This Contract, by and between the State of Tennessee, TN Department of Education (“State”) and Contractor Legal Entity Name (“Contractor”), is for the provision of development, delivery, and maintenance of an interactive online public reporting platform for school and district report cards and accountability with guidance documents and training resources, as further defined in the “SCOPE.”

It seems that what this contract calls for is the building of an accountability system to replace the current model utilized for the state report card. It can’t take longer than five years to build and at the end of that period it becomes the property of the state, with no further costs. Hmmm…

My biggest question is, who asked for this? Who decided that the current system was inadequate and needed replacing at a time when the TNDOE is already embarking on creating a change in the school funding formula, is trying to make up so-called “learning loss”, dealing with a potentially massive exodus of teachers, and can’t meet necessary staffing levels in their own office.

Let’s not forget, there is still that pesky task of handing out federal funds to local districts, a job that the department seems particularly incompetent at, well unless a district is looking to employ their favored vendors.

I’m not looking to cast aspersions, but let’s just say, you wouldn’t be remiss in wondering if a friend of Schwinn’s is in need of a little extra holiday cash. Maybe this is a service that those helpful folks at ILO could provide.

Can’t wait to see what Christmas brings, pun intended.

YES, THEY ARE EXHAUSTED!

If you’ll remember, back in late Spring when everybody was singing the hymns for tutoring and increased summer school options, I was busy stomping on the brakes trying to slow the juggernaut down – a fruitless endeavor.

We were in crisis mode. Kid’s brains were quickly turning to mush, and if we didn’t act immediately – even if we lacked a full understanding of the challenges – a whole generation would be left wandering the desert unable to tie their shoes, let alone provide for themselves. It was a narrative designed to spur action into investing in private entities due to fear.

At the time I argued that kids and teachers were coming off one of the most difficult school years on record – they were exhausted and in need of rejuvenation. What was the point of rushing to the front of the pack only to fall behind later in the year due to teacher and student exhaustion? Wouldn’t it be better to let kids and teachers heal, while we got a better idea of exactly what the true issues were?

But this was never about kids, and always about heeding the advice of Rahm Emmanual to never let a crisis go uncapitalized.

My pleas fell on deaf ears, and we hurdled forward in an imprudent manner. Commissioner Schwinn promoted her personal brand with a taxpayer-paid state-wide tour of summer school offerings in Tennessee. Legislators leaped to get their pictures taken to show the folks back home their commitment to teachers, kids, and schools. It didn’t matter that their actions were benefiting none of the aforementioned.

Now here we are. it’s November and a new article from NPR relates the depth of teacher exhaustion highlights the pending crisis that comes from our summer recklessness,

School leaders say they are between a rock and a hard place. Alena Zachery-Ross is superintendent of Ypsilanti Community Schools in Michigan. She announced earlier this month that they were taking the full week off for Thanksgiving.

She says her staff got no summer break, since about a third of the district’s students came for extended summer school. Now that they’re back full time and in person, students have lots of work to do adjusting to classroom routines. COVID-19 protocols also take extra time. It’s all piled on.

That’s just one school district, but if you think it is an outlier, you are fooling yourself.

Over the last decade, the job of a school teacher has continually become more difficult as teachers are required to assume more and more responsibility and support staff hirings fell by the wayside.

As the spouse of a 15-year veteran teacher, I’ve borne witness to the increased pressures with my own eyes. I can further attest that it wasn’t always like this, despite what some may try to argue.

The change has come with a cost primarily absorbed by teachers, but not solely. The increased pressures impact spouses and families with regularity. Something discussed even less frequently than the depth of cost to teachers – as impossible as that sounds.

Half-hearted prescriptions for self-care are offered up by highly compensated administrators, but never a word on how a child is supposed to adjust to a parent distracted by the extra work required to meet the latest “signature initiative” put forth by an ambitious administer.

Or the father that is incapable of fully participating in family activities because they are exhausted by a schedule that frequently calls for meetings before and after school, and fails to provide adequate planning time.

Trauma is among our favorite conversation topics, but only if the scope is kept narrow.

What’s equally disappointing to me is the response from those who should be sounding the alarm. Once again we are going to point to ongoing issues as mere continuations of ongoing problems and just another sign that schools are chronically funded, never recognizing that the issue is deeper than just financial.

I get it acknowledging shortcomings that have become baked into the system often serve to open the door to those who would permanently alter the definition of public education, and as a result, run the risk of increasing participation by private enterprise.

But none of us benefit from the lack of an honest conversation.

This is not a well-traveled path we are on, but rather an offshoot that raises the expectations and requirements of teachers exponentially. This is not how it has always been, nor how it should remain.

Yes, more money would make the job more attractive. Yes, increased funding would allow for the employment of much-needed support staff. But we also need to consider ways in which we can take things off the plate of teachers and principals. Too often increased salaries have come with new expectations and an unwillingness to do anything further in order to make the job more tenable.

It’s not an either/or conversation, but rather, a both one.

Our current model requires teachers to be experts in pedagogy while also serving as social workers, therapists, equity agents, and a plethora of other duties, all while insisting that they jump through accountability hoops. Hoops that never seem to apply to the bureaucrats or education foundations that enrich their individual coffers off of the backs of teachers and principals.

Think about it. Without the sacrifices of teachers, SCORE is incapable of justifying a dollar of their funding? Without the hard work of principals, TNTP can’t secure a dime of taxpayer money. The depressing reality is that teachers and principals’ tireless efforts may serve children, but they also fuel the 6-figure salaries of those who work the furthest removed from kids?

Have you ever heard a teacher say, “Man without SCORE producing reports and promoting curriculum, I wouldn’t be able to adequately teach children to read?”

Or “I’d like to teach children advanced math, but I’m awaiting a report on equity from the Education Trust?”

Education has truly become a sector that suffers from a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

Let me just close with this observation, one that’s been heightened by watching the townhalls devoted to gathering input on the school funding formula.

Tennessee is a densely populated and diverse state. The needs of students in Memphis are much different than those in Bristol. The circumstances that face students in Maryville are very different than those in Nashville. And it goes on. There is no universal approach that addresses the various needs of all kids throughout the state uniformly.

This is why the TNDOE and the Commissioner of education roles were created to support schools. Notice I said support and not lead schools, that was intentional.

Commissioner Schwinn at the very least has flipped the horse and the cart and set herself up as the leader of education in Tennessee. That’s an impossible role to fill, as no one individual can fully understand the needs of every student in Tennessee.

What’s needed is somebody who has the resources and experience to support schools when they face obstacles beyond their expertise or resources. Not somebody to do it for them, somebody to do it with them.

When those not in the classroom attempt to lead, instead of support, those actually in the classroom, the outcomes are predetermined and failure will always follow. It’s a subtle distinction, but an essential one. But it’s a difference that I think will continue to go unrecognized in Tennessee, to the detriment of us all.

QUICK HITS

Here’s something that has not been mentioned during talks around the BEP. Over the last year, Tennessee has reaped a huge financial windfall from the legalization of sports betting. Actual receipts have far exceeded projections. Yet nobody is talking about using that revenue stream in order to increase funding to schools. Might be time to bring it up.

Last week I told you about the ExcelInEd convention held down in Florida where Penny Schwinn was speaking about the revolutionary changes being undertaken by Tennessee. Well, apparently Ms. Schwinn wasn’t the only government official traveling to the sunshine state.

It is nice to see that Janet Ayers – who sits on both the board of Directors for ExcellInEd and chairs a sub-committee on the Tennessee BEP review – is still practicing safe distancing. That looks like almost 6 feet between her and Commissioner Schwinn.

That’s state Rep Vincent Dixie posing with the state board of education members. I’m assuming there weren’t any Republican Legislators in attendance, or at least any that were willing to get in a picture. If nothing else, this picture serves to remind us just how entwined the elites in Tennessee are.

Earlier in the week, it was decided that Nashville’s newest High School, replacing Hillwood, would be named after the Reverend James Lawson. According to Mainstreet Nashville,

Lawson, 93, is a civil rights activist and advocate of nonviolent protest. After being urged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while in graduate school to come to Nashville, Lawson mentored Vanderbilt and Fisk university students in nonviolent protest techniques in the late 1950s, training such civil rights leaders as Diane Nash and John Lewis. He was expelled from Vanderbilt University in 1960 after being arrested for participating in lunch counter desegregation sit-ins. He later helped develop strategies for the Freedom Riders.

We’ll talk more on Monday about this week’s board meeting, but this decision they got right.