“Random acts of kindness were certainly scarce in this place and sometimes came from the most unexpected source.”
― Kathryn Hughes, The Key

I continually watch the aftermath of the shooting incident at Antioch High School with a sense of disbelief.

Disbelief at the tone deafness of district administrators.

Disbelief at how much teachers continue to be undervalued.

Disbelief at how much appearances are prioritized over serving those affected by the tragedy.

Country music star Jelly Roll surprises students at his alma mater, Antioch High School, during lunchtime on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.

Metro Nashville Public Schools will argue that they are checking all the boxes – counselors available, new weapons detection system in place, increased training – but in my eyes, just checking boxes ain’t enough. CYA only works if people don’t realize that you are just covering your ass.

This week the artist Jelly Roll showed up at the school he barely attended as a teenager to console the students. MNPS was only too happy to share the photos and People Magazine was only too happy to print them.

You ever see something that is just so hard to process that you are left staring at the pictures in a state of dubiousness, trying to figure out the thinking involved? That was me with the MNPS social media posts.

Are students struggling with depression and anxiety, and the plan is that suddenly an appearance by a musical artist is going to somehow aleveate that?

Maybe we are supposed to believe that Antioch is a school so devoid of positivity that they need a former dropout to show up and make them believe. You too can be the next PT Brnum.

If you are falling for the latter, let me set somethings straight. Antioch has issues, just as every MNPS school does, but there is a lot of good going on there.

Academic-wise they may struggle, but they are showing signs of progress. The atheletics programs are all on the up swing and until recently they had a core group of teachers who were deeply invested in the school despite a decade of undersupport by MNPS leadership. .

Unfortunately for those teachers, the district continues to see them as being less valuable then a pop star.

Since the tragedy, instead of supporting those teachers, the district has taken to micro-managing and bullying them. To the point that it is not uncommon for 50 – 60 teachers to be out on any given day.

So riddle me this, who is going to better serve a student, a teacher who’ve they’ve build a long standing relationship with or an afternoon visit by a self-involved country star?

Ask your self, which will listen and truly empathize with students anxities and fears?

Which know the history of each students and can tailor their approach to the individual student?

Which has a history of violence and which has a history of nurturing?

When was the last time MNPS fawned over a group of teachers like the fawned over Jelly Roll?

Since when do we allow victims of tragedy to be used a publicity props? There is no law that Jelly Roll could have stopped by and addressed students without People Magazine running a feature. Their presence turned this from a service proposition to a set-serving proposition.

Here’s something to think about, based on the districts treatment of the Antioch teachers, Jelly Roll has better odds of showing up there next year then most of those teachers.

Where will the replacemnt staffing come from? What’s it going to be like for Antioch HS students to come back to school next fall and face a derth of familiar faces?

That’s probably something that should be talked about in a public setting, but MNPS doesn’t do that anymore. Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle’s frequent response to any question has becone one of no comment. Unless of course you want to ask about how good her and her team have been doing, then she’s got plenty to say.

Let’s talk about the newly promised weapons detection system for a minute.

Two weeks ago the MNPS School Board approved the districtwide installation of the sytem recently installed at Antioch HS. Installation work is reportedly begun, district high school principals have been brought to Antioch to observe the system and how it works. I’m hearing the system and process is performing well.

So, what’s the timeline for installation across the district. Battle has previously said the installation will roll out two schools at a time each week. Fair enough, which schools and when?

Nobody seems to have that information. Instead, district leadership acts as if they are guarding state secrets from the Russians. Transparency is a fun word to say, but a harder word to live. Why?

The public school system is just that, a public institution funded by and serving the public. Why does Battle and her staff rountinely act as if they need maintain a high degree of secrecy? Who are they protecting and from what?

I have my suspicions, but I’ll leave the tin foil hat off for now.

Here’s a relevent question for you, since nobody seems to know the acuracy rate of the new system, who’s responsible when a gun goes undetected and is later found in the school? Which is probably going to happen.

If I was a betting man, I tell you where I’d be laying my chips, and its not on the district or the supplier of the detection equipment. Probably something that warrants public discussion before educators start manning the equipment.

Scuttlebutt on the street is that MNPS is looking to rewrite policy as well. The rewrites are likely to increase penalties for staff who open a side door for students or guests, or fail to follow enhanced security protocols.

So say a teacher forgets a computer at home. Their spouse is able to bring it by. They go to a side door by the teacher’s room for a handoff. Will hat teacher now be liable for a security breech and possibly subject to harsher penalties? Again, probably something that should be talked about publicly.

What about the district’s discipline policy? Since we are considering changing policy. Anybody looking at any rewrites there?

The shooter at Antioch should not have been in that school at the time of the shooting. He should have been removed and received required services after he pulled a box cutter on another student back in October.

I’m all for caution when it comes to discipline, but pulling a box cutter should probably be considered a top line offense.

Raise your hand if you knew that threatening a fellow student, or teacher, with a lethal weapon could earn you a less harsh punishment than making an threat of dubious credability against a school.

One get you two days suspension, the other a night in jail.

Like I said, I keep staring at the picture, hoping somehow it’ll make sense.

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This week, The Tennessee General Assembly is slated to vote on a important issue, one that far outweighs child safety and can only be addressed by legislative action – cell phones.

A new law requiring all districts to pass, post, and administer a district cell phone policy limiting phone use during instructional time is likely to pass both the state Senate and House.

Am I the only one that notices that schools only want politicians in their business when they don’t have the balls to pass their own policies?

Cell phones are a distraction, but I’m not sure what about them rises toi the level of requiring legislative action. Luckily, the General Assembly does. Though some remain skeptical.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, who voted against the measure in committee, said she is unaware of a school district that does not already have some kind of cellphone policy in place.

If cell phone ban are so popular with students, teachers, and parents, why do districts need legislators to pass a law? I guarentee lawmakers were pushing any other discipline bill there wouldn’t be such wide spread acceptance.

At last week’s Education Committee meeting, leadership from the Hamblin County and Warren County School District testified of the glories of their individual cell phone bans.

In Hamblin County it only took 4 hours after implementation to see grandious results, as expressed to them by students.

Warren County testified that he had students come up to him and say, “I’m so glad that my Mom can no longer cointact me during the day and I can focus on being a student,”

Hmmm…

For reference, Hamblin County has about 10K students and Warren County has around 6K Once again testimony comes from the smallest districts with expectations that it will translate seamlessly to the larger districts.

Throughout testimony nobody could cite evidence that there were any obstacles preventing districts to currently pass policy. Even when asked point blank.

Some lawmakers acknowledged student and parent corcerns over contacting each other in a time of emergency.

Both administers promised that under their policy, they will notify parents in a more timely fashion then the kids could. My parental experience does not back that assertion. That’s one promise where I wouldn’t want to on the failing side. Even once.

Frequently referenced during testimony was the book, The Anxious Generation. There comments brought to mind past works that were used to guide practice – Teach Like A Champion, Waiting for Superman, and the pod cast Sold a Story. Those have all well.

Per The Tennessean, some lawmakers want to go even further:

“There is a direct correlation in my mind to increased suicide, increased bullying, increased social disorders and other things, just based off phones and social media. So anything you can do to keep that out of the classroom, I think, is beneficial,” Huse Speaker Cameron Sexton told reporters last week.

Sexton indicated that he’d like to see more restrictions on technology in the classroom in the future but acknowledged that “it’s going to take time.”

“I look forward to the day where we say … any other technology in the classroom needs to be limited as well,” Sexton said, noting that computer time is sometimes used as an incentive for completing schoolwork. “So the students rush through the test because they want to get on the Google Chromebook. That’s adverse to what we’re trying to do in the classroom.”

An additional news, Sexton has promised schools will soon be reverting to outhouses. Current indoor facilties serve to facilitae fighting, drug dealing, and skipping class. By forcing students to go outdoors, they will be much safer and free of distractions.

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In other legislative news, lawmakers have passed a resolution that requests school districts participate in the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Batter Career Exploration Program and make the ASVAB test widely available to all high school students.

The resolution passed unanimously with multiple lawmakers expressing an interest in taking the concept a step further to require, instead of request, school districts to be more open to military recruitment and potentially, require them to provide the ASVAB test.

Passage came after testimony from Tennessee Army National Guard Lieutenant Colonel William English who told members of the House Education Administration Subcommittee that his recruitment work doesn’t always see a welcome mat at public high schools.

“Access to a lot of these school systems is very inconsistent, that’s probably one of the number one complaints I get from my recruiters in the field is just not being able to get to those applicants,” said English.

Committe Chairman Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) is open to his resolution being reworked into legislation, possibly by amending an existing bill, with requirements for schools. The earliest that could happen is during this week’s full House Education Committee meeting.

“Personally, I would prefer require. I think our youth out there is missing a tremendous opportunity,” said Cepicky. “The opportunities that the military presents to our children, our students right now our young men and women, who may not know what they want to do in life when they graduate high school to get some direction, some discipline, some personal pride. I think those are lessons that are measurable.”

 – – –

Today, the Tennessee State Board of Education launched its second round survey to collect public feedback on the state’s newly revised K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Academic Standards. The survey requests public feedback through March 31, 2025. 

The State Board of Education is charged in state law to review and approve ELA, social studies, science, and math standards at least every eight years. The K-12 ELA Academic Standards set grade-specific goals that establish what students are expected to know and be able to do by the end of a given grade or course. Tennessee’s K-12 ELA Academic Standards are skill-based, including drafting arguments supported by evidence, and vertically aligned from kindergarten through 12th grade to ensure students are postsecondary and career-ready regardless of pathway or profession.

The first round of public feedback collected almost 25,000 comments from teachers, education leaders, and parents. At the conclusion of the first survey window, teams of Tennessee educators from K-12 schools and higher education reviewed the public comments, which informed their proposed revisions. These revisions are now available for public review in the second survey window.

An overview of the academic standards review process is available on the State Board of Education website. Any questions on the academic standards review process should be sent to tnstandards.review@tn.gov.

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Last week the Metro Nashville Public School System conducted a review of Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle, but you wouldn’t know it unless you paid close attention.

The review was mentioned in the regularly scheduled board meeting, but details were only available during a committee meeting early in the day. The Dorector Review Committee meets semi-annually.

I watched it, and I think the board approves. Teachers and principals likely wish their reviews were conducted in a similar manner, but hey, that’s semantics.

Categories: Education