“A talent for following the ways of yesterday’, declared King Wu-ling in 307 BC, ‘is not sufficient to improve the world of today.”
― Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

This week marks the anniversary of the Covenant School Shooting. Ironically, once again this week, Nashville was struck by the senseless death of a child from a gun.

According to Channel 4 News, it was around 10 p.m. on Saturday at their Edgehill Avenue apartment. The child’s mother, DeAnn Radley, says she was searching for her keys in her purse. During the search, the unholstered pistol inside her bag went off, killing her 13-year-old daughter.

“I didn’t know my gun was loaded in my purse and shot through my bag,” Radley said. “Then I saw the blood and oh God…”

Words can not describe the depth of this tragedy. Yet, it’s barely made. blip on the radar in a city getting ready to commemorate a school shooting that took 6 lives.

In the wake of the Covenant shooting, there was a mass call for changes in gun laws, most targeted at semi-automatic weapons. However, the sad truth is the children who die from guns, most die from handguns and not semi-automatic weapons.

Nobody’s talking about changing handgun regulations.

Many years ago, I was running a club and ownership tried to get me to carry. I told them no. if I had a gun, one of two things were likely to happen, and I wasn’t comfortable with either. I’m still not.

It could be argued that the mother’s decision to carry a gun just reached its logical conclusion. The intent of carrying a gun is to accept the fact that you are ultimately planning to shoot someone. It is never imagined, that it will be a loved one that will bear the repercussions of that decision.

My heart does go out to the mother of 14-year-old Dearria Radley. I can’t imagine the grief she will carry for the rest of her life.

I’m always torn about new gun legislation when we fail to adequately enforce the laws we have now and pass others that make it easier to carry a pistol. At some point as adults, we have to be smarter with our decisions.

This story did not have to end this way.  have to be this way.

– – –

With annual TCAP testing just weeks away from starting, the Tennessee Department of Education has finally gotten around to releasing the State Report Card using data from last year’s TCAP testing. Mind you; it’s only almost 6 months late.

“The updated State Report Card shares powerful data about Tennessee’s public schools and districts, and importantly, empowers families and local communities with information to help them best advocate for students and their public schools,” said Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds.

Commissioner Reynolds went on to tell reporters that the Report Cards would have been issued earlier but she left them on her desk in Texas and…okay, I’m making this last part up.

What is not made up is the fact that data included in the report card, at this juncture, is useless.

The purpose of standardized testing is to measure where kids are at, and then make adjustments through programming and instruction. It’s hypothetical a safeguard to ensure that schools are fully serving students. So how do adjust or hold accountable schools, when in less than 3 weeks students will be assessed based on knowledge they’ve gotten through instruction over the last year?

The simple answer is, you can’t.

Lawmakers and advocates spend a great deal of time sparring over fiducial integrity when it comes to taxpayer money.

In her pursuit of a revised state report, Reynolds conducted 10 town halls, convened 4 or 5 stakeholder groups, and consulted with various others., Additional money had to go to designers, analysts, and data entry specialists. In all likelihood, this endeavor probably cost in the millions.

To what end?

Reynolds and her, admittedly understaffed department, just devoted an inordinate amount of resources to producing reports that are ultimately nothing but a footnote.

And nobody cares.

It’s just one more failure in a litany of failures by Tennessee’s new State Education Commissioner. But you know who loves her?

Her old boss at ExCellinEd, Patricia Levesque. The Jeb Bush-founded education policy advocacy group is just one of the outside organizations fighting to bring Governor Lee’s voucher bill to fruition.

“Lizzette Reynolds is a strong state education commissioner with some of the longest-running experience in leadership within a state education agency,” Levesque told The Tennessean. “We are proud to work with her on issues of importance to Tennessee families.”

Yeah, so much wrong with that statement and more people are catching on.

There are growing rumblings that maybe it would be best if the Texas bureaucrat returned to her roots. That’ll probably happen in the next 6 – 9 months, but again, to what end?

Reynolds would likely be replaced by another commissioner culled from the same herd. It’s not by accident that all four of the recent Tennessee Education Commissioners have been drawn from the ranks of a Jeb Bush-created education policy non-profit. The former Florida Governor is the brains behind both Chiefs for Change and ExcellinED. The latter was the recent home of Commissioner Reynolds. The former produced her three predecessors.

Nobody just walks away from that kind of access and influence. They are going to do everything in their power to retain that status. For Tennesseans, that translates to more of the same. Unless the state gets a better Governor.

Complicating things is that the TDOE has a staffing problem, as hardly anybody works there anymore. Attracting quality is going to be difficult, because who wants to go to a place where the Governor is a lame duck, and nobody knows who the next governor will be?

Not a single high-quality candidate thinks they are going to expose their family to that kind of risk while having no idea whether any of their initiatives carry over after the pending leadership transition.

The best we can hope for is that Lizzettee recognizes her shortcomings, and heads back to Texas.

Sam Pearcy is given the keys to the car, and instructions not to wreck it further. That’s assuming Pearcy will even do it.

A New Governor comes in, and we get somebody competent.

And to think we are paying Reynolds about $20K more a year than the previous train wreck, Penny Schwinn.

– – –

The never-dull Tennessee drive to universal vouchers had some interesting twists this week.

On Monday Governor Lee publicly announced that he wasn’t interested in paying for the condiments designed to ease the eating of his shit sandwich. I’ll let the Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET) Executive Director, J.C. Bowman, explain:

The updated budget proposal by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee includes over $350 million more than originally proposed for retroactive franchise tax refunds. However, it does not allocate any funds for the public school benefits included in the House version of the statewide school choice program. The budget amendment reflects the administration’s position on key legislation, including the governor’s voucher bill. The higher amount for restructuring the state’s franchise tax and offering retroactive refunds aims to address potential legal risks in how the tax is calculated on businesses. 

There are differences between the House and Senate versions of the school choice legislation, with the House version including more funding for teacher health insurance benefits and school building infrastructure and maintenance. It also proposes changes to teacher and principal evaluations and standardized testing requirements. However, the administration does not support the House’s proposed $250 million in new public school benefits in the budget proposal. The final decision on these proposals will be made by the committee and the General Assembly.

Lawmakers could still allocate additional funds for public schools, but they would need to do so from other areas of the budget. The omission of funding for public school benefits may complicate negotiations on the final version of the bill, particularly when trying to convince Senators who support their own version of the legislation. 

Overall, the budget amendment reduces total state spending by approximately $10 billion, a decrease of about 16% from the previous year. This reduction is mainly due to the end of federal COVID-19 aid. The budget amendment also includes funding for various other items, such as Jillian’s Law, mental health screenings for defendants, the TN Entertainment Commission’s Film Incentive Fund, volunteer firefighter equipment grants, grants for nonprofits, the TN Economic and Community Development Department’s Nuclear Development Fund, infrastructure improvements, and additional funding for the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

In other words, Lee’s not paying for those enticements included in the House version of the voucher bill. Lawmakers are free to pick up the check, but they have to look somewhere other than him for the money.

So does that mean those enticements will be stripped out of the house version?

Not necessarily, Some of the stuff, like teacher evaluations, doing away with fourth-grade retention, and decreasing testing, probably doesn’t cost much.

That can’t be said about giving extra cash through TISA to rural schools and increasing the state portion of health coverage for teachers. Those carry the majority of the added costs for the amendment and are likely at risk.

I think one of two things influenced Lee in his decision to not fund the added costs.

One, he decided that the condiments weren’t spicing up the meal enough, so he said forget it.

Or, two, he figures he has the votes, and she doesn’t mind serving up a dry shit sandwich.

Despite the public posturing, I’m not sure he has the votes without at least a little ketchup and mustard.

At least not in the House. Senate could fall short as well.

The bill’s progression through the State Senate has been a relatively quiet one. Their version is the most similar to Governor Lee’s. Two major differences are, the pathways for students to attend a public school outside of their district and that money for vouchers be drawn from the state’s school funding formula (TISA).

On the latter, Senate Education Chair State Senator John Lundberg (R-Bristol) has been adamant in his opposition to creating a separate funding stream for vouchers. If the Governor insists on his version, will Lundberg continue to be a supporter? If not, does the bill even pass out of the Senate?

Neither version of the bill is expected to be heard in their respective bodies’ finance committees until after the Easter holiday.

So we’ll just have to continue watching, waiting, and anticipating.

Quick side note, even though it wasn’t on the agenda at Wednesday’s Education Administration meeting the topic did come up.

State Representative Tim Hicks (R-Gray) is running a bill that would suspend the 4th-grade portion of the state’s retention law. The language in the proposed bill has been adopted into the House voucher bill. Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) asked Hick’s committee to have his bill on the desk until the fate of the voucher bill was determined.

Representative Brian Richey (R-Maryville) asked if the retention language was included in the State Senate’s version of the voucher bill. It is not, and as such could be stricken in consultation, leaving the law on 4th-grade retention unaltered. The Senate does have a version of Hick’s bill, but it limits suspension of retention to two years.

Hick’s bill passed out of committee unanimously with no concessions from Rep. Hicks. In listening to the conversation, I’d say, there are still some Republican legislators that are not enamored with the voucher bill.

– – –

Word on the street is that Metro Nashville Public Schools Chief of Students Support Resources Michelle Springer has retired from MNPS. Her replacement is slated to be long-time MNPS administrator Elisa Norris, who has been doing the job on an interim basis. According to her MNPS bio:

Dr. Elisa Norris, Chief of Student Support Services, previously served as MNPS’s Executive Officer of Strategy and Performance. Prior to joining MNPS, she worked in Hamilton County Schools, Shelby County Schools, Sharon Public Schools, and Cambridge Public Schools as an organizational consultant and has more than 20 years in public education. In MNPS, she has led districtwide initiatives that have resulted in greater collaboration between the Support Hub and schools. Dr. Norris’s expertise in building these strategic systems across departments and schools has resulted in improved academic and SEL outcomes for students. She coaches executive leaders in how to lead people, manage operations, and monitor processes to achieve sustained results and promote collective efficacy. Dr. Norris has a doctorate in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University.

Sounds good right?

Here’s the rub. Norris has never served as an educator. Not one day in the classroom, yet part of her job will be supporting teachers, principals, and students in dealing with discipline issues.Might be helpful to know what those look like in practice, as opposed to theory.

In the aforementioned districts, she served mostly as a consultant. Her introduction to district work came through her father Bob Norris, a long-term consultant to former Hamilton County and Nashville Superintendent Jesse Register.

According to the TDOE Compass, she does not have a teaching license, an administrator license, or a superintendent license.

It is a case of history repeating itself. In 2017, News5 reporter Phil Williams did a story on MNPS having unlicensed administrators.  It seems that despite a change in leadership, habits haven’t changed.

It is also worth noting that former district superintendent Shawn Joseph was criticized for having 5 Chiefs in his cabinet. With the addition of new Co-Chief Financial Officer Jorge Robles, Dr. Adrienne Battle is now up to 10 Chiefs drawing a salary of roughly $200K a piece. Of. the 10, Only 2 are state-licensed educators.

The plan is for Robles to go through this year’s budget process with current Chief Chris Henson, and then assume sole possession of the Financial Chief position. Henson will then assume the new created position of Chief of Special Projects to ensure recent initiatives continue to bear fruit.

This is information gathered through internal communications, The district, while updating its website has yet to release an official announcement.

Jorge Robles previously served as the Chief Finance and Operations Officer for Tulsa Public Schools, and when he worked for the Denver Public Schools he oversaw the English acquisition department. Robles holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from The Broad Center, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BS in Agriculture Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His career also spans 15 years in the private sector, where he gained valuable experience in financial services, marketing, business development, and client relations.

Interestingly, former MNPS board members Amy Frogge and Jill Speering fought very hard to keep the Broad influence from seeping into the district, and now a Broad graduate sits in the Superintendent’s cabinet.

Go figure.

– – –

Sticking with things heard around town, some parents are talking about errors with the recently completed school choice lottery process. A process overseen by yet another high-ranking district official without an educator’s license, Ashford Hughes.

Looking at a document produced by a parent FOI request shows a larger than usual place offering for three [articular schools. All three of the impacted schools have transitioned to housing grades 6-8 as opposed to 5-8. So while the number of seats offered is comparable to last year’s offerings, they don’t take into account the existing seats where there were none in the previous year.

Short term, the problem can be mitigated by utilizing recently vacated seats and hiring more teachers, but that doesn’t take into account the impact on other district schools. Several MNPS middle schools are projected to potentially fall below an enrollment of 300 students.

There are also problems upstream, as Meigs is a feeder school to Hume-Fogg with guaranteed admittance. Arguably, if the class holds together it will present space challenges for the Magnet HS.

All of this comes as MNPS plans to move 7th and 8th graders out of MLK, one of the most diverse and high-performing schools in the district, back to Head Middle School against the wishes of the parents. I don’t know about you, but I see several potential headaches.

Hughes tends to spend a fair amount of time on the X, talking about equity issues, while the choice program becomes increasingly inequitable. Maybe fewer tweets and a little more focus would be helpful?

Ironically, it’s some of the city’s staunchest supporters of public education who are most concerned about the potential mistakes.

– – –

Closing with some more gossip. There seems to be some interest in extending Dr. Battle’s contract even though her current one has two years remaining.

I can see the logic of getting that done before a new board gets established, especially since a couple of her staunchest supporters are rolling off. Newer members may be less enamored.

Of course, the reason being given is that Dr. Battle has some serious suitors, and we need to keep her here. I can’t remember a single superintendent in the history of superintends who wasn’t purportedly being courted for outside employment going into their contract years.

I can also count on one hand the number of superintendents who left before the expiration of their contract for another position unless they knew the board wasn’t renewing them.

It would also be helpful to have a new contract in place before a settlement or judgment comes in for several lawsuits facing the district. These lawsuits, brought forth by MNPS administrators, could cost the city millions. Dr. Battle is a prime player in these legal actions.

Hopefully, this is all just chatter and we’ll get to the contract when appropriate.

– – –

As always, I need to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.

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Categories: Education