The Chamber can't be wrong, can it?

I awoke at 5:00 a.m. this morning with a splitting sinus headache. Despite that pain I was seriously tempted to bang my head against the wall when I read the City Paper this morning. These are the folks that Nashville elected to run the school system. It's just unbelievable that they would say these things let alone believe them. I'm not surprised they're using them as an excuse. They need every one they can get their hands on to absolve them of responsibility. The context is last night's meeting between the Metro Council and Dr. Jesse Register, Director of MNPS in preparation for passing the Metro Nashville budget.

"Council member Ronnie Steine cited years of independent management reports from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, which suggested the level of central office staffing was where it belonged.

Board of Education Chair David Fox said he had also relied on the Chamber reports as an independent check on staffing levels"

Ronnie Steine is on the Council's Education Committee. David Fox is Chairman of the MNPS Board of Education. Seriously? These men seriously believed that the Chamber Report Cards were unbiased and independent assessments of MNPS? Did they take ten minutes to review the membership of these committees over time? Did they take ten minutes to review the report cards over time? Did they completely forget the money and support the Chamber poured into getting some of them on the school board and council?

Councilman Eric Crafton's Save Our Students group was immediately marginalized and their work was suspect because of bias against the messenger but no one could legitimately question the quality of the data. Yet these folks are shocked ala Inspector Renault in "Casablanca" that the Chamber who clearly has an agenda in so many areas of Nashville's life would dare to present them a report that supports their plan for Nashville.

It's morning, folks. Wake up and smell the coffee.

MNPS taxing authority

Well they had their 'give the BOE taxing authority' rally yesterday and surprise, surprise (not) the news is full of how this would be a good thing for MNPS. Less politics, more accountability, less bickering, yadda, yadda.

I don't understand how having the Mayor, in consultation with the BOE, suggest a budget amount for MNPS and then the Metro Council passes the budget, after budget hearings asking about the needs of MNPS and its past performance (to include how they spent the money they got last time) is LESS accountable than handing over taxing authority to the BOE directly. Please remember, once the Council passes the budget they hand over a lump sum to the BOE who then has the freedom to spend that money as they see fit.

"The public is left out there with no idea which authority to hold accountable,” said Stephen Smith, assistant executive director of the Tennessee School Board Association." City Paper

So the School Board Association instead of educating the public about the process so that we can make wiser decisions about who to hold accountable will "dumb down" the process to ensure this homework isn't too hard for us. Bonus for the education system is they only have to persuade nine people that their pet project is worth reaching into your wallet. Remember, this is all about making it easier for the BOE not easier for taxpayers. I've absolutely no doubt that the BOE doesn't enjoy have to go hat in hand to the Mayor or the Council but that's part of accountability--having to answer for what you've done with what you got before.

And where should it stop? Maybe the police and fire departments should also have taxing authority. The same bogus argument about accountability could be made for them too. Personally, I value public safety over public education. And speaking about public safety...what about the health department? Maybe they shouldn't have to suffer the inconveniences and embarrassment of making a case for their expenditures.

This from the Tennessee County Commissioner's Association back in December of 2008:

"As things stand right now, the Tennessee Constitution would have to be changed in order to directly give school boards taxing authority. That takes time as such a proposal would have to pass two separate General Assemblies and then be approved by the voters. What could happen right away is that the General Assembly could lift the ban on existing school districts converting to special school districts. We have about 14 special school districts in Tennessee currently, but the law has prohibited the creation of any new special school districts for some time. Special school districts levy a property tax pursuant to a private act adopted by the state legislature that sets a tax rate for the school system. So it would take taxing authority away from the county commission, but would give it to state legislators who usually act based on the recommendations of the school board for the special school district." (emphasis added)

How does moving this taxing authority up to the state level make our neighborhood schools and our school board more accountable? Looks like they'll have the same excuse they've got now "Well, we could have done better but the Council/Legislature wouldn't let us have the money we needed."

And what we know about education spending is that the BOE will raise taxes to the maximum the Legislature will allow as quickly as it can with nothing but an election every other year for half of the board to slow it down. You'll have nine folks, most of whom are less financial geniuses than the Metro Council, deciding how much of your money you'll have left to feed and clothe and house your family because they see what they do 'for the children' as more important that what you're trying to do for your own children with the money you earned.

According to the Tennessean the MNPS is 40% of the Metro Nashville budget. 40%! We're getting close to the tipping point. This year the BOE wants $620 million dollars to education about 75,000 children. That's about the current quote for the new convention center. And they've been spending about half a billion dollars for several years now. That's $8,000+ for every one of those 75,000 students and that doesn't include state or federal dollars. They've got enough money.

No matter how many times the Chamber and its partners say 'accountability' this plan is less accountability. They are calling black white and white black. They're going to repeat that often, loudly and in full color brochures as long as we'll let them. I say no. Absolutely no. If the goal really is accountability...how about we see those teacher value added scores AND we put the MNPS check register on-line?

The Chamber speaks and says nothing

For 16 years the Nashville Chamber of Commerce has been creating report cards for the Metro Nashville Public Schools. You'll have to take our word on that as they do not have 16 years worth of report cards on their website. That's probably because they do not want folks grading them on their report cards over that time and their lack of impact on the system. It's great PR to rent space, call a meeting, alert the press and pass out slick looking brochures (or promise their mailing at a later date) but it's another thing to actually have a cumulative record of how many of those 16 years they've said nearly the same thing about MNPS.

And not one of those report cards includes an apology for helping hire Pedro Garcia or elect BOE members that have enabled the system to be exactly where it is...on the cusp of being taken over by the State of Tennessee with an embarrassing graduation rate and a system that is losing its middle class base and no longer reflects our city on the whole.

Today's article in the Tennessean could have been written with just a few tweaks nearly every one of the past 16 years.

The article in the Tennessean ends with what is supposed to be the very good news of a miserly pilot program involving 40 out of 75,000 students that will teach them "about career tracks, resumes, fundraising, and job shadowing". According to the City Paper "The kids involved — 20 from each school — will meet two days each week to help kids internalize the reality of life after high school." Seriously, how hard is that to incorporate into every high school and how completely inadequate is this effort? The reality of life is that this is too small an effort to make any real difference to the students at MNPS and really only provides a photo op and line for his upcoming gubernatorial bio for the Superintendent of Schools Mayor Karl Dean.

Again, from the Tennessean article:

"Among other things, the report would like to see comparison data so Nashville could compare its school performance with other American cities;"

The Chamber doesn't have to wish for this, it already exists and if they'd been paying attention to more than their own agenda they'd have encouraged its use. Much of that data was provided by the Save Our Students folks the past several years or can be found at the excellent Education Consumers Foundation here: http://mosteffectiveschools.org/TN/nashville.htm

Bad timing

The Nashville Chamber of Commerce will present their annual Report Card on Metro Schools on Tuesday, January 22. Unfortunately, this comes AFTER this weekend's BOE members retreat to discuss MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia's job performance.

It will also come before the BOE has their own presentation of the Save Our Students breakdown of...well...MNPS's breakdown in meeting the needs of Nashville students. We were told the BOE and Garcia attended another of Nashville Mayor Karl Dean's education meetings instead. This SOS presentation was made before the regular meeting of the Council Education Committee. More on this in a following post. Here's a teaser from their PowerPoint.

So the BOE will go into retreat and discuss Garcia's performance without some important third party information about our school system. I'll say it again, the BOE needs to get and be willing to believe third party information and criticism of the district. Further, it shouldn't be just from groups that have financed their election.

I'll also note that the Chamber has been doing their Report Card for 15 years, but they've only provided five years worth of archive. Granted, it's more than they used to provide. I'm assuming they won't use grades again this year. Too depressing and too hard to finesse.

Monday 2/26/07

Clearing out these browser tabs.

Teacher unions have taken a hit this week. Steven Jobs of Apple computer fame started it with:

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," Jobs said.

"This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy." Houston Chronicle

Senator Lamar! Alexander (R-TN) added to the pile when he revealed on the Senate floor that the NEA had written him asking him to vote NO on a teacher incentive amendment he sponsored. Big oops there. Edspresso has the video.

Alexander has offered an amendment to the Continuing Resolution that would fund, at some $90 million dollars, a teacher incentive fund. Read Senator Alexander's run down.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette had something to add to the discussion:

"Incredibly, you can walk into almost any school in America, go down the hall to the first couple of classrooms you find, look at the teachers inside and realize this: Nobody -- not the principal, not the parents, not the students, not even the teachers themselves -- actually knows how effective these teachers are in helping their students learn," said a 2004 report by Kevin Carey, then director of research policy for The Education Trust.

And so there's the rub. Incentive pay usually comes with the strings of performance. Proving performance means someone's going to lose their job and the NEA is in the business of ensuring that people keep their jobs. If only they really were a professional organization that policed their own.

Climate change Kool-aid will be served to our students. Martin Kennedy shares the press release. Here's a snip:

Two upcoming webcasts will present Tennessee teachers with the latest research on climate science and solutions to global climate change. Led by atmospheric chemist Dr. Bill Chameides, chief scientist with Environmental Defense,...

I'm sure it'll be very scientific, fair and balanced. And those who are hot to present the Oscar winning "An Inconvenient Truth" in our classrooms may want to pause a moment and consider that some school districts have very specific policies (often ignored) about complying with copyright rules. A classroom is a public viewing. You should be paying for the privilege or get explicit permission.

Better late than early: Last Saturday's opinion piece by State Rep. David Hawk suggesting some 5 year old aren't ready for kindergarten reminded me immediately of a book written back in 1989 by homeschooling pioneers Dr. Raymond S. & Dorothy Moore called Better Late Than Early. In our rush to ensure the children are educated we too often forget that many of them just need time to mature and the freedom to learn as children learn.

Vanderbilt's Peabody College professor Dale Farron's comments agreed.

Studies show that these children who haven't begun kindergarten until 6 tested higher at the beginning of kindergarten and maintained that advantage at least through the first two grades. Six-year-olds in a classroom set the pace; they seem better prepared, and they profit from the type of instruction now provided.

Chamber Grades MNPS: Nothing really new here. Same old same old. I did learn that they've been doing this for 14 years but, as I've mentioned before, you won't find 14 years worth of data on their website to help us put the entire effort in perspective.

This is as close as we get to an overview:

For the third straight year, Metro Schools’ report card from the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s Citizens Panel looks the same. City Paper

So average have been the grades and so frustrating is that process that they're seriously considering dropping the grades altogether. If they do--it's an F for the Chamber.

Guns in Schools: The Inglewood Elementary School gun incident last week got more ink this morning from The City Paper.

Currently, when a principal is out of the building, a designated staff member is appointed to fill in. It is unclear who was appointed during Brown’s absence last Tuesday.

“In this case I don’t know who was designated there in the building,” McMillin said. “I don’t know who that staff person was, but I have since come to learn that the principal had some conversations with that person as this was occurring.”

McMillin had to deal with a similar incident on Friday.

Metro Police were called to Whites Creek High School after a 16-year-old male student was found in possession of a loaded .22-caliber pistol. According to McMillin police arrested the student after staff immediately contacted police.

It concerns me that they didn't know who was in charge while principal Bertha Brown was out of the building. Also it was mentioned at Thursday's PAC meeting that several teachers were told of this incident by several students and it took until 2:30 in the afternoon for someone to take action. These children should only have had to tell one adult, one time, in order to get prompt action. And from Rumor Control: she brought the gun for show and tell, had ammunition in her desk and on her front lawn. We need some adults to step in here.

BOE member Pam Garrett's status is the subject of conjecture by Rex in the City this morning. All I can add to this is that when I left the BOE in August Pam shared that she hadn't made up her mind yet about running to keep her seat next year. I encouraged her to begin mentoring a replacement--regardless. To her credit she spent three years as the BOE chair and didn't get paid a dime extra for the added trouble. I wouldn't blame her if she's flat exhausted. She may actually want a life.

MNPS BOE isn't 'happy': Current MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden had an opinion piece published in Friday's Tennessean. Not much substance there and so it was easy for this to jump out:

Approximately 88 percent of our operating budget goes for salaries;

Yes, I know this is a service business and so personnel costs are going to be the bulk of the budget--but 88%!? I'd like to know how much that figure has crept up over time. Someone needs to throughly review the 'need' for so many highly paid central office staff. Also, this is the part of the budget that the board can do the least about at this point. Many of those salary increases are contractual. Someone is going to have to have a very sturdy backbone to stand against those effective union negotiators. Actually, it's going to take 5 someone's on the BOE.

Plans and reports cards

It'll be a busy Monday evening/Tuesday morning for people interested in Metro Schools.

This evening at 6:00 p.m. at Maplewood High School the plans for restructuring this school will be revealed. With the highest drop out rate of 42% and the lowest average ACT score of 15.7 this school is rightly on the Tennessee Department of Education's list of failing schools. These children need immediate answers to their needs. These children don't have any more time to waste. Something has to be done now that will actually improve their lives.

Tuesday morning, February 20th, at 8:30 a.m. the Chamber of Commerce Report Card grading Metro Schools will be revealed at the Adventure Science Center. Let's hope that this time they included some cumulative information that gives us not just a snapshot of today but a clear overview of past years to place this current information in context. Since they've been creating these report cards for several years--that shouldn't be all that hard to do.

UPDATE: Anonymous points out the the Chamber's report will be done Tuesday February 20th. My mistake. Thanks for catching that Anon. I appreciate the help. :-)

SOS proposal

I've not seen any of the SOS materials but from what I read in this morning's City Paper--there seems to be good reason to read and discuss their information. Part of our problem is that we don't have enough information, it's hard to find it, it's really hard to interpret.

And yes, it's the rare report and overview that doesn't have some sort of point of view encouraging a specific agenda. But let's not throw out the effort without examining it first.

Today, the group — called Save Our Schools (or SOS) — will present to the council and to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce a program they say will greatly improve the city’s public schools.

But before doing so, SOS will present a series of statistics, culled primarily from the Tennessee Department of Education, that SOS feels shows Metro Nashville Public Schools is lagging behind most other Tennessee school systems.

I've advocated for paying excellent teachers excellent wages here several times and the SOS proposal apparently includes teacher bonuses for taking on the hard jobs and succeeding. Superintendent Garcia also suggested that teachers receive incentive pay in his state of the schools speech in February.

"We must also reward excellence and pay our employees according to their effort and results. We must enter the dialogue of incentive pay so teachers are encouraged and rewarded for teaching successfully in our more difficult schools. We must move forward on these issues."

So--bring it on SOS. Let's see what you've got.