“Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.”
― Bob Dylan

Round here it is Spring Break time — a welcome respite from the crazy school year.

For families with kids in school, Spring Break sits in that strange place on the calendar. It shows up just when the school year feels like it’s starting to grind people down. The mornings are still early. The homework still piles up. The sports schedules are full. The days are getting longer, but somehow everyone still feels tired.

Spring Break is supposed to be the pause button.

Unfortunately, we ain’t one of those traveling families.

You know the ones. The folks posting pictures from Destin or Panama City or some Caribbean beach while the rest of us are sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and pretending the laundry pile will magically fold itself.

Around here we’ve got baseball, work, and a little bit of battery recharging to keep us occupied — despite the advertised days of freedom.

That’s not a complaint. Just the reality.

Baseball season waits for nobody.

And honestly, after the pace of the school year, sometimes staying home and slowing down is exactly what people need.

Still, the calendar has a way of reminding you that time doesn’t stand still.

The eldest is heading into the final semester of her junior year.

That sentence doesn’t even sound real when I say it out loud.

Junior year.

Which means senior year is right around the corner. Which means college visits, applications, and all those decisions parents spend years pretending they’re not thinking about.

Reality is slowly nipping at our heels.

It’s a surreal feeling watching your kids move through the system that you’ve spent so much time writing about. The years feel long when you’re living them, but when you look back they somehow all compress into a few quick memories.

One day you’re packing lunches.

The next day they’re driving themselves to school.

Time doesn’t ask permission.

It just moves.

So if you had Spring Break this week, I hope you enjoyed it.

Because before long the school year will be over, graduation season will arrive, and summer will roll in before anybody quite feels ready for it.

Meanwhile in Nashville

While families were trying to catch their breath during Spring Break, over on Capitol Hill the Tennessee General Assembly is racing toward the end of its session.

If it feels like it’s been a quick one this year, that’s probably because it has.

Legislative sessions have their own rhythm, and election years tend to move a little faster.

Lawmakers are in a hurry to get out of the halls of power and back on the money trail. Every day spent in Nashville is a day not spent fundraising, campaigning, or reminding voters why they deserve another term.

And this year, there’s a little extra motivation.

Next year at this time Tennessee will have a brand new governor.

And with a new governor comes a brand new Commissioner of Education.

That reality has already started the quiet speculation game.

In education policy circles, people are already asking the question: who’s next?

The Commissioner of Education in Tennessee carries enormous influence. The job controls the implementation of state education policy, oversees the Department of Education, and plays a major role in shaping how legislation actually turns into classroom practice.

In short, it matters.

I’m assuming the current commissioner will take her leave and head back to her home state of Texas once the administration changes hands.

Don’t be surprised if she resumes work with the Jeb Bush-created nonprofit ExcelinEd, which has served as something of a farm system for education leadership across several states.

Which brings up an interesting historical footnote.

The naming of a new commissioner could mark the first time in well over a decade that Tennessee’s education department is led by someone who didn’t come directly out of one of Jeb Bush’s education foundations.

Previous commissioners — Kevin Huffman, Candice McQueen, and Penny Schwinn — all came through the ranks of Chiefs for Change, another Bush-aligned education reform network.

That pipeline has shaped Tennessee education policy for years.

Breaking that pattern would represent a meaningful shift.

Whether that shift actually happens is another story entirely.

When the Bills Start Falling

We are now at that point in the legislative session where the weaker bills begin to fall by the wayside.

It happens every year.

Hundreds of bills get introduced in January. By March, only the ones with real political backing are still moving.

This week saw movement on several education-related proposals, including:

• Expanding the state’s voucher program
• Requiring schools to collect data on undocumented students
• Closing underperforming virtual schools

But the biggest killer of bills this year isn’t common sense.

It’s the fiscal note.

Just like at your house, when money gets tight the list of things you can afford to do suddenly gets a lot shorter.

And right now Tennessee’s state coffers aren’t exactly overflowing.

Revenue projections have cooled, and that means lawmakers have to be more selective about what they pass.

You’d be surprised how many legislative ideas suddenly lose their appeal once somebody attaches a price tag to them.

The Collaborative Conferencing Fight

One bill still moving through the legislature would end collaborative conferencing for teachers.

For those who haven’t followed Tennessee education policy for the last decade, collaborative conferencing replaced collective bargaining after lawmakers eliminated teachers’ unions’ bargaining rights in 2011.

At the time, lawmakers pitched collaborative conferencing as a middle ground — a way for teachers to still have a formal voice in workplace discussions without full union negotiations.

This new proposal goes a step further.

Instead of replacing collaborative conferencing with something new, the bill would simply eliminate the process altogether.

That’s a meaningful change.

The House Education Committee rolled the bill to next week.

Before anyone gets too excited about that delay, there’s an important bit of legislative gamesmanship worth remembering.

The vote was scheduled on the same day the Tennessee Education Association was hosting teachers at the Capitol for their annual advocacy day.

That’s an old legislative trick.

You schedule a vote when the activists are in the building, then roll it to the following week when they’re gone.

Then the bill quietly passes in a much emptier room.

Word around the Capitol is that amendments may be added to soften the blow, but most observers expect the bill to pass out of House Education next week and then clear the full House soon after.

The Senate may be a little trickier.

But odds are the bill eventually passes there as well.

Observation Overload

One issue quietly bubbling beneath the surface is teacher evaluation.

Across Tennessee, teachers are reporting a growing number of classroom observations and walkthroughs.

I’ve heard reports from educators across the state who say they are receiving two or three walkthroughs per day — often without explanation or meaningful feedback.

That’s not exactly the system policymakers envisioned when teacher evaluation reforms were introduced.

One idea gaining traction would create more autonomy for teachers who consistently receive 4- or 5-star ratings in the evaluation system.

In theory, highly rated teachers could face fewer observations and more professional freedom.

But there’s a catch.

The whole idea hinges on the credibility of the rating system itself.

If everyone suddenly becomes a four- or five-star teacher, the ratings stop meaning anything.

That tension has stalled the conversation for now.

Still, don’t be surprised if the issue resurfaces next year.

The “Charlie Kirk Heritage Act”

Meanwhile, over in the State Senate, one of the more unusual bills of the session continues moving forward.

After passing out of committee this week, the so-called “Charlie Kirk Heritage Act” is scheduled to be heard before the full Senate.

If passed, the bill would allow public schools to teach about the influence of religion in American history across nineteen historical topics.

Among the examples listed in the legislation:

• The religious views of the signers of the Declaration of Independence
• Benjamin Franklin’s call for prayer during the Constitutional Convention
• The historical influence of the Black Robe Regiment
• The religious motivations of the Pilgrims
• The role faith played in the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr.

On its surface, the bill frames itself as historical instruction.

Opponents argue it risks crossing the long-established line separating church and state.

The committee’s lone dissenting vote came from Senator Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat from Memphis.

Akbari raised concerns that the bill could influence students rather than simply inform them.

“I don’t think we want to put teachers, especially on higher education campuses, in any sort of situation where they can or cannot teach something,” Akbari said.

“I just think that our public schools are really not the place to push one religion over the other.”

She also noted that American founders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson advocated a clear separation between church and state precisely to protect religious freedom.

There’s also the curious fact that Tennessee seems determined to honor Charlie Kirk despite the conservative activist having little direct connection to the state.

I suspect this one either stalls out next week or quietly dies somewhere in the House.

But stranger things have happened.

Phil Williams Throws Another Fastball

Last week I referred to Channel 5 investigative reporter Phil Williams as an aging superstar no longer quite at the top of his game.

Well, this week the veteran reminded everybody that he can still bring the fastball.

In a follow-up report on MNPS consulting contracts, Williams enlisted Metro Council member Courtney Johnston to examine the numbers tied to a controversial consulting agreement.

The results raised even more questions.

“Number one, the cost of it is exorbitant,” Johnston said.

“When you look at other contracts that are like this, $20,000 a month is a lot — it’s just a lot.”

Under the contract, The Ingram Group agreed to provide services including:

• Strategic planning and execution
• Government relations
• Philanthropic engagement
• Executive coaching
• Organizational performance consulting
• Financial advisory support

That list raised eyebrows.

“When you look at the scope of it,” Johnston said, “the scope reads like the job description of a blend between the chief of staff and the superintendent of schools.”

“Well, we already have a superintendent and a chief of staff — so why are we paying another quarter of a million dollars a year for a consultant to do this?”

She’s not wrong.

Especially when you consider that Superintendent Adrienne Battle’s cabinet has doubled compared to the previous administration.

Currently nine executive chiefs serve on Battle’s leadership team.

Each of them earns over $200,000 annually.

If you compare the consulting contract to those salaries, it’s fair to argue that the Ingram Group is essentially serving as a de facto member of the superintendent’s cabinet.

That’s not exactly a great look.

The Communications Problem

Williams attempted to interview Superintendent Battle about the contract.

The district declined to make her available.

Instead, they issued a prepared statement.

And it’s worth quoting part of it here:

“Given the increasingly complex political and policy environment in which public schools operate, access to multiple sources of institutional knowledge and experience is valuable to Metro Nashville Public Schools.”

Maybe.

But here’s my question.

Are we really paying a communications chief more than $200,000 a year to produce statements like that?

When dealing with investigative reporters, it’s a little like boxing someone with a longer reach.

You don’t stay outside their range.

You step inside and take away the advantage.

Refusing to talk rarely makes the story go away.

In fact, it usually makes it bigger.

Why district leadership thought declining the interview would settle the matter is beyond me.

Did someone really believe an investigative journalist would read that statement and say, “Well, that answers everything”?

To me this smells like betting on political protection.

The assumption seems to be that as long as leadership stays quiet, allies on the school board, the Metro Council, and inside the mayor’s office will provide cover.

Unfortunately for the district, Courtney Johnston apparently didn’t get that memo.

And when elected officials start asking questions, stories like this have a way of growing legs.

As Johnston herself put it:

“My overall concern here is what this indicates. If this is how they’re doing business, what other contracts are being done sole source that are exorbitant in nature, that are wasting our tax dollars?”

That’s a very good question.

Dr. Battle’s Next Appointment

One interview Superintendent Battle won’t be able to avoid is coming up soon.

On March 23rd, MNPS will appear before the State Board of Education.

The meeting is required by state law.

Last year the legislature passed a measure requiring districts with priority schools — schools that consistently rank among the lowest performing in the state — to present improvement plans directly to the state board.

Lawmakers have grown tired of watching the same schools sit on the priority list year after year.

MNPS has several of them.

Which means the district has to show up.

State law also requires that the Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer, and Chief Financial Officer all attend the meeting.

That should make for an interesting discussion.

Because the last time Dr. Battle was scheduled to appear before state lawmakers, she cancelled just hours before the meeting.

That appearance — before the House Education Committee — had actually been requested by the district itself.

Let’s just say the state board will probably expect her to show up this time.

School Board Races Taking Shape

Meanwhile, the next set of MNPS school board elections is beginning to take shape.

Ballots are set, and primaries begin the first week in May.

A quick snapshot of the races:

District 2
Rachel Elrod is running unopposed.

District 8
Erin O’Hara Block is running unopposed.

District 4
Incumbent Berthena Nabaa-McKinney faces challenger Jennifer Bell, a former MNPS employee.

District 6
As usual, this district has the most candidates.

Incumbent Cheryl Mayes faces two challengers: Mary Nernice Polk and former board member Fran Bush.

And if you’ve followed Nashville politics for any length of time, you know Fran Bush has a knack for getting under the establishment’s skin.

That race could get interesting.

Every candidate in this election is a Democrat.

That shouldn’t shock anybody in Nashville.

But it certainly won’t make everyone happy.

We’ll dig deeper into these races as the primaries approach.

The Work Continues

This isn’t corporate media.

There’s no team.

No budget.

No handlers.

It’s just me — trying to keep up, trying to keep you informed, and trying to say what others won’t.

If you value that work:

Venmo: @Thomas-Weber-10
Cash App: $PeterAveryWeber
Tips: Norinrad10@yahoo.com

Categories: Education