Putting Knox County Schools in the TVA Towers will limit public access.
*REAL ID is only one of many concerns regarding placing our public schools’ administrative offices in a federal building. Please see my other posts on the TVA Tower to get a sense of the magnitude of problems with this deal.
WHAT IS A “REAL ID?”
“The REAL ID Act of 2005 establishes minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for certain purposes driver licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards. Beginning October 1, 2020, all persons must have a REAL ID license for accessing certain Federal buildings, entering nuclear facilities, and boarding commercial flights within the United States.”
“Non-compliant driver licenses and identification credentials issued beginning July 1, 2019, will display the phrase, “NOT FOR FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION” on the front of the credential.”
https://www.tn.gov/tnrealid/what-is-real-id.html
 The REAL ID Act of 2005
establishes minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for certain purposes driver licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards.
UNVERIFIED CLAIMS REGARDING 1ST FLOOR ACCESS
After many questions and constantly changing answers, I turned to the entity that is ultimately responsible for enforcing the requirements of the REAL ID Act: Homeland Security.
I CONTACTED HOMELAND SECURITY WITH THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:
Our local school district is considering locating our offices in part of TVA’s East Tower in Knoxville, TN. As we consider this move, there are many questions regarding REAL ID, but one stands out:
We have been told that REAL ID will not be required for access to the first floor of the East Tower (even after October of 2020) and that any person will be able to enter. Since this is still part of a federal building, and is fully connected to the other TVA Tower, that information seems to run contrary to the REAL ID Act.
Can you please tell me whether an individual federal agency (specifically, TVA) has the authority to allow full public access to a large part of a federal building? Any guidance you can give on this issue is greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
THE HOMELAND SECURITY RESPONSE WAS CLEAR:
Thank you for contacting the Department of Homeland Security/REAL ID Program Office.
If the facility does not currently require a driver’s license for entrance it will not be affected by REAL ID.
Thank you,
REAL ID Program Office
Department of Homeland Security
The TVA Tower DOES currently require a driver’s license, for ANY access (and a scan/search of all bags, pass through a metal detector, and a background check!).
It seems very clear to me, that this means that ALL parts of the tower will require a REAL ID for access.
OTHER CONCERNS REGARDING “REAL ID”
Moving any part of our local government into a Federal building will negatively impact marginalized people by keeping them out of public offices everyone should have a right to access.
Real ID was part of a Homeland Security initiative after 9/11, but state compliance was minimal. Had it been rolling out over all this time, it wouldn’t be such a problem.
VERY FEW TENNESSEANS HAVE OBTAINED A “REAL ID”
Based on the story below, from WBIR, only about 4% of Tennesseans will be able to access the offices of our “public” schools administrative offices, if they are moved to the TVA Tower .
Have you called your Board of Education members and your County Commissioners to let them know how you feel? Have you asked why they are willing to take access away from parents, by housing KCS offices in a federal building? Have you asked who really gains from this deal? (Not students)
WBIR:
Only about 4% of Tennesseans have a REAL ID
The Knox County Board of Education works for the passage of new laws designed to advance the cause of improving education and for the repeal or modification of existing laws and the defeat of proposed laws that impede this cause. The Board’s current Legislative Priorities list and other information can be found here: https://www.knoxschools.org/board
KCBOE Legislative Priorities 2018 Final
A Timeline and Explanation of Governor Haslam’s Protested “Listening” Tour
On Tuesday, August 21st at noon, the Tennessee School Boards Association forwarded to school board members, a press release from Governor Haslam’s office:
NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today announced a multi-phase plan, highlighted by a statewide listening tour, to improve delivery of the state’s elementary and secondary assessments known as TNReady. The goals of the engagement plan and tour are to:
- Engage in an open conversation about assessment and ways to improve administration;
- Gather feedback that can inform a smooth delivery of state assessments this school year and beyond, including feedback on the selection of the state’s next assessment partner to be chosen later this school year;
- Discuss how to better provide schools, educators, parents and students with meaningful and timely results from assessments; and
- Distinguish assessment content from delivery in an effort to focus on the value assessments can provide.
“Tennessee’s unprecedented improvement in education is the result of high academic standards and an assessment that measures knowledge of those standards,” Haslam said. “Without aligned assessments, we don’t know where our students stand and where we need to improve. We finally have a test that is aligned to Tennessee’s strong academic standards, and I don’t want recent assessment delivery issues to cause us to lose sight of why we have these tests in the first place. Delivering the test without disruption is essential and we must get it right. I am confident this listening tour and process will inform the critical work ahead of us.”
The listening tour will consist of six stops throughout the state and provide an opportunity for educators, school technology and assessment coordinators, and school district administrators to share information about recent challenges related to the online delivery of state assessments. Each meeting will encourage feedback on how the state can continue to improve its assessment; a discussion of steps made to-date to improve test administration in 2018-19; and a conversation on ways to improve test delivery through the oversight and selection of the state’s next assessment partner, which will occur later this school year. Haslam and Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Candice McQueen will attend each leg of the tour.
Haslam has tapped former long-time educator, and former executive director of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, Wayne Miller to facilitate the listening tour meetings and outcomes.
“As someone who has spent his entire career in public education, I know when difficult issues arise it often takes more listening than talking to resolve them and move forward in partnership and collaboration,” Miller said. “I am excited about the process the governor has put forward and honored to facilitate conversations with educators throughout the state. We are all in this together.”
To assist with the listening tour, Haslam has convened an educator advisory team to guide the feedback sessions with Miller. Advisory team members will participate in each meeting, gather information and feedback and develop a set of principles and recommendations for consideration by the governor as well as the next administration. The three-member advisory team includes:
- Cicely Woodard, the 2018 Tennessee Teacher of the Year and a math teacher at Freedom Middle School in Franklin Special School District;
- Derek Voiles, the 2017 Teacher of the Year and an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Lincoln Heights Middle School in Hamblen County School District; and
- Dr. Mike Winstead, the current Tennessee Superintendent of the Year and Maryville City Director of Schools.
“Tennessee educators are committed to improving educational outcomes for our students, and assessments are an important and necessary component for us to meet that commitment,” Woodard said. “I am appreciative of the governor’s recognition of the need to continue to get feedback, and I look forward to working with the governor and educators to improve assessment delivery.”
The listening tour will begin Friday, Aug. 24, in Knoxville and be followed by stops planned for Hamilton County, Shelby County, Williamson County, Greene County and Gibson County. Specific locations and times are being finalized.
Following the listening tour, the next phases of the process will include implementing feedback from the listening tour, refining the requirements of the state’s next assessment partner, providing on-the-ground oversight of the fall test administration, and developing opportunities for feedback from educators and stakeholders.
Later, in response to questions from Knox County Schools, Governor Haslam’s press secretary sent this information, which later proved to be false:
The meetings are open and we will send out a media advisory on Thursday morning.
The invitations are being extended to teachers, principals, test administrators, etc. to sit around the table and be part of the discussion. The goal of the listening tour is to hear from the people on the ground, directly involved with the testing, to get their direct feedback on how to make this process better. That is why it is being limited to educators. But your school board members are welcome to attend.
Thank you,
Jennifer
Jennifer Donnals | Press Secretary
State Capitol, Ground Floor
600 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37243
Of particular concern, is that the Governor’s office never requested to use the facilities or followed ANY or our KCS policies regarding use of our facilities. Select sections of the policy are here:
Policy E-130: Community Use of School Facilities
GENERAL REGULATIONS The use of school buildings and property may be permitted in accordance with these regulations at any time when the principal states that the premises are not required for school purposes.
….
School property may be used for school-related activities on weekdays without application and without charge if permission is granted by the principal of the school. However, this use must still be scheduled by the school to avoid the creation of conflicting facilities reservations.
…
It shall not be necessary for any application to be made to use the school facilities for any school related activity. However, school-related activities shall be properly scheduled and tracked to ensure that conflicts in scheduling do not arise. School-related activities include:
a) parent-teacher activities;
b) activities of school-related civic clubs, groups or School Support Organizations ;
c) school club meetings, properly supervised by a teacher in the school;
d) classroom groups properly supervised, and
e) educational meetings called by the principal or authorized member of the school administrative staff.
All such meetings are to be arranged through the principal of the school involved.
While state law requires that school boards across the state implement and enforce policies for their school districts, that becomes impossible when some believe they are above following those policies.
From the beginning, the process was laid out just like the unethical “Delphi Method” we have repeatedly experienced in Knox County. A most basic summary of this method is that it uses very practiced facilitators to guide discussion ONLY where the facilitators want it to go, while manipulating discourse to come to PRE-DETERMINED conclusions.
The media, while reporting as much as possible, with limited background knowledge, fails to notice seemingly insignificant contradictions and participants are arranged so that they are unable to see the whole group and CANNOT see these manipulations. This is why it is NECESSARY, with regard to transparency, that meetings be FULLY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, and also why those planning the meetings work to ensure that the full meeting cannot be seen. This can be achieved either by manipulating the size of the group and the space to be so small that it is visually impossible to see the full meeting or by opening the meeting like a public meeting, but then dividing into small groups in multiple rooms. Ensuring that NO person can hear all of the discussion allows them to later publish whatever “results” they like.
An example of Delphi style manipulation can be found in the questions asked of math teachers who participated:
The facilitator asked how many math teachers were in the room and because I had chosen my own seat, rather than the seat provided for me, I was at a corner of the square arrangement and could easily see 7 hands go up. However, those in the group or those close to the group could not turn their heads quickly enough to see all hands, before he asked the next question. The facilitator asked how many of those teachers preferred a paper test and counted to five out loud. He then asked how many preferred computer-based tests and counted to three, trailing off and acting suddenly confused. He then quickly asked the first question again, quickly counted five, quickly asked the second question again, counting to FIVE, and said, “So, it is about half and half, right?”
The back and forth had confuses people who might have seen these were not the same or who may have noticed that there were NOT ten math teachers in the group. However, since those at the front, the facilitators, and others are already nodding in agreement, they feel pressure to also agree.
Based on the pre-printed nameplates, which ensure nobody participates without being specifically selected, there were very few identified as “math” teachers. This makes it even more difficult for anyone to determine WHO even answered the question. Those identified by only their grade level may have self-identified as math teachers, but there is no opportunity to determine that or whether some of those representing the Department of Education also answered.
Whether the teachers were actually split, 50/50, is impossible to determine by anyone in the room. However, the final conclusion he came to may not have even really been noticed to match NONE of that. The final, announced, conclusion was, “So you all feel that a combination of paper and online would be best.”
No, no, NO!
Nobody in that room said that, with the exception of the facilitator.
NOBODY.
Yet, that is the conclusion that is recorded as coming from this group.
Will the next governor use this unethical method? It depends on whether YOU and I ALLOW this to continue. And THAT depends on whether YOU an I continue to vote for the legislators who are CURRENTLY IN OFFICE, who KEEP VOTING TO KEEP TNREADY, and who REFUSE TO HOLD ACCOUNTABLE, the testing company, QUESTAR, or the COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.
While some of our legislators, in this ELECTION SEASON, are suddenly declaring that they disagree with all of this, we know that they have not stopped it, after EIGHT YEARS. And if they haven’t stopped this after EIGHT YEARS, they sure as hell aren’t going to stop it just because there is a new governor in town.
As long as we keep these legislators, Tennessee students will continue to suffer, while parents, teachers, and the public are lied to, regarding trumped up visions of “successes” used to make the governor look like he has actually done something while in office.
JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE FOUNDERS OF PROJECT GRAD KNOXVILLE
April 17, 2018
As the original founders of the Project GRAD Knoxville partnership with Knox County Schools, we want to thank the Knox County School Board for delaying its vote on the FY18 budget and for its consideration of restoring full funding to KCS’s partnership with Project GRAD.
For some who may not know the history, when Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) started in 2001, it was the first major public-private partnership with Knox County Schools. What led to this partnership was the fact that our inner-city schools, filled predominantly with low-income students, were failing miserably with graduation rates that were less than 50 percent. As a result, college-attendance and post-secondary success by these students were almost non-existent, and at least one of our 14 inner-city schools (Maynard Elementary) was slated to be closed by the State of Tennessee. At that time, our community came together to address the specific needs of Knox County’s most vulnerable children and to turn these dismal stats around.
The School System and Project GRAD Knoxville jointly agreed to measurable goals from the very beginning: 1) Move graduation rates at our inner-city schools from 50 percent to more than 80 percent; 2) Push our college (and other postsecondary education) going rate to more than 50 percent of those high school graduates; and 3) Continuously improve our post-secondary completion rate. Working together, we jointly met these measurable goals by 2012, and have met or exceeded the goals almost every year since.
Because of the success of the Project GRAD joint effort, the Great Schools Partnership was formed to work on other partnerships with the school system, such as Community Schools, the Parents-as-Teachers Birth-to-Kindergarten program, and Leaders for Readers. Again jointly, the partners agreed to a goal of becoming the Best School System in the South; and Project GRAD Knoxville agreed to become a permanently linked supporting organization of the Great Schools Partnership to make sure there is full programmatic and financial alignment.
Project GRAD has been funded as a public-private partnership from its beginning. The highest costs to implement Project GRAD were in the first 5 years. Private donors agreed to cover more than 75 percent of those up-front costs and the school system agreed to cover the majority of annual costs in subsequent continuing years. In recent years, Knox County School’s $1 million annual investment in Project GRAD has leveraged an additional $1.5 million each year in private and other funding— funding that would be at great risk if the school board chooses to end its partnership with Project GRAD. All-in-all in nearly 18 years, the School System’s $18 million in funding has leveraged over $32 million in private and other support for the Project Grad partnership.
Project GRAD has become a symbol of hope and opportunity in our community, as everyone could see through the massive grassroots’ turnout to the April 9th Knox County School Board Workshop of more than 1,000 citizens from all walks of life—students, graduates, teachers, principals, parents, clergy, and neighborhood, business, non-profit and government leaders. Just as importantly, current 9th graders at Fulton and Austin-East have already been promised and signed four-year scholarship contracts; have been promised on-campus summer academies at Pellissippi State, the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee College of Applied Technologies; and have been promised robust family, social service, funding, college, and career supports. To end this partnership abruptly without fulfilling those promises is unacceptable.
It is difficult to fathom that our school board would reject the advances of the past 18 years, and unilaterally tear down the partnership bridges that have been built to increase the success rates of our most under-privileged children, with nothing proposed of relevance to replace the current joint effort. This community has made promises that need to be fulfilled to these children. In addition, the school board’s decision will impact continued and future public-private partnerships of all kinds for many years to come. We, the undersigned below, strongly urge the school board to focus on these concerns and we appreciate the school board’s action to take the time to thoughtfully consider a better resolution.
Sincerely, Project GRAD’s founding partners
(Please see the following page for the names of all who have signed in support of this statement.)
2001 Knox County Schools’ Partners
• Sam Anderson, former KCS School Board representative
• Jerry Hodges, founding executive director of Project GRAD
• Montina Jones, former KCS Vine principal
• Marion Quinn, former KCS Austin-East principal
• Michael Reynolds, former KCS Fulton principal
• Dr. Sharon Roberts, former KCS elementary principal
• Gloria Deathridge, current KCS School Board
2001 Business/Foundation Partners
• Chrisi Haretos (Bollinger)
• Governor Bill Haslam, who served as Project GRAD chair until he took office as governor in 2010
• Larry Martin, former COO of First TN Financial Services
• Lila Pfleger, Executive Director of Lucille S. Thompson Family Foundation
2001 Partnering Organizations
• Dr. Allen Edwards, former Pellissippi State president
• Dr. Robert Levy, former University of Tennessee executive
• Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and former director of Knoxville’s Promise – The Alliance of Youth
Once again, the Tennessee Department of Education has both failed to deliver a usable achievement test and refused to accept responsibility. The email from Commissioner McQueen to Directors of Schools makes it clear that they are blaming everything EXCEPT the department’s continued failures:
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 3:07 PM
Subject: RE: Update on Nextera
Directors,
Let me first express my appreciation at your patience and flexibility with the issue this morning. The issue earlier today was not related to either volume of student testers or a server issue. It was also not a problem with the test delivery system – Nextera – any network or broadband performance, nor any district action. It was not a “crash.” Our understanding from Questar is the issue was related to a conflict between the Classroom Assessment Builder (CAB) and the test delivery system, which previously shared the same log-in system. This conflict immediately caused unacceptable log-in delays for some students. That issue has been resolved, and we feel good going into testing tomorrow.
More than 20,000 test sessions have been started and/or completed since the fix was applied at 10:30 a.m., and the platform worked as anticipated in maintaining students’ progress and allowing students to complete their test despite the log-in issues.
We understand many of you suspended testing today, and we apologize for the unanticipated scheduling changes this issue may have caused. Our hope is that all testing is completed within the three-week testing window and that subpart 1 for English language arts and U.S. history is completed this week. If you believe you will need additional time, please reach out to tned.assessment@tn.gov. However, timeliness is very important to ensuring that score reports and raw scores are delivered on the original timeline.
Finally, we know many of you have experienced long wait times with Questar customer service. We have escalated this issue with them.
Please continue to reach out. Thanks for your coordination with us today.
Candice
Candice McQueen, Ph.D. | Commissioner
Andrew Johnson Tower, 9th Floor
710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243
p: 615-741-5158
candice.mcqueen@tn.gov
tn.gov/education
TNClassroomChronicles.org
We haven’t been given any indication of what the Department of Education considers to be a “state-wide” issue, but this list of outages, compiled from Facebook posts and personal contacts, looks pretty far-reaching:
Bedford
Bledsoe
Blount
Bradley
Campbell
Carroll
Cheatham
Chester
Coffee
Cumberland
Davidson
Decatur
Dickson
Fayette
Franklin
Greene
Grundy
Hamilton
Henry
Houston
Jefferson
Knox
Lake
Lake County
Macon
Marion
Maryville City
McMinn
Milan SSD
Monroe
Putnam
Roane
Robertson
Rutherford
Shelby
Stewart
Stewart
Sumner
Tipton
Union
Washington
Weakley
Williamson
Wilson
The Knox County Board of Education works for the passage of new laws designed to advance the cause of improving education and for the repeal or modification of existing laws and the defeat of proposed laws that impede this cause. The Board’s current Legislative Priorities list and other information can be found here: https://www.knoxschools.org/board
KCBOE Legislative Priorities 2018 Final
Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation spread regarding the Knox County Schools employee and student harassment policies. I want share factual information, rather than trying to address every false claim that is being spread.
The Knox County Board of Education reviews every policy, every year. It is actually required by state law, that we review policies at least every other year, and that we have a schedule and a review timeline. The Tennessee School Boards Association recommends a one-year cycle, like the one we use in Knox County.
During policy review, many suggestions were sent in from community members. Some of them were in conflict with other policies and in conflict with state law. While discussing suggestions, it was realized that the current policy fails to even meet basic federal language, which is a problem. Because “sex” is the word that was left out, it becomes a HUGE problem when looking at actual protections regarding gender identity and sexual orientation.
Right now, we have gender and sexual orientation listed in a way that is not recognized federally AND without the ONE word that has stood the test of time, and has repeatedly been used in handing down decisions regarding discrimination and harassment cases. Most people do not understand that case law is a part of law because it shows exactly how laws have been interpreted and it sets a standard for other cases to follow. EVERYTHING in court decisions that protects our students regarding gender identity and sexual orientation and regarding discrimination and harassment has fallen under that umbrella.
To discard EVERY positive step that has been made, in exchange for language that gives people a false sense of safety, would be a travesty – and it is DEEPLY concerning that this was ever allowed to happen to our policies.
What we DO have in our current policy is language that is more inclusive than any other language we have been sent as a “template” for improvement. I have not seen other policies that make it clear that NO harassment will be tolerated. Though the Metro Nashville policy has been repeatedly referenced, it is important to look at what it actually says:
The school system prohibits any form of harassment based upon age, religion, marital status, creed, disability, color, race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or appearance, or sex, including sexual harassment.
It DOES NOT say that the district prohibits any form of harassment, period. It qualifies “any form” with language that clearly does not include all possible harassment.
The Knox County Schools’ policy goes further, by including other forms of harassment that are not listed:
Knox County Schools does not discriminate in its programs or employment practices nor does it tolerate harassment for any reason including, but not limited to, …
The policy continues with
Harassment by any employee will not be tolerated.
This not only covers every kind of harassment of every employee, but it ensures that we are not creating an unintended consequence by being so specific that we create a category in which people cannot be protected.
The student policy also goes beyond other suggested templates, by removing the limitations others, like Metro Nashville impose:
Knox County Schools does not discriminate in its programs nor does it tolerate harassment for any reason including, but not limited to,…
Also included, is language similar to the employee policy:
Harassment of any student will not be tolerated.
I have repeatedly asked people to please give me ANY example of a case that has been found in favor of the person being harassed or discriminated against, which did NOT fall under the protective umbrella of “sex.” I still have nothing that shows that students or staff will have any kind of security with language dangling out there by itself, with no federally protected category to back it up. No one has shown me anything that gives that language any ACTUAL strength.
What I have been able to find, is a wide range of feeling about language that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. This includes Board members’ explanations of how they intend the policy to be carried out – and that is important.
After discussion with many community members, I have submitted a possible amendment to the policy, which maintains all federally necessary language, maintains the KCS language which ensures broad coverage of everyone, and adds a definition to show that the Board understands “sex” in the context of the EEOC definition:
”Sex” includes anything related to sex, gender, sexual orientation, or perception of such, as interpreted by the EEOC: “As the federal law enforcement agency charged with interpreting and enforcing Title VII, EEOC has concluded that harassment and other discrimination because of sexual orientation is prohibited sex discrimination.”
This amended language has been sent to Board members, for inclusion in this week’s agenda. Since an amendment is voted on before voting on the main motion, this amendment will only be included if two things happen: The Board votes with at least 5 in favor of the amendment AND the Board votes with at least 5 IN FAVOR of the main motion, which is attached to this weeks agenda:
Knox County Schools does not discriminate in its programs nor does it tolerate harassment for any reason including, but not limited to, harassment on the basis of actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, sex, national origin, disability, religion, race, color, creed or any other Federally identified protected area.
Supporting the amendment does NOT mean that you also support removing the red-lined language. However, that definition will ONLY be added if the redlined changes are adopted.
I hope that this clears up some of the misinformation that is out there and that you will let others know that there is no attempt to reverse policy, but to correct language that gives a false sense of security, while maintaining language that has real support at all levels.
The Knox County Schools Board of Education recognized a need to make changes to discipline practices several years ago. After nearly three years of work, a clear and comprehensive plan has been created and presented for the Board to approve, but suddenly, there is a huge political push to put the brakes on all of our work.
At the June work session, I realized that policy language that had been agreed to in the review committee had not been fully transcribed to the policy document that was to be voted on during the next regular session. Though the staff scrambled to correct the error, I felt it was too late to post the corrected language in a timeframe that could be reasonably considered transparent communication with the public. I made the motion to put off the vote until the July meeting, so the public would know exactly what language was up for vote.
The Board seemed to have consensus regarding the policies and even discussed waiving two readings. We had certainly agreed to this language in the review sessions.
Within weeks, political forces began working overtime to convince the public that three years of work and multiple opportunities for public input never happened. Many are now fighting AGAINST improving our discipline guidelines. I would like to be amazed, but I am more disheartened, that people would have either so much tainted political dependence or such evil in their souls that it would cause them to work against helping children.
The idea that changes to discipline policies in Knox County Schools have popped up suddenly, and without ample time and opportunity for community input is being pushed by those with a solid agenda to maintain the status quo and the school to prison pipeline. It is being sold by those who want to ensure that principals in Knox County Schools have NO autonomy to make the decisions necessary for equitable and appropriate treatment of the students in their schools. These people want to ensure that students are given “equal” consequences – whether children are 8 or 18 years old. Most of these individuals have never worked in any classroom – and have neither the experience nor the basic understanding of student behavior to begin to comprehend the potential consequences of their misguided proposals.
I have not been able to find ANY of these individuals who have READ the proposed guidelines.
These changes have been a work in progress for many years, the largest and most public piece of work beginning in November 2014, with the creation of the Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force. The Task force was made up of community members who were business leaders, faith-based leaders, experienced community volunteers, and teachers, administrators, and parents of Knox County Schools students, as well as Knox County Schools students. Their goal was to consider reported outcomes in academic achievement and discipline in Knox County Schools and recommend ways to address disparities that seemed to be correlated with income, race, language, or disability. (Members of the original Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force are listed at the end.)
Those who claim that school administrators and other staff have not been involved and/or had input into changes in discipline are ignoring basic facts: Principals have been involved in these changes for at least two years. At the October 29, 2015 Principals’ Meeting, all K-12 principals were engaged in a discussion related to disparities in educational and discipline outcomes in the Knox County Schools. That meeting yielded NINETEEN pages of notes from principal input, which has been continuously available to the public, here:
https://www.knoxschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=34393&dataid=27534&FileName=Principals%20Forum%20Notes.docx
Principals have also been involved in many other meetings regarding discipline changes that are needed in Knox County Schools. They have met for discussions, have submitted ideas and concerns to their supervisors, and repeated that process many times. I have been told that all of their concerns were addressed and all of the changes they requested were integrated into the current guidelines. When I sat in on one of these meetings, it was very clear to me that principals in that meting were ready to embrace moving forward with these guidelines to better serve the students of Knox County Schools and grow toward meeting more of our students’ social and emotional needs.
One notable recommendation from principals: “Whole community support”
We can only build community support by involving the community. In December 2015, the “Superintendent and the members of the DEO Task Force invited students, families, educators, and community members to participate in a community meeting to share options, triumphs, and challenges with regard to their observations and personal experiences with disparities in discipline and education.”
DEO Task Force – Community Forum Video – December, 2015:
https://www.knoxschools.org/Page/13651
The recommendations presented by the DEO Task Force at a community meeting in April 2016 were drafted using the input, suggestions, and opinions of those who attended that meeting, in addition to all of the other input that the Task Force had already solicited from all of us who are concerned with creating the best possible schools for all students.
DEO Task Force – Community Forum Video – April, 2016
https://www.knoxschools.org/Page/14017
To continue the work begun by the DEO Task Force, The Disparities in Educational Outcomes’ Steering Committee was created. It is made up of members of the original Task Force as well as other community, governmental and educational leaders. (Current Steering Committee members are listed at the end of this document.) Its charge is to:
- Review progress, discuss issues and refine efforts
- Identify and include additional stakeholder perspectives and expertise to include subcommittee working groups
- Evaluate outcomes and ensure public accountability and transparency
- Regularly solicit input from the community, follow up on concerns and communicate frequently with Knox County Schools leadership to address issues.
The community expressed great concern that the work of the Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force will be ignored by the Knox County Schools administration and the Knox County Board of Education. Based on our history with such recommendations, this is not an unwarranted concern. The difference between the 2007 task force recommendations and the 2017 recommendations, however, is that Knox County Schools has been moving forward with the recommendations this time around. Those whose livelihoods depend on suspending or incarcerating high numbers of youth, as well as those who depend on using those incarcerations to move their political agendas must be terrified that we will succeed in helping our students find better coping behaviors that help them stay in school, graduate on time, and move on to be excellent citizens.
Other reading on the topic:
http://knoxfocus.com/2016/05/disparities-in-educational-outcomes-task-force-shares-draft-recommendations/
http://knoxfocus.com/2016/06/school-board-votes-to-approve-amended-disparities-resolution/
Members of the original Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force
- Charme Allen, Knox Co. District Attorney General
- Elizabeth Alves, KCS Exec. Dir. of Curriculum
- Pastor Daryl Arnold, Overcoming Believers Church
- Tomma Battle, parent
- Susan Benner, University of Tennessee
- Adolphus Brown, Coldwell Banker
- Terry Brown, Knox County Juvenile Court
- Dr. John Butler, Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church
- Andre Canty, Highlander Research & Education Center
- Michelle Casini, KCS Spanish Teacher
- Ronni Chandler, Project GRAD
- Maurice Chunn, KCS student
- Tanya Coats, KCS Curriculum Specialist, Farragut IS
- Clifford Davis, KCS Chief of Staff
- Rabbi Alon Ferency, Heska Amuna Synagogue
- Rita Geier, retired attorney
- Coral Getino, parent
- Chad Hensley, KCS, SDHS Master Teacher
- Timothy Irwin, Knox Co. Juvenile Court
- Sheriff J.J. Jones, Knox County Sheriff’s Office
- Kamau Kenyatta, KCS Asst. Principal – Karns MS
- Nathan Langlois, KCS Principal – Austin-East HS
- Sam Lee, Knox Co. General District Attorney
- Rosa Mar, Retired Community Volunteer
- Missy Massie, KCS Exec. Dir. Student Support Services
- Alise Ndacayisaba, student
- Phyllis Nichols, Knoxville Area Urban League
- Randy Nichols, Knox County Sheriff’s Office
- Chief David Rausch, Knoxville Police Department
- Mayor Madeline Rogero, City of Knoxville
- Amber Rountree, Knox County Board of Education
- Mark Stephens, Knox County Public Defender’s Office
- Thomas Strickland, City of Knoxville
- Rosalyn Tillman, Pellissippi State Community College
- Cindy White, KCS Principal – Vine Middle School
- Kim Wilburn-Cullom, KCS Principal – Maynard Elem.
Current Steering Committee Members
- Andre Canty– Co-chair, Highlander Research & Education Center
- Jered Croom– Co-chair, Parent Representative
- Bob Thomas, Superintendent, Knox County Schools
- Charme Allen, Knox Co. District Attorney General
- Chania Arnold, KCS Student
- Tomma Battle, Parent
- Christian Blair, KCS Student
- Terry Brown, Knox County Juvenile Court
- John Butler, Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church
- Emma Cosigua, Parent
- Coral Getino, Parent
- Alex Lundy, KCS Student
- Rosa Mar, CEO, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Phyllis Nichols, President, Knoxville Area Urban League
- Randy Nichols, Knox County Sheriff Department
- Angela Patrick, Teacher, Belle Morris Elementary
- David Rausch, Chief, Knoxville Police Department
- Bryson Rosser, Teacher, Central High School
- Mark Stephens, Knox County Public Defender Office
- Rosalyn Tillman, Dean, Pellissippi State Com. College
- Juan Villegas, KCS Student
- Cindy White, Principal, Vine Middle School
- Missy Massie, KCS Dir., Student Support Services
- Jeannie Dulaney, KCS Director of Community Relations
KNOX COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SPECIAL CALLED MEETING TO SELECT A SUPERINTENDENT MONDAY, MARCH 20TH, 2017 – 3PM The Knox County Board of Education has scheduled a special-called meeting at 3 p.m. on Monday, March 20, 2017, to select its Director of Schools from the two superintendent finalists for Knox County Schools. The meeting, which will be held in the first-floor board room of the Andrew Johnson Building, 912 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902, will take the place of the board’s regular scheduled mid-month work session. It will be broadcast live on KCS-TV Comcast Cable Channel 10 and streamed live at knoxschools.org/kcstv.
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