“Unfortunately, we’re just operating in an environment in which negative attacks, unlimited outside dark money, and unbridled tribalism is trumping — both figuratively and literally — everything else. That may sound like sour grapes, but it’s the truth.” – Will Pinkston on the trouncing of Phil Bredesen

“I am just a poor boy though my story’s seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest, hmmm” The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel

The election is over, the dust has cleared. The results are in and it’s been proven, Will Pinkston is not the smartest man in the room. I guess that title belongs to Ward Baker, as Baker led his candidate – Marsha Blackburn – to a double-digit victory in the race for Tennessee State senator. Ironically he did it by utilizing the same dark arts that Pinkston so often employs against others.

Word on the street is that many of the strategies that ended up dampening support for Bredesen – the Kavenaugh response for instance – were designed by Pinkston. That shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody when you don’t believe in anything…well you can’t relate to people that do. Obviously, that one move didn’t doom Bredesen, but when you are involved in a race that tight, there is no margin for error. In the end, Baker was just more disciplined and as a result, Pinkston’s candidate got clobbered.

The question now on everybody’s lips is, what’s next for Pinkston? A renewed interest in his job on the school board? Throughout 2018 he missed several meeting and when he did attend, he usually departed shortly after the consent agenda was read. My thoughts were that surely he’d start staying for the whole meeting now that his schedule was freed up, but if this week is any indication – he left once again shortly after the consent agenda and before the presentation on ACT scores – bad habits are hard to break.

He did come out of the gate with some policy proposals this week. The first being that the threshold for board approval on contracts be lowered from $100k to $25. This is not a new proposal. Both Jill Speering and Amy Frogge have brought it up for consideration in the past, but there was no will to pass it. Maybe now there is.

The second proposal is much more intriguing though it reeks of political gamesmanship. Pinkston proposes that Metro’s audit office hire two auditors at a 100K a clip and their sole responsibility would be to maintain constant oversite on the director’s office. Interesting, but isn’t there already an elected board that has that responsibility. To me, this is like Marcus Mariotta proposing that he continue to play quarterback but the Titans pay somebody extra to come in and throw the ball. In the words of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, “Do your job.”

In proposing the policy change, Pinkston maintains that the action is not directed at Joseph and has been a long time coming. Problem with that theory is, as fellow blogger Zac Barnes points out in his weekly Tip Sheet, Pinkston has been on the board for 6 years. If this has been a long time coming, why now? Why has he not addressed the issue in the last 6 years? After all, isn’t fiduciary oversight a large part of a board members responsibility? Hasn’t he been screaming, “underfunded district” for years? How are you going to ask people to fill the bucket if you won’t even ensure the holes are plugged?

What do I think is really going on here? I think that Pinkston is going to grasp the reins on the drive to get Joseph a contract extension. After all, as he likes to tell people, he brought Joseph here and he is his guy. This oversight proposal is the establishment of one more bulwark for Joseph. How can he be criticized for wasteful spending if he’s got two emissaries in the mayor’s office watching? Here’s a question for you though, who are those auditors going to be and how are they going to know if a proposed usage is a prudent usage? How will they identify wasteful spending? Will these two individuals be educational budget specialists?

Let’s add some things up here for a minute. We are proposing outside overview of finances. Bone McCallister is fixing the human resource department. TNTP is handling professional development. The University of Pittsburgh has the curriculum taken care of. NOAH is writing discipline policy. Am I missing anybody? So what exactly is the director handling? Why exactly are we paying him $300k plus a year?

I guess that is a question that may be answered in January when the board conducts its formative review of the director. If they conduct that review, something they didn’t do last year. Pinkston bristles at criticism of the evaluation process but last I checked, the formative review from June hasn’t even formally be completed yet. Does anybody have Baker’s number? Maybe he can get it done.

Good news is that I suspect teachers will see a proposal for a raise of about 4% in this years budget proposal. Forget that it’s the right thing to do, and remember, Pinkston is going to need to drum up some support for Joseph’s contract extension, not to mention the proposed raise that will surely come with it. This one comes straight out of the Broad Academy Handbook. Mute the criticism by buttering up the union. That creates a potential situation that is good for teachers but is it good for everybody?

All of this is admittedly speculation. Pinkston hasn’t talked to me in two years and has blocked me from his social media feeds for almost as long. Which to be honest, has been kind of nice. I do know he is a bully. A bully who just got his ass kicked, In true bully fashion, he won’t learn from the experience, but rather will look for someone else to bully. It may be charter proponents, it may be fellow board members, it may be people at the state level, it may be private citizens. Though I would be willing to bet it won’t be anybody affiliated with Ward Baker.

THERE WILL BE A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN

Yesterday Tennessee State Education Superintendent Candice McQueen announced that she’ll be stepping down after the first of the year to take a position with National Institute for Excellence in Teaching(NIET). NIST is a non-profit that focuses on attracting, developing, and keeping high-quality educators. McQueen will reportedly head up the new Nashville Office.

McQueen is personally respected by many educators across the state but issues with testing, teacher evaluations, and the heavy hand of the state burned a lot of that capital over the last several years. Per Chalkbeat, McQueen said being education commissioner has been “the honor of a lifetime” and that her new job will allow her to “continue to be an advocate for Tennessee’s teachers and work to make sure every child is in a class led by an excellent teacher every day.” While I often disagreed with her policies, I do want to thank McQueen for the class and dignity she brought to the position. A far cry from her predecessor.

Speculation now begins on who her successor will be. Several names are already up for conversation. Dorsey Hopson’s name has arisen. The current head of Shelby County schools endorsed Bill Lee in his candidacy and this could be his reward. State Senator Janice Bowling, a former teacher who supported Lee during his run is reportedly on the short list. District Superintendents Johnny McDaniel, Jason Vance, and Bill Heath are names that have come up and are all certainly qualified. In the end, Lee may choose to stay at home and promote current deputy commissioner at the state department of education, Lyle Ailshie.

There is also the very real possibility that it could turn out to be somebody not on the radar. Bill Lee is not a career politician and therefore he doesn’t have a whole lot of political relationships. That could be a good thing; or not. Time will tell.

BOARD MEETING

This past week MNPS held a board meeting.

I urge you to watch it. There is a lot of information dispersed throughout. For our purposes, I’d like to fast forward to the 1:30 mark where discussion about this years ACT scores. After the presentation board member Gini Pupo-Walker raises some good question about the difference in the achievement gap on ACT and that on EOCs. In her words, it seems as if the differences are much starker when it comes to the ACT versus the EOC. Dr. Changus doesn’t really have an answer, other than to offer cut scores as a possible culprit for the difference. He goes on the describe work being done with John Hopkins on early indicators that is proving promising.

At the 2:08 mark, board member Fran Bush lays out just how serious these scores are to her and that where we are currently should be unacceptable to everyone. She pushes Changus hard and then gives the scores for each individual high school. It’s not pretty.

At the 2:27 mark fellow board member Amy Frogge lays out her concerns that Dr. Joseph is not taking these scores serious enough. In support of that charge, she reveals that a test prep company tried to meet with Dr. Joseph in order to help improve scores and were rebuffed. Instead of talking ACT, Joseph preferred to talk about the “7 in his pocket”, referring to school board members.

Joseph denies the charge and Frogge brushes his denial aside by responding that she knows two of the people who were in the room and it was said. She then goes on to point out that Joseph has never taken the time to figure out who the players are and how they are connected. That I would argue is the central failing of this administration. They continue to try and do the work without building the relationships. Nothing is going to succeed on scale until that failing is addressed.

Following Frogge, Chair Dr. Gentry tries to defend Joseph but Frogge ain’t having any of it and tells Gentry, “I’m tired of the constant defending of the director.” Frogge goes on to make a formal request that the director stops the bad mouthing of board members at meetings with outside entities, something he seems to engage in regularly.

Once she gets the floor back, Gentry gives a classic Frogge speech circa 2015 about how test scores are influenced by trauma and poverty. The kind of speech that three years ago board members would roll their eyes at whenever Frogge would give it. Bush wasn’t having any of this either though and proceeded with a no holds barred rebuke, all done with a smile and a bless you.

Gentry and veteran school board members are clearly frustrated with Bush. Understanding her is fairly easy though. While the others are concerned with optics and politics, her only concern is teachers and students. Perhaps a little more dedication protecting those in their charge and a little self-interest would make things smoother.

One last note on the ACT numbers, as evidence of growth, Changus show black students who scored a 21 or higher growing from 20% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2018. That sounds good until you do the math. In 2017 a total of 2010 black students took the test. 20%, or 402 students, scored a 21 or higher. In 2018. less black students actually took the test, 1985. Of 1985, 20.8% scored a 21 or higher. That comes to 413 students. A difference of 11 students. Do the same math for white and Hispanic students and you get 49 and 36 more students respectively. Does that sound like exceeding expectations?

QUICK HITS

The calendar for next year was passed at the board meeting. So those who have been awaiting it to be finalized in order to make plans for next year should be able to find it on the district website soon.

MNPS has been awarded the American Heart Association’s 2018 Gold designation for Workplace Health Achievement! Check out the video to find out what is taking place to help employees get and stay healthy:

(photo by Gina Elizabeth Grimes Kelley)

The reviews are in and Overton High Schools performance of Bonnie and Clyde is a hit. You owe it to yourself to check it out. Showtimes are 7:00 Friday, Saturday, and Monday at Overton High School in the auditorium. Students get in for $5.00 with their ID- $10.00 general admission. This is adult themed.
Good luck to all these fabulous kids!!!

TEA ways in with their thoughts on who should be considered as the new state superintendent of education.

Local Blogger Vesia Hawkins has some thoughts for Bill Lee on how he should pursue education policy. Pretty solid.

I often hear people say, “I’d like to research things a bit more but don’t know where to go.” Blogger Peter Greene offers some advice and places to go.

That’s a wrap. Check out the Dad Gone Wild Facebook page. It’s a good news station. If you need to get a hold of me, the email is norinrad10@yahoo.com. Keep sending me your stuff and I’ll share as much as possible. Don’t forget to answer this week’s poll questions. If you think what I write has value, please consider supporting the work through Patreon.

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