Snow Day Musings
“Belief has nothing to do with truth.”
― Percival Everett, James
If you are just about anywhere in the country, outside Califonia, I hope today finds you warm and cozy curled up in your home, devoid of purpose besides enjoying a snow day. They are rare, and often feel like stolen days.
California folks, that's a whole another story and I just don't have words. Praying that you are safe, sound, and among loved ones. Such an awful trgedy.
For me, this morning I am writing with a sense of dissappointment, It's nothing serious. In fact some of y'all might find it frivolous, what with all the true tragedy existing in the world today.
Still it stings, and on one level I'm grateful for the sting. What's the old saying, pain reminds you that you are alive?
Of course I am talking about the aftermath of the Penn State/Notre Dame game that was played last night. A game won by the Catholics.
Most of you know, I blled blue and while. A life long fan of Penn State football. As was my father before me, and my son will be in the future., It's a connecting tread that runs through us.
It may seem kind of frivolous to invest this deeply in the play of a bunch of college kids on an atheletic field, but as I grow old I am ever reminded of the need to embrace the frivolous. Secondly, I'm sure more thab a few of you are clad in orange, red, or blue as you read this. You get it.
Aging has a tendency to make you a little more apathetic. The old seen that, been there, bought the t-shirt mentality. Last night reminded me of that diminishing passion, and the need to cling to some of it. .
Watching the two teams compete last night with my 14-year old son was akin to sharing a cage with a wolverine. Sudden shouts of joy, moans of agony, pounding of the coach, sudden leaps around the room frequently escaped while the game progressed. In between clutching my heart, I was reminded of a time that a game of this nature evoked simikar emotions from myself. It made me smile.
In the end, Penn state fell to the forces from the Indiana Catholic school, and a sense of dissappointment permeated the air of our house.
The boy, was devastated but we talked. Losing should never be comfortable, but it can be meaningful, Sometimes you put your best effort out and it just isn't enough. You have to pick yourself up and figure the next approach.
Since birth I've drilled into them, its not the mistake, its not the loss, it's what you do next that matters.
As I left his room, i couldn't help but note my own sense of dissapointment. A game shouldn't matter at this stage in my lfe, but it does.
Despite seeing championships, and devestating loses, throughout my life, this one still mattered. Mattered a lot and for that I'm grateful.
I'm also grateful that I'll be here at the staart of next season when once again hope will spring eternal.
Earlier this week I celebrated 25 years of sobriety. That's 25 years based on the traditional definition of sober, no intoxicants. No California sober. No just wine sober. Flatout, old fashioned sober.
When I first started on the path, a sponsor told me, "Don't get to high. Don't get to low." Good advice for the most part.
Still watching the next generation heavily invest in moments of frivolity, feeling my own investment stir, still brings a sense of excitement and satisfaction.
Thank you you James Franklin and the 2024 Nittany Lions for providing yet another season to believe. See you in September.
- - -
The One Hundred Fourteenth General Assembly will convene at noon (CST) on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. A few days later they'll likely go into recess and then convene around the 27th of January for a Special Session taking up dissaster relief for East Tennessee residents and Governor Lee's latest Education Savings Account bill. The former is fact, while the later remains speculative, as stakeholders on bothh sides of the issue scramble to get an advantage.
Lee has been out punding the payment trying to drum up support for his initiative, and has now been joined by Knoxville Mayor and former wrestler, Kane, or as he currently identifies, Glen Jacobs. Joining jacobs and Lee, is current U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
The special session is contingent on the three of them being able to wrestle enough legislative votes to pass Lee's measure. Expect to hear a flood of radio and television ads featuring the trio, and sponsored by private lobbyist, in the coming weeks. All in an effort to secure the needed legislative votes.
Depending on who you talk to, they are either a handful of votes short or several votes over the threshold. Remember the math is dependent on who takes a crucuial bathroom break as much as anything else.
Convincing a legislqtor to take a walk out of the room prior to a vote is a way to convince them to support your bill without voting for it. These are hard votes for citizens to count, because while legislators may inform leadership of their intent to take a convenient bathroom break, they ain't announcing it to the press or public. Could be that when the vote comes to a roll call, the Capitol's urinals will be flooded.
Critics of the voucher plan continue to point to recent TCAP results as evidence that the states traditional schools continue to outperform existing ESA schools, thus negating the need for further school choice. Reporters have pushed on Lee with data that seem to support critic's assertions. A line of questions flatly refuted by the Governor.
“I think the statistics that you report are a true mischaracterization of the facts,” Lee said in a recent press conference. He argues, that the students using Tennessee’s vouchers to attend private schools really “exceed” their peers. It is the Governor's opinion that it is unfair to compare urban areas, were existing ESA programs exist, with suburban areas across the state. In this case he seems to be admitteding that economic status matters, but don't tell him that. He goes on to reveal that according to survey's 99% of participants are happy with the program.
The latter defense is a little suspect for me. In this day, it's hard to find any group of people who are 80% satisfied about anything, let alone 99% staified with a goverment program, Remember there are white lies, damn lies, and statistics.
For the record, per The Tennessee Lookout, here's the data we are talking about:
Shelby County ESA students: 25.1% proficient in English language arts, Shelby public schools: 23.7% proficient. Both groups scored 18.7% proficient in math.
Davidson County ESA students 28.8% proficient in English language arts, Davidson County public schools 30.5% proficient. Davidson ESA students 15.7% proficient in math, Davidson public school students 26.4% proficient in math.
Hamilton County ESA students 32.2% proficient in English language arts, Hamilton County public schools students 39% proficient. Hamilton ESA students 18.1% proficient in math, Hamilton public schools students 36.6% proficient in math.
I'd argue that neither argument is supported by the data, but at face value the Governor's argument is questionable.
I think the larger question remains around why less then four out of 10 students can score proficient on a state administered test. After all this isn't supposed to be baseball, where hitting .350 qualifies you for the Hall of Fame.
I do agree with The Lookout's Sam Stockard when he writes, "The bigger problem, though, is that we sold our souls for standardized test scores, and as long as those are the most important thing in K-12 education, everyone is going to be miserable."
Once the legislative session convenes, keep an eye on committee appointments. If committee membership remain essentially the same, getting the Governor's vouch plan through the House Finance committee will be challenging, Same holds true for Education committees. If those committees get shaken up, it's safe to surmise that the Governor is going to plan B.
Voucher opponents continually raise the claim that the push to provide universal vouchers is driven by out of state interests. Unfortunately that argument is being undercut by recent polls from Vanderbilt showing forty-seven percent of those polled support vouchers, 44 percent oppose, and seven percent are neutral. A poll coducted by right leaning think tank the Beacon Center shows that Tennesseean's support the Governor's plan by a margin of 67% to 13%. Thats up from the 58% approval in October.
Keep in mind, that a poll is only as good as the wording of its questions. Critics contend that the Beacon poll questions are a bit misleading, and that Tennesseans support expanded "school choice" but do not support the Governor's plan.
I think a growing issue is the sense of fatigue that is setting in with citizens. Many have expressed to me that they care less about whether the program gets implemented or not, and more about settling it one way or the other.
I feel their pain.
- - -
State ACT score were released last week and they show marginal improvement from last year.
Per The Tennessean:
"The graduating class of 2024 averaged a composite ACT score of 19.3, up from 19 the year before, according to a news release from the Tennessee Department of Education. Statewide ACT scores have fluctuated slightly in recent years. In 2018, the state average was 20.2 before slowly dropping to a low of 19 in 2023. More information can be found on the state report card at ReportCard.TNedu.gov."
The ACT, American College Testing, is a standardized test administered to high school upperclassmen widely recognized in the college admissions process and seen as a key measure in understanding college and career readiness for students. Tennessee offers public high school students the opportunity to take the ACT twice, free of charge. This has helped the achieve a 99% participation rate.
A couple of key figures shared by the TDOE:
78 districts had a 99% or higher participation rate in 2024, up from 75 in 2023
Black, Hispanic and Native American students averaged a 16.8 composite score, up from 16.6 in 2023
Students who are economically disadvantaged averaged a 16.6 composite score, up from 16.3 in 2023
Students with disabilities averaged a 14.9 composite score, up from 14.7 in 2023
The desired score on the ACT is a 21, which is the natural average and puts students in line for admission to a wide range of universities and colleges. The TDOE shared informatioin on that threshhold as well.
Of the 2024 graduating class, 37.7% scored a 21 or above
19.5% of Black, Hispanic and Native American students scored at 21 or higher, up from 17.3% in 2023
17.7% of students who are economically disadvantaged scored at 21 or higher, up from 15.8% in 2023
8.6% of students with disabilities scored at 21 or higher, up from 6.7% in 2023
Metro Nashville Metro Schools reported slight growth as well with the average EL score in 2024 being 16.5% up from 16.3%. Math didn't score as well. In 2024 the average score was 17.1% down from 17.9%. The district average still remains well behind the desired 21%, though the percentage of those student scoring at that level has increased.
In 2024 27.7% of students scored a 21. In 2023, that number was 25.1.
So maybe that growth will give MNPS leadership an opportunity to stage a parade, because lord knows, they love a parade.
As a closing note, it's worth reporting that of the 83 students from the Tennessee Charter School Commission District who took the test, only 2 scored higher the a 21, while 75 scored below a 19.
That shouldn't be acceptable for anyone.
- - -
Weird happenings over at MNPS.
A decade ago, turnover at the mid-year break was minimal, reserved solely for medical issues, or pregnancy. That has all changed, and the new game among teachers has become one of guess who is coming back. This year it seems that trend has seeped into the leadership ranks.
As reported earlier, Dr. Battle has a new Chief of Staff. Dr. Robert Wallace has been named Chief of Staff. Wallace brings a wealth of experience and visionary leadership to his new role. In the past, Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle has leaned heavily on her Chief of Staff. Dr. Wallace has previously served as Chief Operating Officer of PENCIL.
He'll be replacing former Chief of Staff Hank Clay, who's been with Battle since she was first appointed interim-superintendent. Clay has transitioned to a new role with the Ingram Group, where he will advise organizations locally, statewide, and nationally. While stepping into this new opportunity, Clay will remain a special advisor to MNPS, focusing on strategic initiatives, external partnerships, and securing resources that sustain key district investments. Dr. Battle is epecting his ongoing contributions will provide critical continuity and support during this time of growth.
I'm not sure what growth she is referencing, as the number of schools and students has been on the decline for the last several years. But who am I to quibble?
Now for the really interesting part:
• Antioch Middle School: Dr. Tonja Williams brings nearly two decades of MNPS experience, including serving as principal of Head Magnet Middle School. In addition to her time with MNPS, she also served as Head of School for New Hope Academy.
• Chadwell Elementary School: Mr. Michael Beno, with over 10 years of service in MNPS, brings expertise as an assistant principal and EL district coach.
• Goodlettsville Middle School: Mr. Alexander Woodhull is a seasoned leader with experience at Martin Luther King, Jr. Academic Magnet and Overton High
Apparently three schools are getting new leaders, so what happened to the old ones?
Details are scarce, but reportedly one has retired. The word is that they've been discussing retirement frequently, and despite only 20 years of service they felt now was as a good a time ever. No word on why the other two were removed, or removed themselves.
Equally unclear is how those principals will be serving the district for the remainder of the year. This is important because state law requires the district to pay principals their full salary for a full school year, no matter how they are utilized. In other words, you can make a principal a gym teacher, but for the remainder of the year, they'll be paid like a principal.
Not quite sure how any of this is giood for fkids. Yes, every school deserves a quality leader, but minimizing disruptions is equally important. These school leaders might have not met the needs of district leaders, but no evidence has been presented that they were failing kids.
Will tghis be a harbinger for schools at the end of the year? Will the district become more aggressive in replacing principals at the end of the year?
We shall see.
- - -
Continue to hear rumbling about issues with MNPS's offoce of Federal Programs. It's long been a rumble, but of late seems to be getting louder.
Many people probably suffer under the illusion that "priority schools" are state designated. It's a federal designation, one that comes with significant additional resources and funding. That funding is intended for individual schools.
Last budget season, priority schools, or schools of innovation, were asked to tithe back a bit of their funding as a means to fund district support positions. How willingly they complied, depends on who you talk.
Now questions are popping up around whether their remains anough budgeted to cover essential costs. That's a question still waiting an answer.
It may be time for a school board member to ask for an audit of the department. Couldn't hurt, right?
- - -
If you’ve got something you’d like me to highlight and share, send it to Norinrad10@yahoo.com. Either wisdom or criticism is always welcome.
As you may suspect, keeping this blog going with a cost. In that light I've set up a number of ways you can show your financial support. if so inclined.
I invite you become a subscriber over at Substack. The rates, should you choose to become a paid subscriber are reasonable, and there remains a free option. The inly real difference between the two is that one allows me to eat a little better, but I appreciate you signing up for either.
You can also send a donation through my Venmo (Thomas-Weber-10) or cashAp ($PeterAveryWeber)
A huge shout-out to all of you who’ve already lent your financial support. I am eternally grateful for your generosity. It allows me to keep doing what I do and without you, I would have been forced to quit long ago. It is truly appreciated and keeps the bill collectors happy. Now more than ever your continued support is vital.
If you wish to join the rank of donors but are not interested in Substack, you can still head over to Patreon and help a brother out.