“I have known heaven, and now I am in hell, and there are mimes.”
― Nick Harkaway, The Gone-Away World

I opened up one eye and squinted as I looked toward the window. Looks like the son was going to come up today after all.

The birds were definetly still singing.

Kind of surprising, considering that for about two years now I’ve been told that if voucher legislation came to pass, the world would come to a halt,

Yesterday in a marathon special session, the Tennesseee General Assembly did what they weren’t able to do last year – voucher availability has been expanded i to even more Tennessee Students.

I’d like to feign shock and surprise, but I can’t. While voucher proponents were busy last Spring celebrating their victory over voucher proponents, I was warning that the legislation would be back with a vengence this year.

I told anyone who would listen, that it would be coming sans any of the prolonged conversation from the previous session. Committees would be stacked and it would be done by the end of the first month. Perhaps a little more thought should have gone into the previous bills offered.

Yesterday. the Republican supermajority did exactlu as I predicted. They picked up the ball and did their own version of vaunted Philadelphia Eagle’s tush push.

Like the NFL version, everybody knew it was coming, yet they remained powerless to stop it.

In case you are unfamailiar with the Tush Push, it is a play where the team whose offense has possession of the ball crowds behind the quarterback to literally push him, with the ball, through the opposing team’s defense. This pushing of the backside is typically done to the quarterback after he takes the ball from the center at the start of the play. It’s used to make a short gain when needed.

Works on the football field and it sometimes works in politics.

Once again Democrats showed they were great orators, but terrible politicians. One by one, they got up and rendered their garments as they brought forth futile amendments that were quickly dismissed. Powerless to defeat the bill.

The trick to stoping the tush push, is to not let your oppoment get too close to the goal line. Unfortunately, due to the last round of elections, the Republicans were sitting right at the two yard line.

In the wake of passage, opponents complained about strategy anf fairness, both of which are moot points at this juncture.

“It’s the best scam that money can buy,” said House Minority Leader John Ray Clemmons, a Nashville Democrat, after the historic votes.

The trick to not being subject to power politics, is to not empower your opposition. If Tennessee’s Democrats truly believe they have the better politics, then they need to get better politicians and a better narrative, because the majority of Tennessee voters, currently, ain’t buying it.

Despite all their inspirational speeches from the floor of the state house, voters keep electing Republicans and they keep passing legislation.

You can talk gerrymandering, and money, and other reason you like, in the end it doesn’t matter.

Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer my dragon slayers to be capable of slaying dragons, as opposed to just clling them names after the fact.

The situation is reminiscent of my son and his high school football team.

Last year they played a schudel rife with Williamson County powerhouses, predictably they lost every game by 40 plus points. In defense, fans and players raised raised the issue of the  perceived advantage afforded to their opponents. My answer was always the same, if you want to be what you aspire to, you gotta find a way to be competitive, no matter what the advantafe afforded your opponent. If you can’t compete, you ain’t going to get on the field.

Complaing that the opposition is bigger, faster, meaner, doesn’t change the scoreboard.

Football and politics are remarkably similar.

My feeling on vouchers have softened over the years, despite being far from a fan. The romantic idea of all students attending a school that meets their needs becomes less and less realistic every day. Should familes pledge fidelity to a system that may or not serve them? I don’t know.

Still, I am a product of public schools married to a public school teacher with two students who attend a public school. I got a little bit of vested interest.

At this juncture I see vouchers as neither a threat to public education nor a boon for the majority of students. Neither a magical elixer nor a poison dart. It’s just another element in ever growing cacophony that is public education policy.

The new taxpayer-funded Education Freedom Scholarship program will offer 20,000 scholarships of about $7,300 to Tennessee students, including both those enrolled in public school and those already attending a private institution anywhere in the state. Initially, half the slots will include income requirements. After the initial year, those restrictions will be lifted.

The legislation also guarantees school districts will not see a decline in state TISA funding allocations, offers one-time bonuses of $2,000 for each public school teacher in the state, and sets aside funds for school construction and maintenance. All in all. it’s whole lot less then what was on the table last year. In other words, schools are getting all of the bang with less of the buck.

All but a few of the carrots brought forth last year were quickly tabled or rejected in this go around. Lawmakers who tried amend the current version of the bill saw their efforts quickly tabled.

One that did receive significant discussion was introduced by Rep Chris Hurt’ (R-Halls). Huff attempted to add a floor amendment that stated “a private school shall not discriminate against a student participating in the program based on the student’s disability.”

Speaker Lambreth (R-Portland) was ready with a defense..

“My worry is with this language, and I get it, it’s a short sentence, but lawyers and courts fight for years over short sentences just like this,” said Representative William Lamberth. “I am concerned that a school would not even be able to ask what disabilities they have, and then they have no idea whether they can actually provide for them.”

At it’s face, it seems like a reasonable request. However, things shouldn’t always be taken at face value. Most Republican lawmakers saw it for what it was, the attempted insertion of a poson pill into a bill they supported.

Public schools are capable of providing services to students with disabilities due to federal and state funding. Private schools do not have access to those resources. Despite the slogan, student education funding does not actually follow the student.

Therefore if such language was inserted into the bill, the unintended consequence coukld be the bankrupting of private schools. Unfortunately, there is a limit on what private schools can do for students with disabilities. Adding Hurt’s ammendment would have put both the schools and the students in untenable positions.

Now, if someone wanted to explore making it financially feasible for private schools to provide services to students with disabilities through federal and state funding, that would be a conversation worth having. Republican leadership made it clear that he welcome to try and craft such a bill for consideration during the regular session which starts back up Monday.

Bothg sides arguments were riddled with misinformation.

At one point in the days proceedings, House  Majority leader William Lambreth refered to Tennessee’s statdardized test (TCAP) as being a “nationally normed” test. That’s a curious notion because Tennessee paid it’s testing vendor a butt load of money to create an assessment tailored to reflect Tennessee standards. Pray tell, what other state in the nation is administrating a test that reflects Tennessee’s state standards?

In the end, the inevitable transpired. Vouchers passed in the House by a vote of 54 too 44.

21 Republicans joining every Democrat opposing the plan including Representatives Rebecca Alexander, R-Jonesborough; Fred Atchley, R-Sevierville; Jeff Burkhart, R-Clarksville; Jody Barrett, R-Dickson; Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma; Tandy Darby, R-Greenfield; Monty Fritts, R-Kingston; David Hawk, R- Greeneville; Gary Hicks, R-Rogersville; Dan Howell, R-Cleveland; Chris Hurt, R-Halls; Renea Jones, R-Unicoi; Kelly Keisling, R-Byrdstown; Kevin Raper, R-Cleveland; Michele Reneau, R-Signal Mountain; Lowell Russell, R-Vonore; Rick Scarbrough, R-Oak Ridge; Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta; Tom Stinnett, R-Friendsville; Ron Travis. R-Dayton; and Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill.

Senators voted 20 to 13 for the plan. Every Democrat in the chamber voted against it along with 7 Republicans including Senators Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma; Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville; Bobby Harshbarger, R-Hawkins and Sullivan Counties; Tom Hatcher, R-Blount, Monroe, Polk, and Bradley Counties; Jessie Seal, R-Tazewell; Steve Southerland, R-Morristown; and Page Walley, R-Savannah.

Next week we resume our regularly scheduled programming. Cell phones, increased recess, revising teacher evaluations, and a closer look at TCAP are expected to be at the fore of the agenda – all of which serve to benefit the state’s public schools.

Meanwhile, the buses are still running, teachers are still teaching, and the majority of Tennessee’s students are still attending public schools.

The only thing that has changed is that we no longer have to focus on vouchers and we can focus on students.

– – –

The Penny Schwinn train just keeps on a rolling. This week several conservative voice from Tennessee gathered together and raised objections to her nomination as US Deputy Secretary of Education.

A letter was submitted to representatives of the Trump administration alerting them to past objectionable actions commited by the nominee. The response was a predictable shrug and a further commitment to proceeding. It appears that the appointment of Schwinn is all but a done deal.

Adding her voice to the discussion, Laurie Cardoza Moore, member of the Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission and founder of Proclaiming Justice To the Nations, offered her opinion of the Schwinn nomination. Telling Fox News:

“I decided to call on President Trump to rescind his nomination of Penny Schwinn for the deputy secretary of Education appointment because of the policies that she implemented here in the state of Tennessee. You know, I fought for a couple of years for Gov. Lee to call for her resignation because of her, her policies, her values,” Moore said.

“But under her leadership, and this is what’s important for the audience to understand, the children in Tennessee — and this is not just Tennessee because she’s been to Texas and Florida — but our kids were subjected to pornographic and antisemitic content in library books, for example, ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ was one of them. She exposed Tennessee children to dark content like the Wit and Wisdom curriculum, all of which violate child indecency laws and obscenity laws here in the state of Tennessee, which is really troubling to me. She developed a plan to conduct child welfare checks on Tennessee children from birth to 18 to make sure they had their vaccinations.”

She wasn’t the only one.

“President Trump needs the full story on Penny Schwinn’s education history in TN,”  Robby Starbuck posted on X. “I really hope he reconsiders her nomination.”

“Penny says her core value is ‘Equity for all… no matter what.’ On her watch TN’s Department of Education even embraced DEI for hiring teachers. She may be a very nice person but naming her Under Secretary of Education at this critical juncture isn’t a good idea when she’s been a believer in this toxic DEI ideology.”

Neither gained much traction.

The EdReform leaning online mag, The 74, posted an interesting breakdown that listed a few of ther negatives. Pointing out that she left the TDOE because the politics became too much.

At the time of her departure, in an exclusive interview she told The 74, she weathered distracting culture war battles over the way race and gender is taught in the state’s classrooms.

“I see it as extraneous politics and my job is to educate kids,” she said. “I knew that my charge, first and foremost, was to move our state forward.”

Now she’s stepping in to lead a department of education charged with getting identity politics out ot education policy. It it’ll be interesting to see how she threads that needle. Or if she even has the capacity, based on her outside interesrts.

The 74 reveals that Schwinn holds high-level positions with an investment firm and a political consulting agency, and had a brief stint at the University of Florida. In May, she told The 74 in an email that she was working to launch a nonprofit focused on “urgency around student outcomes.” She’s also listed as a speaker for the conservative Heritage Foundation’s program to train future school board members.

But remember, this is a woman who drew a 6-figure salary from a charter school she founded, and purported to lead, while serving as a Deputy Commissioner in Delaware. if anyone can pull it off she can.

Ironically, word on the street is that Schwinn’s name was put forth for Trump’s nomination by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

When DeVos came to Tennessee to visit Governor Lee, Schwinn as reported by The Tennessee Star did everything possible to avoid a personal meeting:

Schwinn, according to a source, said Lee had requested Schwinn to appear in public alongside DeVos — but Schwinn would have none of it.

Schwinn told the source that she considered asking her mother to fake an illness. Schwinn even considered asking her mother to visit the emergency room to make the lie seem authentic. Schwinn, according to the plan, would go to the emergency room with her. Schwinn also considered lying to Lee and telling him that one of her children was sick, according to the first source’s account of the conversation.

Ultimately, the source went on to say, Schwinn said she had to go to Minneapolis to meet with a testing vendor — although the source said Schwinn never actually left Nashville.

“For her to call her mother and ask her to fake a health incident? Something has to be wrong in her brain to think that was appropriate to share with me. She had only been there a month and a half,” the first source said.

“I wasn’t her friend or her confidante. I was her employee. That’s inappropriate. And the plan was elaborate.”

Ah…but that’s our girl, always resourceful and up to any challenge.

It is safe to say, that anyone expecting President to close down the US Department of Education is probably in for some dissappointment.

Schwinn has never been a limited government gal.

Either way this looks like a good place toemploy the Tush Push

.- – –

The fallout from last week’s horrific shooting at Antioch HS continues to be messy, In response to my post from two days ago, suppoprters of MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle tell me that she was indeed at AHS on Monday, and has in fact been there everyday since the shooting.

I always like to know if I misreport something, so I checked back with sources to try and confirm .

If she’s been there, it’s been with limited visibility. People report to me that the only time they’ve seen her is at the district sponsored rally that took place on Tuesday.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to push back against one of the statements made by board chair Freda Player. In praising Dr. Battle’s leadership during the current crisis, she mentioned that Battle’s efforts were consuming large swaths of time as traversed the district in service. According to battle’s service often came at the expense of her own families time.

Hello. Kinda ought to know your audience.

MNPS schools are filled with people who often sacrifice family time to meet the needs oftheir students. The only difference is goes mostly unacknowledged.

Tone deaf.

Meanwhile Antioch teacher’s continue to come under increased scrutiny by Dr. Adrienne Battle’s leadership team.

On Monday it was reportedly communicated to teachers that they would  focus on SEL for the week in an effort to ease students back into the building. The SEL department distribute worksheets and guidance, but told teacher that they knew their kid’s best and would defer to them when it came to implementation. On Thursday that changed,

District officials voiced concerns that SEL work was looking different then envisioned, and they were afraid that students would not be ready to return to their regular instruction come Monday.

I’m confused where the hard and fast time periods came into play. Apparent this week was prescribed Shiva, and next week things would return to normal. Good luck with that. It’ll be a long time before things return to normal.

Fears and anxiety from having a gun pointed at you, or watching one of your students be gunned down by another student does not evaporate in a prescribed time. To assume such a thing is asinine and unfeeling.

The challenge of returning to school was best voiced by Amaya Smith, a junior at Antioch HS, who told The Tennessean:

“Everybody’s getting the hang of metal detectors and being back in the building,” she said. “You could see that some people were struggling, more than others, and they had counselors and other people to talk to if you were struggling. It was just about working together as a team and as a community and a school to make sure that everybody felt safe and felt like they were heard.”

It’s a case of doing things with people as opposed to doing things for people.

Along the same lines, District 2 School Board member Rachel Anne Elrod, who’s district does not include Antioch, posted on Facebook:

This week, we’re providing a special breakfast for the students and staff at Antioch High School. Yesterday was Chick-fil-A biscuits and today were donuts. (Thank you to the Support Hub staff that drove all around town last night to get enough donuts for today.) This extra touch has been greatly appreciated by students and is an expense that the board and MNPS are more than willing to incur. However, I know that community members are trying to find a way to help. If you can provide breakfast for the 2,200 students and staff at Antioch High School this week.

While I appreciate her desire to help, a meal train is not what’s called for in this circumstancemstances. Beginning with the unintended message that eating is a solution to trauma.

Kids are already fed at school. That’s federally funded. One of the stipulations is that schools don’t provide students with meals that fail to meet federal nutrional guidelines. I know that Chix-Fil-A donated the food – god bless them – but that doesn’t negate the fact that the school is providing food that fails to meet nutritional standards. A board member should know better.

More and more information has emerged that raises the question, why was shooter Solomon Henderson even in school. He had a long history of violence towards both teachers and students, yet little action was taken.

In the past MNPS has counseled principals to refrain from suspending students unless under extreme conditions. Last year, May’s district supplied report hows a 13.5% suspension rate for Black students, and a 8.8% and 6,4% rate for white and Hispanic students. This year, at the midpoint all groups are at less then 5%. A dramatic drop.

An argument has been made that the 2024 report is drawn from end of year numbers, and a lot of suspensions occur in the Spring. I’ll leave it you to decide the validity of that argument.

Meanwhile, state legislator are looking for there own answers. They have expressed in discussing disipline and safety issue with Dr. Battle. If you’ll remember, the Superintendent was slated last session to present to the Education Committee when she canceled at the last minute. Trust me, lawmakers haven’t forgotten.

I’m going to continue to return back to my initial advice, you can’t side eye, mean mug, or bully your way through this crisis. Two kids lost their lives and we can’t speed through that recovery process, nor should we.

The Tushpush might have worked for lawmakers, it ain’t going to work for district leadership.

– – –

I recently told you about Nicholas Keel, the middle school teacher who was recently found not guilty of sexual assault. While the verdict is welcome news, an ordeal like this does not come without intense hardship. Friends of Mr. Keels have responded by created a go fund me account. If you’d like to help Mr. Keel get back on his feet, please use this link: https://account.venmo.com/u/Nicholas_Keel

– – –

If you’ve got something you’d like me to highlight and share, send it to Norinrad10@yahoo.com. Either wisdom or criticism is always welcome.

As you may suspect, keeping this blog going with a cost. In that light, I’ve set up a number of ways you can show your financial support. if so inclined.

I invite you to become a subscriber over at Substack. The rates, should you choose to become a paid subscriber are reasonable, and there remains a free option. The inly real difference between the two is that one allows me to eat a little better, but I appreciate you signing up for either.

You can also send a donation through my Venmo (Thomas-Weber-10) or cashAp ($PeterAveryWeber)

Categories: Education