“True development does not respect comfort.”
― Tom Crewe, The New Life

The irony of Metro Nashville Public Schools honoring Jelly Roll the same week my son was being told, “he didn’t know his place” and that “He’s done” isn’t lost on me. I can confidently say, I’m pretty sure that Jelly Roll heard similar things during his time as a student at MNPS. The difference is that now he’s a multi-platinum music star and my son is a 13-year-old boy trying to figure it all out.

Last week, Jelly returned triumphantly to his sorta alma mater Antioch High School. In a Facebook post, the school said that Jelly Roll “graced us with his presence”. That’s another phrase I’m sure he heard while a student, but with a different tone.

The musician with a checkered past, who has a history of giving back to the community, was on hand to announce that the school band would be opening the upcoming 2024 CMA Fest. While there he listened to several students’ works and performed a few of his own tunes. The school called his speech to students “nothing short of inspiring”.

He was presented with a special edition Antioch High jersey and personalized items crafted by Cre8ations by Cynthia Hicks-McCall. McCall is a teacher at Antioch High School.

Jelly Roll wasn’t a student at Antioch for very long, dropping out in 9th grade due to legal challenges. By all accounts, the teenage years for the musician were difficult ones. Many hugs were shared this past week, but I wonder how many of those were shared that 9th-grade year.

School is as much about compliance as anything. Much to a student’s detriment. Yes, discipline is important, but equally important is helping students grow into themselves while retaining characteristics that will serve them well in life.

My son’s success in sports is directly tied to his willpower and relentlessness, the same traits that can make him a pain in the ass. The trick is to not remove that trait but help mitigate it.

As happens all too frequently, we run up against conflicting goals. We want students to develop skills that will serve them as adults, but we don’t want them to use those skills until they are adults. Disrespectful behavior should never be tolerated, but sometimes, simply asking, “why” is considered disrespectful.

It’s a problem that leaves many boys disenfranchised and contributes to a hatred of school. Not a great outcome.

It also sells short our intellectually gifted students. There is a misconception that gifted students are the ones who earn the best grades. Not true, often they are among the most disruptive because they are board and willing to challenge everything.

I learned early on that my son needs to be run like a border collie, or he becomes easily agitated. Frequent exercise allows him to focus and apply himself. Yet in school recess is used as a disciplinary tool. Act up and recess will be taken away, and then we act shocked when issues grow.

He also needs to understand the “why”. A practice recognized by the business world.

Simon Sinek developed the Golden Circle, a concept that advises an organization to start everything it does by first asking why: “Why does your company exist, why do you get out of bed every morning, and why should anyone care?” The Why, your purpose and beliefs, should build the center of your company – your true north. It guides the actions that are expressed in How you do your business – your business practices and processes. Finally, your products and services – What your company offers – form the tangible version of your Why.

Sinek argues that “there are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it”.

In defense of teachers, sometimes manipulation is the only alternative, because of a lack of support from their administration and a lack of capacity provided by an ever-increasing workload. Too much time is dedicated to adult mandates, as opposed to serving the needs of children.

The skills that allowed Jelly Roll to rise above his teenage years and succeed at the highest level, were present when he was a student. They didn’t suddenly emerge during his prison stints.

When it comes to boys, the goal in school is often to eradicate those skills and traits in the name of compliance, instead of providing tools to harness them in pursuit of excellence. I’m left trying to persuade against suspension with 10 days left in the school year for an offense that doesn’t include drugs, violence, theft, or cheating.

But how about that Jelly Roll, we sure are proud of him.

Perhaps, if we’d shown that pride prior to him dropping out, he would have reached the same destination but on a different path.

We are all familiar with the popular meme of, “Well-Behaved Woman Rarely Make History”, somehow the same doesn’t apply to young men.

Before moving on, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the many teachers who have been champions for my son, more then one of you.

To them, I deliver a heartfelt thank you. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

– – –

This weekend saw a flurry of press stories about districts bracing for teacher layoffs.

According to a CNN report, “Schools across the country are announcing teacher and staff layoffs as districts brace for the end of a pandemic aid package that delivered the largest one-time federal investment in K-12 education.”

This is a bit of a puzzle for me.

Yes, the emergency funds made available by the Federal Government in response to COVID are sunsetting. Districts will definitely see a drop in funding, but they were given adequate time to prepare.

Furthermore, I’m a little confused about why this would impact teachers. From the onset, districts were instructed that funds should not be used for hiring personnel. Yet, here we are.

In response to the COVID pandemic, in 2020 Congress authorized three rounds of federal funding to help K-12 schools navigate unprecedented events.

Initially, school districts used that money to reopen school buildings by buying masks and cleaning supplies and upgrading HVAC systems. The last and largest round of funding, approved in 2021, required districts to spend at least 20% of the money to address learning loss – which could have included tutoring programs, summer school, or extended school days.

Districts were given more than three years to spend the third round of money, with few other restrictions. It was largely up to local school boards to decide how to spend the funds on a broad range of pandemic-related needs, and they could choose to hire new teachers and staff even though they knew the funding would eventually dry up.

There was a requirement for districts to report how they spent the money, but due to a lack of clarity with those reports, it’s hard to discern how many teachers were hired with the funds.

A new report from CALDER, an education research center, that looked at Washington state found that roughly 12,000 positions, including more than 5,000 classroom teachers, were created with federal funding.

That’s a lot of teachers.

Ironically, the drop-off in funds comes at the same time as districts are continuing to lose students.

This one will bear watching.

– – –

Tennessee Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds continues to draw the wrong kind of attention, and it becomes more and more difficult for me to not say, “I told you so.”

An article written by Vivian Jones for The Tennessean reveals, “Reynolds has maintained ties with her former employer since joining state government, meeting four times with ExcelinEd during six weeks in January and February ― more than any other nongovernmental stakeholder.”

Also at the top of her meeting list was the ed reform group, State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE). This is interesting because the organization took a much lower profile this year in response to increased criticism by state legislators.

SCORE, which supports choice policies, was opposed to the House version of the voucher bill due to concerns that it would lower testing requirements. SCORE uses those tests results to spur investment and justify their existence.

Whoops! Did I say that aloud? Better put my filters in.

SCORE uses that data to ensure that all students are receiving the services they deserve. Better?

Jones is an excellent reporter, but there are some areas I’d push back on.

Jones writes:

“Lee tapped Reynolds last year and the commissioner has said she was drawn to Tennessee because the Lee administration’s education priorities mirrored the policies backed by ExcelinEd, a Florida-based national education advocacy group founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.”

None of this holds water. Reynolds is affiliated with a cluster of organizations founded by Jeb Bush that are responsible for the last three education commissioners. ExcellinED, and its sister organization Chiefs for Change, have enjoyed unfettered access and influence in Tennessee for over a decade. I would argue that Lee’s policies less mirror ExcelinEd’s policies than they are delivered by Jeb Bush and his cronies.

The idea that a 60-year-old woman with no previous ambitions to be a state education commissioner would suddenly take a pay cut to move away from her family to a state she’s unfamiliar with for a temporary job in a lame-duck administration, is a bit ludicrous.

She’s taking one for the team.

My belief is that Jeb told her that she needs to get herself to Tennessee where the opportunities are ripe for the taking. Talk about misreading the room.

Furthermore, it would not shock me if the non-profit got Lee to raise the commissioner’s salary to 255K – her predecessor made $220K – to get closer to matching the $264 she made serving the former Florida Governor. Maybe even subsidizing any differences.

The Tennessean reports that, Reynolds and a top adviser attended two out-of-state events in Indianapolis and Atlanta last year with most expenses paid by ExcelinEd. The non-profit also covered travel and lodging expenses, along with meals, to Indianapolis in October for ExcelinEd’s summit on college and career pathways.

Reynolds’ former Chief of Staff Chelsea Crawford, who recently left the department, also presented on education-to-workforce pathways at the national Summit, with expenses paid by ExcelinEd. Crawford also attended the Indianapolis event, with expenses paid by the state.

The paid expenses could be considered compensation, but Reynolds doesn’t list ExcelinEd on her Tennessee Statement of Disclosure of Interests. I’m getting a sense that paperwork just ain’t her thing.

Earlier in the year, the Commissioner raised eyebrows when it was revealed that twice within the first six months of her employment with the state, Tennessee Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds signed forms certifying she had been a state employee for more than six months as she sought a tuition waiver for classes at the University of Tennessee at Martin, She has since paid those funds, but questions remain.

The classes were in response to critics raising questions about her qualifications for the job since she does not hold a Tennessee educator’s license. State law requires the education commissioner to be “qualified to teach in the school of the highest standing over which the commissioner has authority” and have experience in school administration.

I can’t help but wonder how “drawn to” Tennessee Reynolds remains, but so far this is looking a whole lot like the Penny Schwinn Story Part 2. Who, by the way, has got Florida parents in an uproar over proposed changes to a university-affiliated charter school.

Gotta love these change agents.

A great statement for the next Governor would be a public pledge to not appoint an education commissioner affiliated with any Jeb Bush think tank or non-profit.

– – –

It’s third-grade retention time in Tennessee. Tennessee law requires that all third-graders who fail to score “meets standards” on TCAP must be retained unless they meet certain criteria. It also requires that those who gain promotion via tutoring or summer school must show adequate growth on the fourth-grade TCAP or be retained.

This year a bill was passed at the end of the session that made changes to the law that would allow more input from parents and schools before a fourth-grade student is retained.

“What this bill allows is for students to not just face automatic retention,” explained Knox County School’s executive director of learning and literacy, Dr. Erin Phillips, “but for them to have a conference with their principal, their current ELA teacher, and a parent or a legal guardian, to decide if the right course of action is to promote that student to fifth grade with year-long tutoring, or retain that student and have that student repeat the fourth grade.”

That bill, despite all the celebration, still sits on Governor Lee’s desk awaiting his signature so it can become law. The bill passed on April 28th and the Governor has 10 days to either veto the bill, sign it, or allow it to become law without his signature.

More concerning is the published timeline. Third-graders are expected to receive their results on May 20th. Adequate growth data for fourth-graders will be released by July 1.

The former is less than optimal, while the latter is simply unacceptable. Imagine being the parent of an at-risk fourth-grader and not knowing where your child will go to school before July. How are districts expected to plan, when they don’t know until July, or later?

The State Education Department does not list a retention decision deadline for parents and schools considering whether to promote or hold back fourth graders affected by the reading law.

Final third-grade retention decisions will be made in June and July for students who do not participate in summer programming and by July 12 for those who do.

– – –

It’s cutting time for MNPS principals. Typically the district loses on average 20 principals a year. To date, the number was around 8 retiring Elementary school principals. The loss of a high school principal brought it up one more.

Last week word went out to Hillsboro parents that the district was searching for a replacement for the 9-year veteran Dr. Shuler Pelham. Before arriving at Hillsboro, he led John Overton High School, the most diverse school in the state, for seven years. Pelham never quite achieved the level of success at Hillsboro that he achieved at Overton, where he was beloved.

While he definitely had his detractors, personally I liked the man.

Hillsboro is arguably the highest-performing zoned school in the district. It’ll be interesting who Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle turns to for school leadership.

To date an official reason for the action has not been provided. The move is similar to last year when Cane Ridge High School’s principal Michel Sanchez was replaced by Deante Alexander.

That move was troubling. Sanches was well respected and one of only two Hispanic principals leading schools.

Despite now making up 32% of the MNPS student body, Hispanics hold only two school leadership positions.

The district, long an advocate of the importance of having educators resemble the student body, has failed to fully address the lack of diversity in district leadership roles. They district has substantially increased their number of Black principals, but that shouldn’t be viewed as adequate..

When I raised the lack of consideration for true diversity with an MNPS school board member on X, she responded:

I’m NEVER surprised at the notion a mediocre white guy thinks he can try to gaslight a Muslim woman on DEI & feel like you’ve silenced me or put me in my place?! The audacity is real…. But keep doing you! Obviously, you haven’t been paying attention…”

An interesting response considering that I am a parent with a student in the system. More concerning is that it facilitates an idea that only certain people are capable of engaging in meaningful conversations about diversity and equity. That some voices have more value than others. Something I wholeheartedly reject.

Equity does not mean finding a new demographic to marginalize, it means engaging voices at an equal level. Something MNPS continually refuses to do.

It is not an unreasonable request that the district hire more principals of Hispanic descent, more Muslim principals would also greatly increase diversity.

– – –

Prayers go out to Rutherford County Schools Director James “Jimmy” Sullivan. Sullivan’s 10-year-old son Asher was sucked into a storm drain and swept under neighborhood streets after storms ravaged Middle Tennessee last week.

Despite the heroic efforts of doctors, the prognosis remains dire.

“MRI shows part of the brain herniating into his brain stem, and severe damage to just about all areas of his brain,” Sullivan said. “Despite what we are seeing with Asher each moment, we still were hoping against all odds. Unfortunately, the worst-case scenario seemed to have come true.”

There are no words to express the difficulty and impact of this situation, only grief and empathy.

Tragedy strikes the best people with the most random challenges.

treasure every day.

– – –

Per usual, I need to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.

If you could help a brother out…and you think this blog has value, your support would be greatly appreciated. This time of year money gets really tight, while the blogging workload increases exponentially. that can’t be overstated.

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Categories: Education