When King George County School Board Chair David Bush wanted to assure concerned community members that books containing sexually explicit material were locked away and required parental approval, he called on the Rev. Sherman Davis.
Davis, the longtime pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in King George, routinely uses his three minutes of public comment time at the county’s school board and board of supervisors meetings to recite scripture.
In this case, Davis said Bush attempted to assure him students at King George Middle School had no access to the two most recently challenged books unless their parents gave the OK to check them out.
“I said, ‘How do you know that’s happening?’” Davis recalled. “I’m not suggesting [Superintendent Jesse Boyd] is a liar. He told you this, but how do you know it happened?’”
Davis suggested Bush head to the school to investigate the process, but the board chair declined to do so. According to Davis, Bush didn’t want to fracture his close relationship with the superintendent.
Instead, Bush encouraged Davis to join Boyd, board member Cathy Hoover and Principal Casey Nice to explore the process. No librarians or other school staff were invited.
With the King George School Board planning to vote Monday on an appeal of the checkout process and potentially remove two books from the library altogether, some in the county are questioning Davis’ degree of involvement in decision-making.
And they are wondering aloud if faith leaders should have that level of influence in the school division.
“I am certainly not a fan of the level of reach that he tries to have to try to influence the schools,” former school board representative Carrie Gonzalez said.
At the Aug. 5 school board meeting when the books “Sold” and “ttfn” were discussed as targets of removal from the division, one resident noted that Davis’ church states on its website that it believes the state should not be involved in its affairs —before asserting that his church is heavily involved in school and government business.
Davis’ son William Davis is a first-year member of the board of supervisors, representing the Dahlgren District. William Davis’ wife, Colleen Davis, meanwhile, is the Dahlgren representative on the school board.
“I believe they’re trying to take over the county,” said Katy Evans, the chair of the county’s Democratic committee. “They preach at both the board of supervisors and the school board meetings, and they pushed out the non-partisan people. The [2023] election was completely partisan … King George is essentially going backwards.”
A ‘pistol-packing’ preacher
Evans said many in the community call Rev. Davis a “pistol-packing Pentecostal preacher.” William Davis said the only untrue part of that statement is that his dad is not Pentecostal.
Rev. Davis, 76, said his family is also not politically motivated.
William Davis said neither of his parents are politicians, and the last thing he wanted to do was run for the board of supervisors. However, he believed it was necessary because the county “was getting out of hand” particularly with growth.
“They both ran for office and got elected,” Rev. Davis said of William and Colleen Davis. “Nobody knew for a long time he is my son. He ran and got 60% of the vote … My daughter-in-law ran unopposed. If they wanted somebody else in there, they should’ve run.”
Rev. Davis said being a Christian does not mean he loses his right to speak out about issues concerning public education and other county business. In his mind, government and God cannot be separated because God created government. He said part of a Christian’s belief system is that they are the “salt of the earth” and should make their presence known in every aspect of life.
To William Davis, the separation of church and state means that the government cannot make a law respecting an establishment of religion.
“If you can tell me one thing in [the Bill of Rights] where it protects the government from the people, let me know,” William Davis said. “Everything in there protects the people from the government, and the church is the biggest part of that.”
William Davis said the only time he works directly with his wife in county affairs is during budget season, and that was a source of contention in their marriage: she wanted more funds for the schools than the supervisors were willing to give.
Rev. Davis said despite what people are saying about his influence in schools and government, he only holds one vote.
“I’m just one voice, like John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness,” he said. “When I face an issue, I ask myself, ‘What would Jesus have me to do?’, and ‘What would Jesus do?’ I don’t think He would be for these books with the children. My duty as a citizen, and not just as a Christian is to say, ‘This is wrong.’ I ought to have a voice to say ‘This is wrong’ no matter who I am.”
Rev. Davis said he initially became concerned about the direction of King George’s schools when he learned from the county woman who initiated the book challenges that a gay couple called the “Gardening Gays” spoke to a first-grade class at a county elementary school about farming and let the students know they are married.
He said he attempted to read the two books in question, but said it triggered previous trauma in his life regarding pornography. Three of Davis’ siblings had issues with pornography, he said, and two died by suicide while one went to prison for 40 years after being convicted of rape and murder.
“I got saved at 24 years old. I left drugs and alcohol alone. So, I know what Christ can do for a person,” Rev. Davis said. “The heart of the problem is the heart of the man, and a man’s heart is desperately wicked. He wants evil. That’s why people do not want God in politics because He is moral. They want to take God out of it.”
Book challenges spark emotions
After the school board implemented the process to lock away certain titles at the middle school and require parental approval for checkout, the county resident who first challenged the books filed an appeal.
Bush said if she wins the appeal, the board must then decide whether to completely remove the books from schools or find another solution. If she loses the appeal, the process will remain the same.
The 2006 novel “Sold” by Patricia McCormick, focuses on a girl from Nepal sold into sex slavery. Lauren Myracle’s 2005 young adult novel “ttfn” is written in the form of an instant messaging conversation, and critics contend that it is unsuitable for schools because of offensive language and sexually explicit content.
At the Aug. 5 meeting, several residents spoke in favor of keeping the books in the middle school library.
Bush said since that meeting two weeks ago, he’s read both books but isn’t willing to share his opinion of them until Monday’s meeting. He implored all board members to read the books so they can make an informed decision.
Evans said she read the books and contends that they contain “zero pornography.” She also questioned why the book challenger has not been present at the three most recent meetings at which the issue was discussed. Gonzalez is also not in favor of removing the books completely, or any other changes that could come about from the challenger winning the appeal.
She is alarmed that along with Davis, Bush is pushing a “religious agenda” into the school division.
“He’s the one that unilaterally decided to open the meetings with prayer before the school board had even collectively agreed,” Gonzalez said. “David Bush’s advocacy, in my opinion, is why Sherman Davis is such a presence. It’s encouraged.”
Gonzalez said she is concerned that, if Bush remains on the school board, a religious agenda will “proliferate and grow because that’s essentially his priority.”
She noted that while Bush boasts 28 years of experience in education, retiring as a high school principal, he also spent many years as a religious missionary, helping to establish Christian churches in non-Christian communities — including in Africa.
Bush said he is careful not to mix his personal views on religion with school business, asserting that he would allow the invocational prayer to be done by any church leader regardless of religion. He said he has yet to receive a request from an official at a “mosque or temple” in the county.
“I think that every person of any faith, no matter what that faith may be, probably walks a line as far as their public responsibilities and their private responsibilities,” Bush said. “I try to make a clear line that what I do with my life and what I do with the people that are around me and my family, that is something that is important to me.
“Now am I trying to push my agenda onto the teachers and this whole county as far as me being the chairman of the school board? The answer is ‘no.’ I’m not pushing anything.”
Church hosts political events
Bush is an Elder at Thrive Christian Fellowship, which holds its services at King George Elementary School. He joined Pioneer Bible Translators eight years ago and serves as an advisor with its Scripture Impact Team.
“I’m never going to deny that I am a Christian, and I serve Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior,” Bush said.
Bush is not the only local official with close ties to Rev. Davis. In addition to his son and daughter-in-law, Rev. Davis said King George Interim County Attorney Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland) and others have been parishioners at his church, which consists of approximately 400 members and accommodates two services.
The church has hosted forums for Democratic and Republican candidates in the past. It is also a regular meeting location for the King George Tea Party, which is a mixture of libertarian, right-wing populist and conservative activism.
Rev. Davis said he is not a member of the Tea Party but attends meetings regularly, especially when they’re held at his church.
“I only vote Republican because they’re conservative,” Rev. Davis said. “If the independents had someone conservative, I would consider it. I’m for state more than federal government.”
Rev. Davis remembers being taken aback when he spoke at a school board meeting and residents told him he may be out of line because there should be a separation of church and state. He said if he’s ever crossed that line, he is unaware of it. And if Davis’s detractors were looking to keep him away, the outcry produced the opposite result; it prompted him to return to another meeting and provide a lesson on civics.
“I said to myself, ‘Surely, they don’t believe that separation of church and state means I lost my citizenship, and because I’m a Christian, I can’t say anything anymore,’” Davis said.
Davis said he will continue to speak out, especially when something is, in his opinion, “wicked.”
He plans to speak at Monday’s school board meeting about the challenged books. One of his concerns is that if they remain in the school, a student with parental permission can share it with one who does not have permission. He also said books are not being “banned” even if they are removed from the library.
“It’s not about banning. I’m against banning books,” Davis said. “You can go to another library and get the book. You can go online and order the book. The school has a policy on peanut butter because there are so many kids with allergies. So, is peanut butter banned? No. You can eat it in the car. You can eat it at home. You just can’t have it at school.”
