A Week's Worth of Rumination

“I pity people who can't find laughter or at least some bit of amusement in the little doings of the day. I believe I could find something ridiculous even in the saddest moment, if necessary. It has nothing to do with being superficial. It's a matter of joy in life.”

― Sophie Scholl

Before we had kids, I had many hard and fast rules about parenting. Sixteen years into parenthood, I know less than I did then.

As the kids reached their pre-teen years, it was time for an honest evaluation of what I was doing and if I was doing the right thing by then. I was not proud of the results of that evaluation.

Despite my best intentions, my policies prioritized me over them. I was to account for the variety of needs and approaches each kid required. As a result, we continuously butted heads and engaged in conversations that were harmful to both of us.

It was time to alter strategies.

First, I would need to be more intentional about the outcomes I wanted to produce. When it was time to discipline or correct, what did I want it to look like on the other side? Would my approach lead to my child making better decisions? Would it keep them safe? Could I verbalize what I was looking for? Did punishment outweigh growth?

Or was I looking to end the argument quickly? Was I looking for obedience as opposed to development? Was I respecting their agenda and their views?

That last one was a critical element. How could I expect them to respect my rules and opinions if I didn't show them the same? As an OG rebel without a clue, you have no idea how hard it was to try to transition from a reactive state of mind to a more inclusive, thoughtful one. But it was important. It is important.

Part of that was also realizing that we have similar desires. Sometimes, their approach is just a little different, and I have to allow for that, just as I would ask that they allow for my variances.

Sometimes, I'm actually wrong. Either I made a snap decision without all the details, or I just made a wrong assumption. It happens, but when it does, I'm not afraid to admit it and, if necessary, reverse a decision.

My overarching goal became one of remaining in the conversation. I can't guide and influence if I'm not in the conversation. There is no lifelong pass to inclusion in their lives just because you created them. There is a test every day, and you have to earn that pass every day.

Needless to say, it's fucking hard. Real fucking hard. But it's made a world of difference.

My relationship with my kids today, as they enter the last couple of years of K-12 schooling, is pretty solid. It's not perfect, and it continues to be a work in progress, but we talk, and for that, I'm grateful.

I thought about how I approach parenting as I read that, once again, Metro Nashville Public Schools denied all charter school applications submitted this year. Sure, they had a slide show and fancy rubric that showed the shortcomings of each school being considered. I really wish that each individual MNPS school would have to go through the same rubric of approval, but we both know the likelihood of that happening.

In the end, the denial of the applications was rooted in the perception that they did not make a clear enough argument about how these schools would differ from what MNPS already offers.

During the board meeting, District 3 Board Member Zach Young stated, “I think it’s no secret that I am just philosophically opposed to the idea of charter schools,”

Huh? Did somebody turn back the clock to 2015 and not tell me?

District 2 board member Rachel Elrod expressed a similar sentiment:

“I am typically not a charter school advocate in frankly any way. I believe that we don’t need those seats, which is usually a big part of why I will stand against a charter school just for fiscal responsibility,” said Elrod.

I stared at these statements and tried to make sense of them. As I previously mentioned, it is not 2015 anymore. We have over a decade of research that shows that some are pretty good and some suck. Like district schools, it usually comes down to leadership, whatever the model.

When Elrod says "fiscal responsibility,” I'm pretty sure that means protecting the district's pot of money. She'll claim it'sprotection taxpayer money, but if I flip through state report cards on schools, I can find many that would test the level of return on taxpayer dollars.

Investing in a school like Valor Academy would be a sound investment of taxpayer dollars. It's not my cup of tea, but with a success rate of 55% compared to MNPS's 33%, it might be worth looking into.

Granted, Valor is an outlier, and not all charters perform at that level. Results vary, just like with Metro Schools.

Making a blanket statement, as Young and Elrod did, is ignorant and suggests an ulterior motive.

District 1 board member Robert Taylor was more nuanced in his comments:

“I love what MNPS is doing for the overwhelming majority of our students however I do know that in my community specifically, there are students that could use additional resources and support,” said Taylor. “I do know that our educators work very hard to address those needs and those concerns, but I also know that some students fall through the cracks, and I see them at the grocery store. I see them at my church, in my neighborhood, and I want them to have an opportunity to be successful.”

MNPS's application denials come in the wake of the Tennessee General Assembly passing a new bill that allows charter operators the opportunity to skip the local application process and apply directly to the state if they want to open a school in a district that has had three charter denials overturned in three straight years. The charter commission’s “direct authorization” would be in effect for the district for up to five years under the new law.

In other words, MNPS is on the cusp of being left out of the conversation because of its strict adherence to a long-outdated philosophy.

That situation isn't good for anyone. MNPS needs to evaluate itself honestly and figure out how to remain true to its vision while truly serving ALL kids.

It'll take more work, and it may require extending a little trust. It may be time to create an incubator that assists proposed schools with maximizing performance.

Whatever it takes, this continual adversarial relationship puts the needs of adults ahead of kids and ultimately hurts kids.

Yes, traditional schools are the best vehicle for most kids, but as society becomes even more fractured, we need to figure out how to bind today's schools in the same way they were in the past. The reality is that traditional schools are no longer the answer for everybody, no matter how hard you try to jam that round peg into the square hole.

In this latest go around, District 6 Board Member Cheryl Mays, who represents sections of the Antioch and Cane Ridge Clusters, questioned the performance of Rocketship’s existing schools.

“One of the things that concerned me about this application was the previous performance and the concern that I didn’tsee anything in this application that would make me believe that it would improve,” said Mays.

The Tennessee Firefly compared state testing results for Rocketship United in the Glencliff Cluster south of downtown Nashville and Rocketship Dream Community Prep in the Cane Ridge Cluster in South Davidson County to elementary schools in the same clusters. Rocketship United outperformed half of its cluster’s schools in every subject and most schools in the Glencliff Cluster.

As I said, some are good, some are bad, and you can't make a blanket statement.

I know I'm tired of being ginned up so district administrators and board members can protect their pot of gold.

Some may take exception to the term. "pot of gold," but when Dr. Battle is pulling just south of $400K and her cabinet, all 12 of them, are making north of $200K, I think it is a pretty apt description.

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Many of you wonder when former state education commissioner Penny Schwinn's confirmation hearing for US Deputy Secretary of Education will be held. As of today, there is not one scheduled. The last action was to refer her nomination to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on 1/22/25.

But don't think she's not working.

Schwinn has been photographed with stakeholders in an official setting and possesses a USDOE email. Word is that while she still resides in Tennessee, most of her time is spent in DC—kind of like her last year at the Tennessee DOE.

They may eventually get around to confirming her.

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Well, Tennessee's State Achievement School District is finally history. This session, lawmakers finally got around to voting it out of existence but promised them something new.

The ASD removed low-performing schools from local control and placed them under a state-run district. The district'sgoal was to push Tennessee’s bottom 5% of schools to the top 25%. Most schools were turned over to charter operators to run under 10-year contracts. Locals were given little input.

The failed experiment cost the state over a billion dollars; I feel like I've been writing about it for a billion years. I like the AI overview of this subject:

The Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD) was a Tennessee state program in which the state took over schools identified in the bottom 5% of performance. The blog Dad Gone Wild has discussed the ASD, often criticizing it and referring to the ASD schools as "dumpster fires." The blog has also discussed alternative models for turning around low-performing schools, such as the IZone, which was more successful than the ASD, according to the blog.

That'd be about right.

You'd think that wasting a billion dollars would be incentive enough to get out of the school turnaround business, but alas it is not.

Per ChalkbeatTN:

The new model creates a tiered system with escalating levels of intervention for schools that do not academically improve. Schools identified for intervention for the first time would start at the first tier. The Tennessee Department of Education will then review each school’s performance annually to decide whether to change the level of intervention.

Tier 1 would allow districts to direct their intervention plans or partner with a turnaround expert.

In Tier 2, districts can choose between converting to a charter school, transferring operations to a higher education institution, or replacing some or all school leadership and specific staff. They can also implement an intervention committee—made up of school board members, school employees, and parents—to develop a plan with a turnaround expert.

Tier 3 involves school closures or replacement of school leadership and instructional staff under the direction of the state department of education.

All strategies would require state approval.

The new model applies to “priority schools” across the state, defined as:

• The bottom 5% of schools in performance. Federal law requires states to intervene in the bottom 5% of public schools.

• All public high schools that fail to graduate one-third or more of their students.

• Schools with chronically low-performing student groups that have not improved after receiving additional support.

I know. It doesn't sound much different.

It also entails a fair amount of work from all parties. I suspect that with voucher schools and eased charter school requirements, this may be a bit of a paper tiger.

But I don't think legislators still have an appetite for school turnaround work.

This year, Representative Mark White(R-Memphis) introduced legislation for state intervention in the Memphis school system. Apparently, he was inspired by the work being done in Houston, where the state took over the district in June 2023.

This week, the TEA accountability rating for the 2022-2023 school year was released. They were held up for two years due to a lawsuit filed by school districts that claimed the model was flawed.

The TEA was blocked from releasing its accountability ratings because of several lawsuits from school districts after the state agency changed the criteria it used to score high schools. Since the rating's inception in 2017, receiving an A required at least 60% of seniors to enroll in college, pursue a career, or be in the military. The state raised that threshold to 88%.

The Texas Education Agency gave Houston ISD a C grade, or a 72, for the 2022-23 school year.

The TEA takeover has produced both positive and negative results. It improved accountability ratings and test scores but also led to increased teacher turnover, financial instability, and community unrest.

The mixed bag seemingly has whetted Tennessee's lawmaker's appetite.

This year, despite passage in the state Senate and House, they failed to get the bill over the finish line. The two bills were different, and the two chambers could not reconcile before time expired.

But it ain't over.

“Continuing to invest in failed leadership and administrative mismanagement without addressing the district’sfundamental issues is doing a disservice to the people we were elected to represent,” White and Senate sponsor Brent Taylor of Memphis said in a joint statement.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton(R-Crossville) was even more direct in his comments immediately after the close of the session:

“I would also tell the school board in Shelby County: this isn’t a pass,” Sexton told reporters. “They’ve got eight months until we come back. I hope that they look at that and say we need to change. We need to see improvements, and we’ve got to see better results. We need to see a better return on our investments.”

Pointing out that one in seven state education dollars goes to the state's largest school district, Sexton added:

“That’s a lot of money not to get a return on our investments,” he said. “The way we get thriving and growing and economic output that they never seen is to make sure that they get those schools to turn around.”

We shall see.

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Here's a shocker: a new study shows that Tennessee is among the worst states for teachers.

The study used five metrics to determine which states treat their educators best: starting salary, average teacher salaries, year-over-year salary growth, the student-teacher classroom ratio, and the amount of money the state spends per student.

A study recently released by The Insurance Canopy reveals that New Jersey is the best overall state for teachers. The starting salary is $51822; the average teacher makes $76,652 yearly. The student-to-teacher ratio is 11.8 to 1, and the state spends $25,249 per pupil.

By comparison, the Volunteer State ranked among the 10 worst states for educators in the US, coming in at No. 43.

Tennessee ranked in the middle of the pack for educator starting salaries, but it was faulted in the overall salary category, ranking No. 48. According to the study, the average teacher's pay in Tennessee is $60,969.

Overall, the Volunteer State ranked No. 33 in annual salary growth, No. 32 in classroom ratios, 15:3, and No. 44 in spending per student.

It's not a pretty picture.

Should I tell Governor Lee, or do you want to tell him?

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