache, but he swears he never vomited. At this time, quarantine guidelines were different for masked children compared to those who had been opted out. Adam was forced to stay home from work for 10 days with his son, who did not have COVID.
When the school finally allowed the student to return, Williams went to discuss the situation with the school nurse and principal. This is when he says the principal became belligerent with him. He says her behavior was so unprofessional that at one point he had to take a step back and ask her to get out of his face—all of this unfolded in front of his 7-year-old son.
Williams then began looking for a way to file a formal complaint on the principal, and after several weeks he discovered that these complaints are handled solely by the Director of Education. He went through with the complaint process the week of Oct. 20. That same week Principal Ford was walking to her car when Williams was picking his son up from the after-school program. When she made what he felt was a sarcastic remark, Williams informed her that he’d filed a formal complaint against her regarding the behavior she exhibited several weeks prior. At that point Principal Ford said “it don’t matter” and then stopped engaging. Two days later the principal drafted a letter banning him from school property (which she has the discretion to do). The letter threatened him with aggravated criminal trespassing should he set foot on school property. There was just one problem here: the school sent this letter to his ex-wife’s address, where Williams has never lived.
So on Nov. 3, when Williams arrived at Blackman Elementary School to pick up his son, he was told he needed to leave. When he asked why he was told to “read his letter”—a letter that he did not know existed. He said as much, and insisted that he was going to pick up his son like he had “every day for the last three months,” and proceeded to walk into the cafeteria where the sign-out sheet is located. He signed his son out and while leaving he encountered Principal Ford.
Williams asked if there was anything he needed to be made aware of, and asked what letter he should have received. Instead of communicating, Principal Ford ignored him and proceeded to call the police. Williams waited in the parking lot for the police, who very calmly figured out that the letter had been sent to the wrong address and informed him he had now formally trespassed. Williams thanked the police officer and immediately left the property, now with a new problem: figuring out how to get his son to and from school without setting foot on the property. This is all recorded on video.
The next day, two Rutherford County Sheriff’s detectives arrived at Williams’ home and placed him under arrest for “persons improperly on school premises.” Williams spent approximately six hours in jail, had to post a $1,000 bond, and has had to retain an attorney. He’s not allowed to pick his child up from the after-school program; he has not had a response to the formal complaint filed in October; Open Records requests are still going unanswered. Even more concerning, one of Williams’ longtime friends says he was contacted by the FBI regarding the matter.
Williams’ court date is set for Feb. 22; his attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the charges prior to that court date (that is the latest in this rapidly developing situation, as of presstime).
You might ask, how do I know so much about this situation? Well, I have been documenting every bit of it. There is evidence, including video, recorded phone calls, and emails supporting every single statement.
To stay up to date with Adam’s story as it unfolds, as well as other corruption taking place across the state of Tennessee, visit linktr.ee/patriotpunknetwork to follow the Patriot Punk Network on social media.
