"Pawns" is right

Bob Krumm's comments on the ridiculous reach for children by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Pedro Garcia are must read. He points out this is far from over.

Luckily for the 17 children threatened with upheaval, the State Board of Education reported that the reclassification of the zoned schools has “no retroactive effect” on the children already enrolled at KIPP.

That report breaks the impasse . . . for now. Left unreported is whether or not those 17 children will be allowed to return to KIPP next year. Given MNPS’ already expressed desire to remove children from their current school mid-year, I’m not hopeful that they will not also try to fight reenrollment next summer.

Read the rest at his blog and then check around and see if you can help in his campaign for the 21st District seat (West Nashville) for the Tennessee Senate. If we're ever to do a better job at educating these children we need men like Bob in the state legislature who not only understand the issues but are willing to correct the problem.

The first obstacle is structural. Tennessee law creates a system too risky for many charter schools to even consider establishment here. Because children are often permitted to attend a charter school only if their zoned school is deemed failing, the year-to-year continuance of a charter school is always in doubt. Current law, therefore, discourages charter schools from investing in our children’s future because there is no assurance that there will be any children in their future