“The performance is over.”
The audience got up.
“It’s time to put on your fur coats and go home.”
They looked round.
But it turned out that there were no fur coats and no homes.”
― Donald Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him

Over the last several years, I’ve had the opportunity to watch Penny Schwinn testify before various government entities. The proceedings always seem to follow a familiar pattern—fast talk punctuated by batted eyelashes. Yesterday, in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the former Tennessee State Education Commissioner stuck to the same playbook. 

For the most part, the Commissioner avoided any real gotcha moments. But again, at times, she spoke so rapidly that deciphering what she was saying was akin to unhooking a freshly caught trout. When needed, Ms. Schwinn batted her eyes and handed out accolades and compliments to the Senators. 

I did chuckle a bit when she avowed to be a fan of local control during her tenure in Tennessee, forgetting her scheme to get districts to tithe back some of their federal money to support Tennessee’s Accelerated Literacy and Learning Corps(All Corps). Districts that participated not only got money, $700 per student, towards paying for individual tutors but also got a handy dandy guide of friends and family who are deemed high-quality tutors by the TNDOE. The only rule for participating was sharing your federal money.

While we are on the subject of tutoring, Ms. Schwinn gets accolades for creating a statewide tutoring program to combat learning loss brought on by the pandemic. However, few have dug into the research that shows tutoring has not been an overly effective means of combating learning loss. 

This would have been a good point for Senators to raise during Thursday’s hearing: “You support high-dosage tutoring. What adjustments are you proposing that would ensure that the program is reaching the kids who really need it?”

Needless to say, that question wasn’t asked. 

Instead, the Senators seemed more focused on their words than on hers. The time granted each Senator to answer questions was primarily devoted to the Senator voicing their favorite talking points. 

Among my favorites was Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s impassioned plea for schools to remove cell phones. Apparently, eliminating these devices is the wolfsbane to distraction in schools. 

NEWSFLASH: I was distracted in school in 1981 and all the years before, and I didn’t have a cell phone. 

Here’s what drives me nuts and increasingly begs the question: Is compliance valued over learning?

Every business person I talk to these days is discussing the emergence of AI in the business world. They also continually discuss their dependence on cell phones in their daily work lives. I’d argue that a progressive technology initiative would provide students with smartphones instead of computers.

I manage a mobile bartending service. We are currently exploring the option of adopting an online scheduling platform. The platform would perform all of the administrative tasks we’ve been doing by hand. As we dig deeper into this, it becomes clear that the amount of time we’ll be saving by making the switch can’t be overstated. 

The vast majority of our interaction with any platform we select is through a mobile device. Therefore, it might be beneficial to be fluent in using a cell phone instead of a laptop. 

The use of mobile devices has become the norm in songwriting. 

If the plumber comes to your house and makes a repair, they are presenting you a bill on a cell phone. 

I could go on for days, listing the multitudes of ways that cell phones are an integral part of adult life. Yet, policymakers are continually demanding their removal because those damn kids just won’t listen. 

It drives me nuts, and we are heading down the same path with AI.

But I digress. 

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire questioned the administration’s decision to end grants to train and hire K-12 school mental health professionals, part of a 2022 law that passed with bipartisan support. 

“Do you think that what the department did helps or hurts the communities that were counting on the funding that they were promised?” she asked. “If confirmed, do you commit to reigning in the chaos and operational failures we see at the department?” 

Schwinn said the department will open a new competition for those grants and promised to “have an efficient, effective and outcomes-oriented department.”

That’s laughable. Name one time Schwinn initiated a program that was “efficient, effective and outcomes-oriented.“ 

Do you one better? Cite me three times when those adjectives have been used in the same sentence as her name. I have time to wait. 

Schwinn built her reputation on being a disrupter. I don’t believe she’s overseen a department that hasn’t been plagued by “chaos and operational failures.” That’s kind of her brand.

In response to questioning from GOP Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, Schwinn made a case for the USDOE’s role in ensuring states intervene in their lowest-performing schools. 

Again, this is laughable, considering that Schwinn repeatedly ignored the USDOE’s effort to ensure that Tennessee was doing just that throughout her tenure. 

U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) asked Schwinn about President Trump’s contemplation of dismantling the Department of Education.

“I support the president’s [executive order], which is to explore all of the opportunities and options around what is in the best interest of students, including shuttering the Department of Education,“ said Schwinn.

Imagine interviewing for a job that may not exist in the next year or two? What’s the point. 

I’ll tell you what the point is – personal enrichment. 

All you have to do is look at Schwinn’s disclosure form and see how she benefited from the relationships she formed at every stop on her professional journey, not just for her but for her husband, Paul. He hasn’t had a job in 2o years, which hasn’t been facilitated by her rise to power. 

Let’s not forget instances in Texas and Tennessee, as summarized by Linda Jacobson in The 74.

They include a $4.4 million no-bid contract that the Texas Education Agency signed in 2017 with SPEDx, a Georgia software startup, despite what a state audit called Schwinn’s “professional relationship“ with a subcontractor for the company. At the time, she was a deputy superintendent of the state agency.

Critics also point to an $8 million deal in 2021 that the Tennessee Department of Education signed with TNTP. At the time, her husband, Paul Schwinn, was employed by this teacher training organization. The state’s procurement office approved the contract, and Schwinn agreed to distance herself from the project, but some lawmakers considered the deal a “huge conflict.“

If congressional approval is granted, the former Tennessee Commissioner will agree to divest herself from many of her holdings while serving as Deputy Secretary. But who is going to hold her that promise? Who will ensure she does what she says and doesn’t take a stray check from Blake Harris, a former advisor of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, with whom she owns multiple commercial properties and shares other business interests? 

Hell, she already indicated that she’ll continue to play fast and loose with the rules when she started a new business venture weeks after her announcement of appointment and failed to include it on her disclosure sheet. Only when called out by the education policy journal The74 was the company dissolved. 

Records show that she established a Florida LLC with Donald Fennoy, the former director of the Palm Beach County School District, in February, shortly after President Donald Trump nominated her for the position. In late March, her sister took over the company before it was subsequently dissolved, leading to questions regarding the timing of these events. March before it was disbanded, raising questions about the timing.

Her recently purchased home, in an affluent Nashville neighborhood, is not listed on her disclosure form? Why

I would have loved to hear someone ask, “How do we know that your income won’t just be rerouted to your sister and deposited in the recently created family trust?“

Here’s another one I’d like to ask: “Can you promise that the USDOE won’t be used, similar to past appointments, as your personal employment agency?“ 

When Schwinn came to Tennessee, she brought about a half dozen Texas friends, none of whom are still employed by the TNDOE. 

Former state deputy superintendent Lisa Coons has already found employment with the USDOE.

TNDOE’s former HR director, David Donaldson, runs a self-created grow-your-own-teacher program that could certainly use some USDOE time. However, I’m not sure business partner Harris would be thrilled with a Donaldson reunion. 

Ex-Chief of Staff Rebecca Shah is willing to use personal relations for financial gain. Her company, ILO Group LLC, founded by herself and two other former Chiefs for Change executives, found itself under scrutiny by the Rhode Island AG within six months of forming, accused of rigging the contract process through personal relations. 

Julia Rafal-Baer served as chief operating officer at Chiefs for Change before leaving to find ILO in March. Another partner, Cerena Parker, was Chiefs for Change’s director of operations. Rebecca Shah, the third partner, was a fellow at Chiefs for Change.

Shah recently left ILo and started her own consulting firm. A little work, either at or with the USDOE, couldn’t hurt, could it? That’s two names; I can think of at least a dozen more. 

Does any of it matter? No.

But I’m pretty confident that Schwinn will dip back into her collection of playbooks and pull out the one in which she pisses a bunch of people off. They moan and groan but fail to hold her accountable. She leaves before the contract is complete, and the brand emerges more enriched. 

All you have to do is look at Delaware, Texas, Tennessee, and the University of Florida. The writing is on the wall, but will anyone read it?

– – –

This one is bigger than it may appear. A Chattanooga school has agreed to pay $100,000 to the family of a boy who said the school wrongfully reported him to police for threatening mass violence.

In the wake of the Covenant and Antioch shootings, state legislators have raised the penalty for students who purportedly threaten violence against a school. While the intentions may be noble, the consequences are not. 

The first law, enacted in 2023, mandates that public schools expel students for one year if they threaten mass violence against the school.

The second law, enacted in 2024, introduces a felony charge for making such threats.

Critics argue that these laws are vague and excessively harsh. They also point out that the rules are contradictory; one law requires expulsion only if a threat is deemed credible, while the other mandates that police charge individuals, including minors, with felonies regardless of the threat’s validity.

The result is that dozens of students have been swept up and charged despite questions of validity. The laws also ignore that we are primarily talking about 14-16-year-old boys who find everything funny. When I say everything, I mean everything. And no, your charming young man is not different.

These laws, created in an effort to protect students, actually put other students in harm’s way, playing Russian roulette with their future.

This ruling may slow that role, lest districts be forced to pay families for their mistakes.

– – –

Tennessee teachers are supposed to receive a $2k bonus this year as part of Governor Lee’s ESA legislation. The funny thing is, nobody is really talking about it.

For teachers to receive the bonus, school districts must sign off on a resolution endorsing the ESA program. One district, Grundy, has told the state to pound sand. They don’t need their blood money. A strange position to take in a district as poor as Grundy County, which won’t be directly affected by ESAs. 

Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools passed a resolution on May 13th, but state documents don’t reflect the district submitting the form to the state. Per that document, Grundy and MNPS are listed as the only two districts not submitting. 

In Nashville, if the district did indeed submit the paperwork, distribution details remained sketchy. 

Rumor has it that the money will be distributed in July through a taxed check. The assumption is that it will be one lump sum, but it could come in installments. 

A little sunshine sure would come in handy. This teacher’s family could certainly use the extra lettuce. 

– – –

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Categories: Education