VOICES OF BLOUNT COUNTY
Reflections on character, service, and community.
Leadership is never built alone. It is shaped by teachers, faith leaders, mentors, business owners, neighbors, colleagues, and friends who invest in a person long before public service is ever considered.
Voices of Blount County brings together reflections from those who have walked that journey with me, alongside essays addressing the responsibilities and principles of county government. Some entries are personal. Some are policy-focused. All are grounded in character, conviction, and a deep commitment to the people of Blount County. I am grateful to serve and call this community home.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
WE RAISED HIM WELL
By Mrs. Bobbi Briggs, Mrs. Cynthia Freeman, Mrs. Sarah Williams, and Mrs. Denise Vogado
Retired Educators, Maryville City Schools
The year was 1985. The school was Maryville Middle School. The new school year (1985–86) was set to begin. Teachers arrived. The English Department was set with its veterans: Denise Vogado, Bobbi Briggs, and Sarah Williams. Other departments set up shop as well — bulletin boards, rules run off in purple ink from the copying machine, seating charts, textbooks counted. Let’s say we were set in our educational ways, knowing what to expect, feeling secure in our roles. Then up pops a new, young male teacher with a broad smile pasted upon his face that wouldn’t budge. He was light in step, actually bopping around, full of new-teacher energy. When he met the ladies of the English Department, he called us “Miss” and answered us “yes ma’am” and “no ma’am” with that stationary smile and bright, rounded eyes, looking as if they were about to explode with excitement. We hadn’t seen a new one in a few years — or not one like this. Homegrown, already a Maryville diehard. His enthusiasm even budged the ladies of the English Department to smile a little broader (even before Christmas). As he had no books to deal with (he was to teach PE), he immediately offered to help us count, load, and stack books in our classrooms. We could not deny that his presence put a little bounce in our own steps. He even made those long teachers’ meetings more endurable, as we all wanted to be the first to spot his face when the smile faded, the eyes grew heavy, and the head dropped from exhaustion — but it never happened. He was like the Energizer Bunny.
As the year moved onward to Valentine’s Day, the MMS Y-Teens began a fundraiser — selling Valentine messages to be delivered during last period to a secret or not-so-secret Valentine. One of us English teachers was the Y-Teen sponsor. It didn’t take long for Brett to approach, inquiring about the Valentine messages. We assumed he was volunteering to help deliver them. He was always volunteering to help us. He really had too much energy. But no — he wanted to send a Valentine to the young, cute, single, Vandy graduate Maria Cardona, who taught 8th grade PE. Furthermore, he didn’t want to send a silly middle school Valentine message. He wanted poetry — poetry only a seasoned English teacher could provide (that was way before AI).
This began a secret society of English teachers helping Brett in his courting days. We would write poetry; he would slip it to Maria. Soon, we advanced to the first date — and insisted he take her to the Regas Restaurant in Knoxville. That was the beginning of a fine romance. As their relationship blossomed, the secret poetry society of English teachers became more intense. The day came when all the attention the English teachers once received transferred to Maria — and that was OK with us; we were getting tired. We couldn’t keep up.
In no time, it seemed, the two romantics were engaged. We teachers gave a wedding shower for Maria, where we shared marriage advice but never revealed we were the poetry writers. We let her keep believing Brett was the love poet. After their marriage, Brett transferred to Maryville High School, as did one of the English teachers. Never did he lose his smile nor his enthusiasm for teaching and guiding young people.
Brett went on to rise through the ranks at Maryville High School, from teacher to administrator. Even though he left the middle school, the teacher poets had a mole at the high school. Cynthia Freeman, who had been librarian when Brett was a student at Maryville Middle, was now at the high school. In fact, she was the first to mold Brett into the young man entering the wide world of MHS. How? He was her library assistant as an eighth grader. She said his energy level had not tapered off, nor had his humor or his work ethic. Sarah Williams also joined Cynthia at the high school, just in the nick of time, because now there were anniversaries that needed love poetry. Today, the English teacher secret poetry society has all retired, and even our fledgling young Maryville Middle School PE teacher has joined them.
What has not changed, though, is Brett’s energy. He is still the Energizer Bunny. He still carries his love of family, friends, and community. Now he is ready to bring that same enthusiasm and steady leadership to the community he loves, the community where he grew up, and the community where he guided so many young students into adulthood. Yes, we English teachers raised him well. We take full credit.
A Lifetime of Learning — A Lifetime of Service
By Dr. Penny B. Ferguson
Retired Educator, Maryville City Schools
To the Citizens of Blount County:
The short of it is that my name is Dr. Penny Ferguson, and I feel compelled to voice my confidence in Brett Coulter as he endeavors to continue his service to the betterment of the people of his beloved home.
The long of it is that I believe I know something about enthusiastic, dedicated commitment. Near the beginning of my 54 years in the classroom, Brett was one of my students. I have never known a time during our long acquaintance when I did not feel his unwavering support for my efforts in the classroom.
When, in his role as an administrator, Brett came to my classroom to speak of his experience as a student, it became clear to me that we held closely some of the same values. I think Brett and I believe that a solid exposure to American literature, and thereby to American history, along with a nurturing of the ability to speak and to write concisely about these topics, helps develop and polish individuals to become organized, informed, thoughtful, and skilled young people who are learning how to learn and can be of greater value to themselves and to the people around them.
Over my tenure as a classroom teacher, I have taught many members of the Coulter family, and I am pleased to be able to call them friends as well. Whether it is from family influence, association with a family business, or simply built into his DNA, Brett tends to see the whole of Blount County as his extended family. After all, a vast number of Blount Countians have been touched by the Coulter family through births, celebrations, special occasions, proms, and all the way to final arrangements.
It is my belief that Brett is immensely proud of Blount County and is dedicated to the service of its citizens.
Sincerely,
Dr. Penny B. Ferguson
Thought Leadership
“The County Mayor Is a CEO, Not a Legislator”
03- 06-2026 | By By Brett Coulter
“Blount County needs executive leadership focused on managing government effectively, not legislative experience alone.”