“Why do we have to make such terrible decisions for our whole lives when we are too young to know what we are doing? The big mistakes are hung around your neck and you have to wear them forever.”
― Oswald Wynd, The Ginger Tree

Few things make me laugh harder than politicians and adults of a certain age talking about glorious days of their youth. Things were always idyllic, and kids were always better. Nothing brings that out more then cell phones.

“When I was a kid, we’d disappear for days. There were no cell phones, so our parents had no idea were we were and they were fine. We were fine.”

Yea I remember those days, and between tresspassing on a farmers property, lighting fires in the forest, shopliffing in 7-11’s, sneaking beers down by the river, and smoking dope at a way too early age, I’m not sure that anybody was fine under that scenario.

We forget that when viewed through a survivors nostalgic view, all of that sounds like a glorious rite of passage – a scene from a movie like Stand By Me. The reality is different and  not everybody survived. Of those of us who did, many developed life long addictive behaviors that took a heavy toll on their lives.

Maybe it’s not a bad idea if people know where you are and have an inkling of what you are up to.

I had a parent tell me this past week, “We are not getting our child a phone until they are a junior in high school.”

Ok, but that just makes things hard on you. Both my children got phones early in middle school. It was a semi-difficult decision, but one in hindsight, I don’t regret.

In todays world, plans change rapidly, work may get extended into pick up time for sports, or relatives show up unexpectedly in town, evening plans need to change. Sometimes school is difficult and a child who is feeling particularly vulnerable just needs to reach out for reassurance.

Middle school was often a challenge for my son. He suffered from low impluse control and would react in defiant and aggressive manner if pressured. As a result I frequently got calls from the principals office and he earned a undeserved reputation.

To mitigate that, we developed a system where if he ever felt that he was going to lose it, he could text and I would grab him. We’d often sit in the school parking lot for 20 minutes while he’d vent, pull himself together, and head back in to school. I don’t know how many elevated incidents we avoided by having this access.

Now that he’s in high school we’ve only had to use it twice, but he hasn’t had a discipline issue all year. That’s progress. Progress is always my ultimate goal.

In a world that has become more and more cashless, I no longer have to worry if I have cash to give them before school. The phone has access to funds. Whether it be a snack in the middle of the day or an event after school they forgot about, money is available. This helps teach them to mange money and when to access it and when not.

This week a bill passed out of the Tennessee State House that would allow School Districts to adopt a policies banning cell phones and messaging devices throughout the school day.

Per The Tennessean:

House Bill 932 would authorize all school districts in Tennessee to develop and implement policies restricting the use of any wireless communication devices – including cell phones, tablets, laptop computers and gaming devices – during instructional time. Districts would not be required to adopt such a policy.

I can understand where phones present a challenge and schools need to have the power to mitigate their impact. But I can’t help but laugh when adults feel compelled to make comments and promises on this proposed law.

State House Rep Cepicky (R-Culleoka) said he has toured a few schools that have implemented similar policies.

“To see these children now starting to talk to each other and start to communicate to each other and express ideas to each other,” Cepicky said, “It’s reminiscent of the way our classrooms used to be, where kids were engaged in a day to day conversation with their peers and with their teachers.”

Really?!?

Hmmmm..my recollection of those classes is a whole lot different. I am remember lots of doodling, writing of love notes, folding of paper airplanes, talking in the back with friends, interjecting snide comments into a teachers lecture. I certainly don’t remember the idylic classroom described by the House member.

Perhaps that why he went on to win a seat in the General Assembly while the only seat I hold onto is the one in front of the computer.

I have to laugh when he infers that phones impede kids from communicating. Trust me thay communicate just like they always did. Just in a manner that is different from their parents. That’s what makes us uncomfortable, it foreign to us and we don’t understand it, therefore we don’t loke it. A tried and true equation.

Group chats and FaceTime serve the same function as party lines on land lined telephones. How is hanging on a phone in a closet – to get some privacy from that damn adults – any different then Face Timing with a friend for two hours?

And when it comes to expressing ideas to each other, that still takes place. I regularly have various kids in my car, and they are always expressing ideas to each other. Mind you those are at times ideas unpalpable to adults, but they are ideas.

It also bears noting that I can remember a time when we only took a standardized test in third, eighth, and eleventh grade. Therefore at that time teachers weren’t under undue stress to get us to perform. There was time allowed to answer questions.

Here’s one that is strange but true, some time whole clqass sessions focused on what we were interested in, and didn’t cover a single item that was going to be on the test. Shudder the horror.

Schools purpose should be to prepare kids for the real world. A world where phones are ubiquitous. Banning something has rarely worked as a deterrent. Isn’t better to teach responsible usage in a controlled enviorment?

You phone haters will like this story, but it does illustrate my point.

The boy has struggled in math over the last couple of years despite showing a high aptitude in 6th grade. Lately, that’s changed. Test scores are trending in the right direction.

Yesterday, I said to him, “I’m proud of you. You never quit and kept trying and now your scores are getting better. That means something.”

Sheepishly he responded. “I ain’t going to lie, I just had to get off of my phone. I used to be on it a little to much.”

That might seem like a win for the state representative and his posse, but I’d counter with: Whats more important, the banning of the phones or the self learning of the lesson?

I’ll take the latter every time. It is oft said that you learn more from mistakes then you do success.

As for the bill, it passed unanimously out of the House Education Administration Subcommittee on Tuesday afternoon, with bipartisan support.

Up next is a bill demanding that all kids walk to school in the snow, uphill both ways.

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In the wake of the Antioch high school shooting, Metro Nashville Council has passed a resolution asking the MNPD to conduct a review of Metro Nashville Public Schools safety measures.

A similar resolution was brought forward after Covenant School shootings, but fell short of passage.

Tuesday’s vote was 28-7 with Council members Delishia Porterfield, Quin Evans-Segall, Joy Kimbrough, Sean Parker, Ginny Welsch, Terry Vo, Sandra Sepulveda and Antoinette Lee voted against the resolution, and council members Kyonzté Toombs and Jennifer Gamble abstained. Council members Zulfat Suara and Russ Bradford were absent.

The resolution asks that the evaluation include individual site assessments at each MNPS school, along with a list of recommendations that should be implemented districtwide from capital improvements to professional training and “any human resources they see fit.”

It also requires MNPS to respond with plans, including timelines, for implementing those plans. It goes even further by demanding that MNPS submitt detailed reason for declining to implement any recommendations.

“It’s time to have an open conversation about what technology is out there that we should be using, what human resources we should be using, what training we should be doing, how often should that training be occurring,” Council Member Courtny Johnston said. Johnson is one of 18 co-sponsors.

Some council members who voted against the resolution did so because they felt it implies that the school district and law enforcement don’t already work to evaluate safety in Nashville’s schools. Maybe, but seeing as two kids are dead, what’s the harm in double checking?

At-Large Council Member Delishia Porterfield voted against the resolution, she offered her concerns,

“Ultimately, this does not address the unfettered access to guns, which is the real problem which we know that we are preempted on,” Porterfield said. “It’s easier to get a gun in the state of Tennessee than it is to register to vote or to get a cosmetology license.”

All of that makes great soundbite material but doesn’t make kids any safer. At one point this might have been a philosophical discussion, that ship has sailed with the loss of two students lives.

Let’s also recognize that it was pure luck that kept the damage from being even greater.

One thing I wish somebody would explore is why, as part of their response, MNPS brought back former Chief Academic Officer Mason Belamy to be a Chief of Special Projects overseeing the district response to the school shooting.

Bellamy lives in Clarksville, where he spent the majority of his career. Antioch is in South Nashville, the furthest high school in the district from his home.

He served exclusively in elementary schools, and therefore has limited experience at the upper grade levels.

The former CAO resigned from the district back in July. District policy says that if a teacher resigns they can’t come back until the next school year. Why does the same policy not apply to district administrators?

Was the position ever posted? Or does MNPS no longer post every job offering.

It’s a pretty good deal to be able to resign from your $200K job and then come back at the same salary 6 months later.

– – –

On Wednesday the House Higher Education Subcommittee, along with the Senate Education Committee, unanimously passed a bill that would modify the State’s  Future Teacher Scholarship Act.

That Act was passed two years ago in an effiort to address Tennessee’s Teacher Shortage. Under the Act, a $5,000 scholarship was made available to undergraduate students seeking a teaching license. It was a ” last dollar scholarship”,meaning students only received the amount they needed after other scholarships and grants were factored in. Recipients must commit to teaching in a Tennessee public school for at least four consecutive years in either a distressed or at-risk county or in a subject area, like math, where the state has a critical shortage.

The new bill would make the $5,000 scholarship available to undergraduates and those with an existing degree that are seeking a teaching license, including the roughly 5 thousand Tennesseans who are teaching on a 3-year-permit.

It would also reduce the teaching commitment to two years in either a distressed or at-risk county or a subject with a critical shortage and it would make the full award available regardless of what other grants or scholarships the student has.

The vote brought both Democrats and Republicans together. Senator Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, was among its supporters.

“They are going to commit a significant amount of time to teach an underserved area. So, it’s not just about paying tuition but it’s also about getting those teachers to go to those areas where they’re not going is that correct,” asked Akbari and confirmed by White.

The legislation will go in front of the full House Education Committee next Tuesday.

– – –

The Penny Schwinn as Depury Secretary of Education nomination continues to be a source of amusement for me.

Last week, respecter writer Jeff Bryant, wrote a piece that outlines Penny’s many nisdeeds and recoveries. When you look at the whole body of work, it’s hard not to be impressed with ability to shape shift and bullshit.

Some of you may not be aware of Schwinn’ post-commissioner works, so it’s worth shqring this exerpt from Bryant:

Categories: Education