Time to update?

Looks like I'm not the only one who hasn't updated their LinkedIn profile in a while.

It's a little sad...he's only got one connection.

Stakeholders and money

Bit and pieces that have collected over the last couple of weeks.

Stakeholders: The City Paper editorialized on 4/7/08 in regard to the number of people running for the MNPS BOE and how several current members got on the Board with 'business' support:

That being said, there is not only a debate that needs to take place about where the schools are headed but also what has the quality of the board’s stewardship been sine the 2006 elections.

It happened again, chatting up another citizen while waiting to give blood they sheepishly admitted they occasionally watch Channel 3 and the BOE meetings. Then they shake their head and make a comment about how unbelievably inept the BOE is and then they tell me what numbers their child has for the lottery to magnet schools. Their zoned school isn't an option.

Frankly, the Board's stewardship has been lousy. They have failed over and over again to hold their only employee responsible for the failures in the district. They gave him pay raises and extended contracts. No one who voted to keep Garcia at the helm of MNPS should be reelected. As the current candidate list stands the only person we can actually hold accountable is MNPS BOE member Ed Kindall (District 7-Downtown-Glencliff) as MNPS BOE member Gracie Porter (District 5-East Nashville) has no opposition and MNPS BOE member George Thompson ( District 1-Bordeaux) and MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden (District 9-Bellevue) have wisely decided to move on. Kindall has been on the board for nearly a quarter of a century. He's got a lot of explaining to do.

And so the 'business community' referenced above has decided that more community input is necessary. But they didn't mean community community. They meant special interests community. Again from the City Paper we learn that several entities have written the mayor and BOE expressing their desire to help find the new schools director.

The letter was sent March 27, and was signed by leaders of the Chamber, IMF, Metropolitan Nashville Education Association (MNEA), the local NAACP chapter, Service Employees Union, Steelworkers Union, Stand for Children, and Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Seems to me several of these entities have already put their money where their interests lie and have, essentially, bought and paid for their representation on the board. See Gracie Porter's contributors in 2006 as an example. <<<----- What we need is some vetting by parents and taxpayers. We need some specific statements from the candidates. We need a person who is an excellent administrator first and then someone who can work with the educators, parents, the council and citizens. Oh, and the Metro Council (those that hold the purse but don't have the authority to direct its spending) also wants a voice in the process. As quoted in the City Paper on 4/8/08

Council member Jim Gotto said, “It is fine and well for all of these individuals and groups to want to give [board members] input, but board members, you make the choice. You’re going to have to live or die with who you choose.”

Ah, but that requires some accountability by the voters. Which is something that has been sorely lacking.

MNPS budget: CM Emily Evans (District 23) has a series of lessons regarding the Metro Budget. Here's the link to her MNPS overview.

The Director of Schools, Chris Henson spoke at great length tonight about getting input from the schools themselves on how to improve and working to eliminate top-down decision making. This notion that the people that spend each day with your child are best equipped to decide what they need to get the job done is irrefutable and represents a cultural change that can only bring us good things. Chris also said that not every school needs the same thing.

Which fits very well with this City Paper article of 04-18-08.*

In accordance with what has been asked of the district by the Tennessee Department of Education (DOE), Metro schools will soon submit “action plans” on a quarterly basis that will monitor student performance and play a role in school funding. The plans complement the annual School Improvement Plan structure, which is already in place but in the process of being overhauled.

At some point we've got to recognize that each school, each district isn't the same. The Central Office is too far removed from the front lines to mandate how every dime of this money is spent. Schools have got closets full of 'central office ideas' that are going to waste because they don't fit that school's population or are yesterday's hot idea. We have got to hire great principals who, like the superintendent should be, more managers (and teacher mentors) than educators and let them manage their portion of the budget as their student needs warrant. I believe that will create better neighborhood schools AND create a cadre of experienced administers that can move up that career ladder and mentor the next generation of principals.

Things are looking up: It's looking like between Interim Director Chris Henson and the State DOE some major improvements are being implemented in MNPS. Throw in the obvious relief as expressed by many folks including today's Rex in the City

Principal hiring procedures are now what they were before Garcia arrived; the district is now completing school improvement plan forms using the same template as other districts in the state — MNPS had its own form during the Garcia administration — and district leaders have been told in plain language to shut down the “culture of fear” pervading many Metro schools.

and things haven't looked so good for MNPS in almost a decade. If Henson keeps this up and we get through this BOE election season in August we should seriously consider offering him the job--if he'll take it.

MNPS website still quite frustrating. Some sub-domains would be handy.... http://www.MNPS.org/Board, /Schools, /Budget. No one remembers numbers. Where's Interim Director Chris Henson's page? Why can't the BOE member page also include info on their district...or at least a link to that separate page that MNPS provides?


*[Man I HATE that the City Paper doesn't include a date on their articles. If no one comments you've no idea when it was published. I finally found the date by searching for the article. Thankfully, they've finally started including dates there.]

And so we begin anew

Garcia is gone. The search starts for a new leader for the MNPS system. If ever there was time for prayer...this is one of them.

I don't have any problem leaving the system in the hands of Chris Henson in the meantime. From the moment I met him he has always been friendly, helpful, gracious and very professional. I never got the impression from him that I did from others that I was the enemy in the camp. I don't think the BOE members should be in a big rush to fill this position. First order of business is to create a budget for the upcoming year...and there isn't anyone else better equipped to help them do that than the man that's been doing it, the new interim Director of Schools Chris Henson.

We also need to consider that this August 5/9ths of the board is up for re-election. Should the very folks that gave Garcia a raise last year (or extended his contract for 3 years the year before) really be the folks to bring in a new superintendent? My concern is that they believed what Garcia had been telling them all along. Will they also believe and fail to properly vet the information any new candidate will provide? A tool we have now that they didn't really have back in 2001 when they hired Garcia is the Internet. It's going to be easier than ever to check a candidates qualifications and BS factor---if the BOE actually takes the time to do their research.

My advice to the mayor...don't jump on this too quickly. Certainly, let the BOE know your opinion, offer whatever resources you have available but don't do their job for them, don't protect them from themselves. They made this bed, they need to lie in it a while. They don't need to create a separate search committee that they can later blame for not getting it right. They need to roll up their sleeves and earn the money they're being paid.

This from this morning's City Paper:

The troubles of the school system became directly linked to the city’s political life as well. First, in 2006, the Metro School Board saw a huge turnover in its ranks at the ballot box. The board members turned out of office were largely those who opposed keeping Garcia. The successful, insurgent board candidates were backed by major players in the city’s business community who built a protective political wall around Garcia.

As one of those turned out of office I appreciate this paragraph. And when the political players who have been orchestrating the makeup of the BOE and protecting Garcia start up again to present their favorite for his replacement, will the city pause to consider their track record?

Whoever replaces Garcia must recognize that we live in a new education world. One that is filled with more and more options and people with means and will are leaving the system. Will the new director recognize the changing educational delivery system landscape or will the be stuck in the old way of doing things? If they value brick and mortar and placating the adults running the system more than the needs of the students and their education consuming parents don't bother coming. If they realize that the public system is no longer the monopoly it was and is actually in competition with other education choices and is prepared to retool the system to meet those realities, lets talk about how they would bring Nashville into the 21st Century.


Karen Johnson has original documentation regarding Garcia's departure.

Johnson's Garcia Poll Concludes

BOE Member Karen Johnson has closed her poll on MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia.







Her poll asked simply: Are you pleased with Schools Director Dr. Pedro Garcia's performance?

Yes	73	33%
No	106	48%
Somewhat	43	19%
Total	222	100%

That 33% solid yes seems pretty shakey compared to the unsure and noes that add up to the other 67% . She also reports that all the BOE member evaluations are in the hands of the Tennessee School Board Association's facilitator who will reveal all on Tuesday, January 22 at 5:00 p.m.

At the top right you'll see our comparatively small number of voters (we have lots more readers than this, folks) are of the opinion it's time for Garcia to go. There's still time to vote. It'll stay open through the 20th (Sunday). Another week to gather information and cast your vote.

Undercutting the Chair

Further evidence that no one is in charge comes from George Thompson in this morning's City Paper:

Board member George Thompson said it’s important to keep in mind that Warden, though she is board chair, was representing only herself in the e-mail.

“We have not authorized her to say anything, or to do anything,” he said.

Thompson pointed to a portion of the board’s governance process policy, which states that the Board of Education chair should “refrain from exercising any authority as an individual to supervise or direct the Director.”

He's exactly right, but of course the BOE hasn't authorized HIM to say this either.

So if you had hope that MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden's direct order

I expect you to review the questions asked at the meeting and present written responses to those questions to Ms. Smith, the members of the Metro Council, they Mayor, and the local press. I expect this to be done immediately.

in her email to MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia yesterday was going to be fulfilled, think again. What I would have liked Mr. Thompson to say is something along the lines of: "I happen to agree that this information must be provided to these people as quickly as possible and I'll present a motion at the next BOE meeting to instruct Garcia to do so." If he did, no one is reporting that.

The Board has a Code of Conduct and in Governance Policy 9.2 it states:

2. Board members may not attempt to exercise individual authority over the
organization.

a. Members’ interaction with the Director and with staff must recognize the lack
of authority vested in individuals except when explicitly authorized by the
Board.

b. Members’ interaction with the public, press or other entities must recognize
the same limitation and the inability of any Board member to speak for the
Board except to repeat explicitly-stated Board decisions.

c. Members will not publicly express individual negative judgments about
Director or staff performance outside the formal evaluation process. Any
such judgments of Director or staff performance will be made only by the full
Board.

This Governance Policy is part of the problem with the BOE and thus the entire system. I'm not saying we need to adopt a free for all BOE but this policy becomes a very convenient excuse as well as a crippler for real action. I knew if I had stayed on the BOE I was going to violate this policy eventually. It's too easy to characterize legitimate public discussion of issues as 'negative judgments'. Never mind whether those judgments are accurate or not.

Anyone wanting to take on the task of running for School Board this August should read this entire document. Frustrated citizens and parents should be familiar with it also.

George Thompson is up for reelection in August.

Testy, testy

Yeah, that'll work. A couple of weeks before your evaluation tell the Chairman that it's her fault. Apparently MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden is peeved that MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia missed the Council's Education meeting on Monday which then put her in the position of having to defend MNPS. That was something she wasn't prepared to do. The Tennessean tells us:

Garcia fired back an e-mail confronting Warden for her repeated threats to give him a bad evaluation. He also suggested that she take note of questions at future public hearings rather than give out incorrect information.

The Tennessean has copies of the email exchange between Warden and Garcia. You're going to want to read these. Scroll down to see them.

Warden wrote:

There was no financial information available at the
meeting. In consequence, there were a number of allegations of
impropriety that was made to which I cold not respond effectively.
Financial information was not the only thing missing. The most
important thing missing was you. You could have answered the questions
and demonstrated that Metro Schools did not misappropriate funds.

Just my opinion, but it seems to me that as Chairman of the BOE she should have had a handle on a lot of this.

And she gives him a direct order:

I expect you to review the questions asked at the meeting and
present written responses to those questions to Ms. Smith, the members
of the Metro Council, they Mayor, and the local press. I expect this to
be done immediately.

Garcia responds:

I take my job very seriously, but I also make it a practice to have representation from the Administration at every meeting. Sandy Tinnon used to be that representative, and presently those duties are handled by Woody McMillin. The Board has never directed me as to what meetings I need to attend.

Now I like Woody McMillan a lot and wouldn't want his job for all the tea in China, but he's not Sandra Tinnon, or Chris Henson or even Paul Changas, all of whom, I expect, would be better able to handle most of the questions.

I don't see any explanation from Garcia in his email as to where he was or why that was more important than the Metro Education Committee meeting.

He who laughs last

The Tennessean has this quote from MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia after he heard about Councilman Eric Crafton's resolution before Tuesday's Council regarding his status:

"If [Tn DOE Commissioner of Education Lana Seveirs] issues an opinion, then she's lost her marbles," Garcia said, chuckling. "My employers are nine board members and MNPS (Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools), and they can certainly get rid of me anytime they want to, as long as they get five votes."

If there ever was a time for humility--this is likely it.

According to data released by MNPS this week, Garcia failed just over half of the benchmarks on the quantitative portion of his evaluation. Two of the 100 benchmarks on this portion leave some room for debate, but of the rest, Garcia failed more points than he passed. City Paper

After the debacle that was the vote in the fall of 2005 the MNPS BOE made some specific changes in how they evaluate Garcia. There are specific numbers that will have to be recognized and honored if they're going to follow through with their plan. Only 25% of his rating is based on squishy, feel good relationship with the board stuff. If it's close, and we won't know until January 19, this is where it could fall. My suggestion is folks make sure their BOE members know how they feel about Garcia's performance and how to vote.

These folks are up for re-election in August. Their job performance should be linked to Garcia's. Remember, all but North, gave Garcia a hefty raise and voted to renew his contract, Porter once, the rest over, and over and over again.










From left to right:
Ed Kindall on the BOE 22 years since 7/9/1985,
George Thompson, more than 11 years: 4 months on the BOE in 1991 and then back on 8/1/1996,
MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden on the BOE since 8/24/2004 ,
Gracie Porter elected in August of 2006 and
Mark North since spring of 2007.

Another Garcia poll

Karen Johnson and I (see poll at top right) aren't the only ones conducting a vote on Garcia's status. Look what showed up on the Metro Council Agenda for Tuesday:

RESOLUTION NO. RS2008-137

A resolution requesting the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education to make a recommendation as to whether it is appropriate that the Metropolitan Nashville Director of Schools be removed by the Tennessee Board of Education.

WHEREAS, during the tenure of the current Director of Schools, the Metropolitan Council has shown tremendous support for Metro Schools by fully funding, if not exceeding, the Mayor’s recommended budget; and

WHEREAS, although the Council has no direct oversight as to the operation of the school system, the Council has a responsibility to ensure that the funds appropriated for public schools are used in the most prudent manner possible and that student achievement is progressing at an acceptable level; and

WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Nashville Public School (MNPS) system was recently moved into the “corrective action” phase of the federal No Child Left Behind law by the Tennessee Department of Education; and

WHEREAS, as a result of dismal academic performance, state officials acted to remove the principal at Maplewood High School; and

WHEREAS, the 2007 TCAP results show that MNPS fourth graders scored below the minimum growth standard in math and reading, and sixth and eighth graders were below the growth standard in social studies by at least two standard errors; and

WHEREAS, the state high school Gateway test results indicate that Metro public schools’ progress is significantly below the average system in Tennessee in Algebra I, Biology I, and English II; and

WHEREAS, Metro public schools ranked at the bottom of the list of Tennessee school systems on the Math Foundations end of course exam, and have the highest dropout rates and lowest graduation rates in the state; and

WHEREAS, the average ACT score for Metro public schools’ students is a 19.08, which is below the minimum requirement for the HOPE scholarship and precludes our students from admission into 99 percent of the colleges in this country; and

WHEREAS, Davidson County property taxpayers fund the Metropolitan Schools at the second highest level of 135 school districts for the local portion of the per pupil expenditure; and

WHEREAS, Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-1-602 authorizes the Tennessee Commissioner of Education to recommend to the state Board of Education that the local schools director be replaced if a school system does not make progress to meet the minimum standards after being on probation for two consecutive years; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that the Tennessee Board of Education take the action necessary to determine whether it is appropriate that the MNPS Director of Schools position be vacated by the state Board of Education.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:

Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as requesting the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education to make a recommendation as to whether it is appropriate that the Metropolitan Nashville Director of Schools be removed by the Tennessee Board of Education.

Section 2. The Metropolitan Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Resolution to Lana Seivers, the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education.

Section 3. That this Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.

Sponsored by: Councilman Eric Crafton

I have no doubt that Crafton's got his 'whereas' stats correct. It's not enough to be able to point to a couple of schools that are doing well. We're not getting our money's worth from this director. Our students only have so long in the system and too many of them aren't being taught to an acceptable level. Someone has got to step up and demand 'whatever it takes' to get this job done. If the school board won't...it's time for the purse-holders to draw the line.

Shearon shares his POV

Dave Shearon (a former MNPS BOE member from 1998 to 2001) made some very helpful observations in two recent posts to the NashvillePTOTalk list. I think they deserve broader publication and he has generously given me permission to post them here as he's no longer including MNPS issues on his blog.

I've been a little confused by MNPS getting "A's" on value-added even though we are losing ground to the state. So, I did a little investigating.

An "A" only means that a school or system is not doing significantly worse at helping students make gains than the state average from 1998. That's right, 1998 is the measuring stick, so it makes perfect sense that, with the vast majority of schools getting better, MNPS could be doing a poorer job of improving and still make A's.

Of course, this means that our students -- at all pre-achievement levels -- are losing ground to their peers across the state. For example, the 25th percentile for 3rd graders in 2002 for MNPS corresponded to the 22nd percentile for the state. Today, those students are at the 16th percentile. Our 50th percentile was the state's 44th, and today it's the 36th. Our 75th used to http://tinyurl.com/2cf6rr.

Members of the public can only see this data at the system level. Board Members, Dr. Garcia, and anyone to whome he gives a password can see similar data (and much more) for individual schools. Thus, if our leadership wanted to, it is possible for them to report on many additional views of our performance. For example, they could report, if they wanted to, on how zoned schools are doing compared to the academic magnets at helping high-achieving students to gain knowledge and skills in exchange for the time they spend sitting in class. This could be similar to the study I produced in 1999 (http://tinyurl.com/ekxuk) or they might find a better format. But it could be done relatively easily.

There are other interesting results that can be pulled from the online data available to Board members and the administration. For example, they could look at the effect of high concentrations of beginning or ineffective teachers in some feeder patterns. (http://tinyurl.com/ys454f) When I did my study, it meant requesting paper copies of a thick bundle of school-level reports, entering that data into spreadsheets and doing the anlysis. Today, it's just a password and a few clicks for any Board member.

In fairness, I should note that any Board member who undertook such an effort would open themselves up to attacks on three fronts.

First, they would be accused of not being supportive of the system. Many in the system and many parent and community supporters treat hard but fair questions as "attacking public schools."

Second, although I think access could be given to a Board member only down to the school level, for example, the system available to Dr. Garcia and those he designates (other administrators, principals for their own schools, etc.) goes to the teacher and even the student level. This leaves the Board member as a possible suspect if confidential data becomes public. Note: the kind of performance analysis I am suggesting is not confidential.

Third, some analyses would leave the Board member subject to accusations of mis-placed priorities. This line of attack sounds like "As long as low-achieving students are struggling, how can you be concerned about whether we're wasting the time of those who are already doing well?" For "low-achieving", feel free to substitute "minority", "poor", "ELL", "special-education" or any other categorization. The truth is that ALL parents want their children to be engaged, happy, and learning at school and Board members SHOULD represent ALL parents.

To me, the political risks to Board members are the price of leadership. We should have better information on how ALL our students are doing than we do today, and the fact that we don't is the responsibility of the Board.

David N. Shearon, JD, MAPP
Nashville, TN
Contributing monthly to www.pos-psych.com

and Dave continues in this second post:

I think it is fair to say we have not made the stunning gains that the PR campaign of MNPS has tried to claim and that we have made NO WHERE NEAR the jaw-dropping gains that Dr. Garcia claimed for his former district when he was being recruited.

Further, the data suggests that, at least through 2005 (the last year this study was updated), we weren't helping students learn as much between grades 3 and 8. Now, does this apply to every group of students, or is it weighed down by group differences such as increased ELL. Or, put another way, are early high-achieving, non-FARM students doing as well now as they were in 2008? Impossible for us to determine, but Dr. Garcia or his staff or a Board member could provide the answer.

Yes the state standards for proficiency are weak, and thus AYP under NCLB is weak, though we're not even achieving it. Remeber that AYP is based on a minimum cut score that creates no pressure to be concerned about high-achieving students (or those so far below the system determines they won't make it).

David N. Shearon, JD, MAPP
Nashville, TN
Contributing monthly to www.pos-psych.com

BOE Chair Warden comments

The Tennessean prints a light interview with MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden. I'd like to see similar pieces for all the BOE members on a regular basis.

A couple of quotes to encourage you to read the rest. There are questions about goals and if Pedro Garcia is doing a good job--a question she doesn't answer with a yes or no.

The BOE role:

"The school board is different from the Metro Council. We are a policy governing board, and we do a lot of legislative work. The easiest way to think of it is that we oversee and approve the Metro Nashville Schools budget and policy.

SSA:

"If you look around, most private schools enforce standard school attire or uniforms. Maybe they know something we don't. Maybe in distinguishing the way the students dress at school as opposed to the way they dress at home, we are preparing them to enter a learning environment."

Saturday 02/17/06

Bit and pieces:

Wrestling with the TSSAA round two:

WASHINGTON — Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court have been set for April 18 in the long legal fight over whether the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association can punish Brentwood Academy for allegedly recruiting athletes. Tennessean

If we don't know where they are, how do we know if they've been left behind? Metro Nashville Public School Board of Education is wrestling with line items on their budget. They've decided that keeping accurate records on the status and progress of students isn't a first tier budget item and have added it to the 'unfunded priorities list'. That means if they get more money than they're asking for--they'll put it toward this essential record keeping.

“What happens right now is we lose kids – we can’t find kids and it takes forever,” [Superintendent Pedro] Garcia said about bookkeeping woes. “Part of the problem is we have lots of hands in the pie – we got counselors and sometimes secretaries.”
(snip)
“I can tell you, if you have a person [at the school] that you know that’s in charge of records and someone that’s diligent, I think it’s a start,” said board member Gracie Porter. City Paper

We're paying twice for the same product:

More than half of all students who enter college in Tennessee are not academically prepared and require at least one remedial course, according to the Tennessee Board of Regents. The problem is growing.

Remedial education costs the state more than $25 million a year and the number of students enrolled in these courses is expected to grow by about 30 percent over the next decade, said Treva Berryman of the TBR, the governing board for 19 of the state's four- and two-year colleges. Commercial Appeal

America's third world education:

One of the state's top education officials said Wednesday that the United States is at risk of becoming a Third World economy if its public schools don't improve, and his Knoxville audience was glad to hear Tennessee wants to raise standards. KnoxNews

He may want to remember that some of those countries considered third world--are ahead of us in several subjects.

"In fourth grade, American kids do above average internationally. By eighth grade, they slip a bit, and by 12th-grade, they've slipped a lot," Marsh said. "We're the only country that slides down that much from fourth to 12th grade." USC Daily Trojan

This is something Save Our Students told us last year but people got bogged down in who the messenger was instead of the truth of the presentation. Maybe this year they'll listen.

Will someone step up?

BRISTOL, Tenn. - It's official: No one is officially running for the District 2 seat on the five-member Bristol Tennessee Board of Education.
(snip)
"Recent history has shown that parents are more reluctant to serve in positions that have less direct impact on children, such as PTA Council and the Board of Education," Bailey said. "This is especially true when there is a perception that anyone who does serve on the Board of Education will be unjustly criticized in the media."

Boy, don't I know that. There's still a fellow out there insisting he knows the truth about who I am and how I got on the school board. He's dead wrong--but that inconvenient truth isn't impeding him at all in the pursuit of his agenda. People are going to write and say ugly things--truthful and not. People are going to call you and expect you to solve things you have no authority to solve. People are going to unrealistically expect you to have all the answers. But, here's a real opportunity for someone to put their hand to the rudder that will set the course for thousands of children's future. I hope someone steps up via a write in candidacy. These schools need oversight outside of the administration and their professionals.

The pre-nup agreement

It's good to read from Rex in the City that the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education is seriously considering hobbling any effort that Superintendent Pedro Garcia may make to flip his contract extension and recent positive buzz about student scores into a better gig elsewhere.

The clause states if Garcia were to resign to accept another offer of employment prior to a certain date, which will be updated in the new contract, he is to pay the Board liquidated damages, and not as a penalty, in the sum of $5,000 for each month from the date of resignation to the end of his contract.

Thanks for pushing that Ed.

In the meantime my question is "Why is Rex covering this and not the education reporters?"

But are they learning?

In the middle of the fuss about dress codes and balanced calendars the measure of the real missions of public schools may get overlooked. Some are opining that's exactly the goal--distraction from the facts about whether these children are actually learning.

10 days late the state Department of Education will finally make this data available at 3:00 p.m. today (note this use of the late Friday news cycle tactic). Hopefully, reporters will take the weekend to go through this and lead with legitimate information Monday and not just MNPS press release quotes.

Metro Nashville Public Schools will hold their own Q & A just prior at 1:15 p.m. in the Board of Education room on Bransford Avenue.

"We expect to see information showing improved achievement in our district," said Paul Changas, district director of assessment and evaluation.

"A lot of data has been reported. What we have seen has been encouraging, but there are still a lot of areas that we need to address."Tennessean

Yes, indeed. I'm looking forward to the comparisons that the Save Our Students folks promised Nashvillians last spring. I'm convinced they will bring essential context to these numbers while providing accountability that the system has sorely needed. And we'll know better whether Superintendent of School Pedro Garcia actually earned his new three year contract.

She abstainied!

The surprise is not that Pedro Garcia got three more years to be superintendent of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools but that District 5 voters were represented by an abstention. Gracie Porter who won support from the District 5 voters thanks to her close connections to the MNEA, the SEIU, AFL-CIO, 'Democracy in Tennessee', the Chamber of Commerce, along their manpower and money got very little representation last evening when push came to shove. Instead of voting no on the 3 year contract extension she abstained. She got 2709 votes and we got none on this issue.

Since there is no explanation on her website I've e-mailed her for one.

Gracie needs to remember that her contract with the people of District 5 lasts only until August of 2008 and 2,197 people chose someone else to represent our District. Votes like this aren't going to be helpful if she intends to stay around at least as long as Garcia.

SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 5

Candidate	ABS	EV	FSV	ED	TOTAL
K. BROOKS	4	200	0	612	816
L. H. HART	4	183	0	582	769
G. PORTER	11	649	0	2049	2709
C. L. TOWNSEND, SR	14	172	0	426	612
WRITE-IN NP	0	5	0	3	8
TOTALS	33	1209	0	3672	4914

21 of 21 Precincts Reporting
Totals from Metro Election Commission

Incentive briefing notes from Inglewood meeting

On Tuesday, August 22, 2006, hours before my term as a BOE member expired I attended the briefing on the Nashville Alliance Award Initiative given at Inglewood Elementary School. I've found my notes and I thought I'd share with you what those teachers and staff members in attendance were told. I do this to add first hand information to the discussion about what was known and what teacher concerns were.

References to committee mean the joint BOE and MNEA committee created to hash out the exact incentive terms.

I'll start by saying we met in the gymnasium of Inglewood Elementary and it was fairly full. The chatter I overhead between staff members indicated a great deal of positive interest in the proposal.

Other than Principal Brown and her staff those in attendance included:
Pedro Garcia, Nashville Superintendent of Schools
Jamye Merritt, MNEA President
Eric Huth VP MNEA and their chief negotiator
Kay Simmons, Executive Director Nashville Alliance for Public Education
Vince Cummings, SEIU rep (who was upset that he [and by that he meant the union] hadn't been invited.)
Diane Long of the MNPS Information Office (formerly of the Tennessean newspaper).
Mr. Blair Wilson

Jamye Merritt spoke saying that the first meeting regarding this incentive plan was scheduled for the next morning at 8:00 a.m. There was a starting document and they hoped to end with something better. "We want to do what's best for teachers." And she said that Dr. Garcia indicated the incentive would be 'for doing what you already do."

Mr. Blair Wilson was introduced as the money person. (I sat right next to him. While I wanted to thank him and speak more about the effort I only had time to give him my card as he was asked to speak to someone else before they needed to leave.)

Kay Simmons made some comments about the purpose of the NAPE being to align private support for public schools. This incentive pay would be called the Nashville Alliance Awards Initiative.

Pedro Garcia spoke for a bit about the history of the Alliance, the money that had been raised and the renovation of Randall for staff development. He then got back to the business at hand saying that originally the incentive plan was only going to include one school. However Mr. Wilson agreed to fund two schools. Garcia went on to say that the committee makes decisions but it all must be approved by Garcia and Mr. Wilson. They hoped to have a final agreement by October 15. Garcia said there was "nothing different you have to do." It's based on student achievement [with] a maximum of $6,000 per person by grade level.

Merritt: MNEA isn't abandoning incentive pay across the board for all teachers.

Question: How will growth be measured?
Answer: Merritt: Not yet determined. Committee will determine. You are the people it's going to effect.

Q: How was Inglewood Elementary chosen?
A: Garcia: We looked at schools on the target list and close to good standing category.
A: Wilson: And with a strong leadership team

Q: If we don't improve?
A: Garcia: No implications other than NCLB.
A: Merritt: This is a three year commitment. Is your question "Is there a stigma if progress not made?"
A: Simmons: Details not worked out. Not intention to have stigma. No public announcement with results. "Your neighbor won't know."
A: Merritt: Payroll information is public.

Q: How will support people be considered?
A: Merritt: MNEA will consider only certificated person.
A: Garcia: Everyone in school will share in success.

Q: If it goes really well will it go to all Metro schools?
A: Garcia: Just not that much money available. We need more community participation.
A: Wilson: "Personal goal" of his to do it. Unless it's successful it won't be expanded.

Q: How often will committee update us?
A: Garcia: Deadline is October 15.
A: Merritt: Be happy to come back and explain and at a community forum also.

Q: Are these committee meeting open? Sunshine Law?
A: Merritt: Meetings during the day but it's open. [I understood her to be saying that teachers may not be able to attend as the meetings will be during their regular work hours.]

Q: Will there be pre-assessment and post?
A: Garcia: You have to have some. We do that anyway. Idea is to not do anything extra.
A: Wilson: Baseline will be the previous year. "Kids are tested enough." Not seen as a program to help teachers but to help kids.

Q: What if we work hard and the scores don't go up? The community will know, it'll be in the paper.
A: Garcia: "My belief is that it will happen."
A: Wilson: We're not seeking publicity until the scores go up.

Q: Were Arkansas teachers [where a similar program was studied by MNPS, MNEA and the BOE] able to tell you what they did differently and what we can do?
A: Merritt: They worked as a team.
A: Wilson: Great idea. Principal Brown can call Arkansas and see what worked.
A: Merritt: School was already showing gains. If it doesn't happen it won't be because you didn't work hard.

Q: Did they use reward programs for children?
A: Garcia: We haven't seen anything at the elementary level.

Ending comment from Garcia: I'm really sorry that you were disappointed by not having met [AYP]. It doesn't mean you're a bad faculty. It doesn't mean anything to me. You're working hard and doing everything you need to do.

Innovation & reform (again) and (more) grant money

This press release from Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Pedro Garcia (you'll remember that his contract is up for renewal).

Today, I am creating an Office of Reform and Innovation.

This office will be charged with the development of strategies and new programs that will result in improved graduation rates, improved attendance and discipline, increased academic achievement, and reductions in the achievement gap between subgroups of students.

The initial focus will be on high school and middle school programmatic needs for reaching these results. This department will have broad authority to work across the existing organization to secure resources and to develop action plans for implementation in our schools across the district.

Specific duties during the first year include:

1. Overseeing the Small Learning Communities Grant recently awarded by the United States Department of Education
2. Planning and implementing a Big Picture School in Nashville for 2007-2008
3. Developing and implementing other optional schools that will serve to meet the needs of the community and improve graduation rates
4. Facilitating and participating in discussions in the Nashville community around strategic plan development
5. Developing and implementing plans for the creation of career academies and other small learning communities in our comprehensive high schools
6. Working with Alignment Nashville on these new programs and aligning our goals with the work of the non-profit agencies in Nashville
7. Developing relationships with businesses in Nashville in support of innovative new programs in our schools
8. Discussing with labor organizations any implications of innovative programs that are being explored and removing any barriers to progress early in the planning process
9. Working with community groups at-large and exploring new ways that the community and the district can work together in support of district programs in our schools
10. Working with identified resources to explore and apply for alternative funding sources for new and innovative programs in our schools
11. Advocating, in cooperation with the Board and other school officials, for changes in state education laws that will facilitate the implementation of new innovations in our schools
12. Developing specific change management strategies that proactively define steps the district needs to take for new programs to be successfully integrated in our schools

Mr. James Briggs will serve as the director of this office. As the Director of the Reform and Innovation Office, Mr. Briggs will be the primary contact with Alignment Nashville and work across all of the areas above in researching, planning, and implementing change initiatives. An additional staff member will concentrate on the career academies and SLCs with specific focus on the detailed strategies, policies, and plans for the creation of successful career academies and small learning communities in Nashville’s high schools.

The creation of the Office of Reform and Innovation will mark an important milestone for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, moving the district into the implementation mode of reform. To be successful, a small and elite group such as this is needed to drive results with the authority to move across the organization and challenge existing paradigms. Key to the success of this group will be the focus on action plans for programs to be implemented across the district and on the management of the significant change that these new programs represent. Due to the critical nature of this work, Mr. Briggs and the Office of Reform and Innovation will work under my supervision.

In addition, I am moving the Department of Assessment and Evaluation to an independent department reporting directly to me. As you know this department has been reporting to the Chief Instructional Officer. I believe with the increased focus on accountability nationwide, it is important to establish an independent department that has the authority to work throughout the district on accountability and reporting issues.

I believe both of these initiatives respond to the needs in our schools and reflect the desires of our community. They dedicate resources to the important task of school reform and position us for the needed changes and improvements we must make in our schools

How this is significantly different I don't know. We're already attempting much of this. Will putting it under its own office really going to bring better results? I guess we'll see.

Moving the Department of Assessments & Evaluation out from under Sandy Johnson (Chief Instructional Officer) will be welcome news to many people.

Also issued was this press release:

MNPS Receives $5.2 Million Grant For Innovative Small Learning Communities

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 12, 2006) – Metro Nashville Public Schools has been notified by the U.S. Department of Education it will receive a grant of $5,206,420 to create Small Learning Communities in eight of its comprehensive high schools. The innovative approach, which focuses on creating Freshmen Academies for ninth-grade students, Career/Thematic Academies for grades 10-12 students, and an advisory program that pairs each student with a member of the school faculty or staff, was made possible by efforts involving Congressman Jim Cooper, Mayor Bill Purcell and Alignment Nashville.

"We believe Small Learning Communities are a model for 21st Century schools,” said MNPS Director Pedro E. Garcia, Ed.D. "No two students are alike and Small Learning Communities provide a perfect setting for helping each student reach their full potential. We're very thankful for the work of Alignment Nashville, Congressman Cooper, Mayor Purcell and others who are supporting this important effort and for helping us obtain the federal grant to make it possible."

In awarding this grant, one of the largest awarded nationally, the U.S. Department of Education cited the existence of Alignment Nashville, a community-wide effort to help our schools become successful learning environments, as a major reason for their funding decision.

"Our nonprofit community, government agencies, colleges and universities and the business community must participate in a coordinated and collaborative effort with our schools, if our schools are to be successful, and Alignment Nashville is all about creating and managing that effort," said Sydney Rogers, Executive Director of Alignment Nashville.

Participating high schools in the five-year program include: Antioch, Glencliff, Hillwood, Hunters Lane, Maplewood, McGavock, Stratford, and Whites Creek. Approximately 14,000 students will be affected by the program each year. The primary objective is to develop small, safe and successful learning environments in Nashville's public high schools, with rigorous, relevant and relationship-driven programs. A portion of this grant will be allocated for professional development for teachers.

A high school reform planning grant from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the Carnegie Corporation, awarded earlier this year, played a key role in developing Nashville's Small Learning Communities proposal. The USCM planning grant funded the strategic planning process and a site visit to study a model program.

"Improving our high schools is a top priority for our school district and our city," said Mayor Bill Purcell. “This new grant is an important piece of what will be a community-wide effort to make sure all of our students graduate with the skills they need.”

The purpose of Alignment Nashville is to create a system to bring community organizations and resources into alignment so their coordinated support for the priorities of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools has a positive impact on student achievement and public school success.

We had smaller neighborhood schools. They were replaced by large, efficient and sleeker modern facilities which broke up neighborhoods, distanced citizens from their neighborhood schools and required millions in transportation expenses (for taxpayers and parents). Now we're creating smaller schools within those behemouth facilities.

It's been discovered that the transition from middle school to high school is critical in that often it's in the 9th grade that students begin the slide toward dropping out. The theory is that if we create more intimate 9th grade 'academies' we'll have a better chance at keeping these children in school.

Oh, and this year's buzz words are "rigor, relevance & relationship".

And why post the entire press release? Have you ever noticed that the MNPS puts most of their stuff in .pdf format--press releases, agendas, minutes...? Search engines cannot read .pdfs. The MNPS search feature is fairly worthless. So if you want to find something--you've got to know what you're looking for. We can do better.

Grading Garcia

Director of Schools Pedro Garcia's contract is up for review. The City Paper tells us this morning that, as was announced in previous board sessions, the board will utilize a facilitator from the Tennessee School Boards Association.

There are two good reasons to call in a facilitator:

1. The board was unable to conclude last year's evaluation on Pedro Garcia there being too much disagreement about his performance. It was still a sore point months later when I spent a summer on the board.

2. We have a majority of new board members that were not around when the evaluation documents (EE's and Ends) were being presented, vetted and voted on. They're going to need some help just wading through all of that. I sincerely doubt that the facilitator cares one way or the other whether Garcia's contract is renewed.

All year long the school board evaluates a portion of Garcia's job performance. They hear his evidence about how well he's done and they submit paper votes and comments which are compiled. At the end of the year it should be a simple matter of adding up the scores and seeing what the result is.

Mere citizens don't have access to those documents without specifically requesting them. They're not part of the usual minutes that are published by the board (example). Here's a copy of a set I've uploaded to KayBrooks.com page 11 is a blank monitoring report. That evening the board heard from Garcia and his staff regarding how well he had done meeting the board's goals for that issue. Page 14 and following are reports with the scores and comments of the BOE members regarding other issues. You can see that their votes are indicated by their initials and their comments are also identified by their initials.

I have mentioned that I don't believe that there is a full vetting of this information. The Friday before the board meets the board usually gets a page with paragraphs saying Garcia has met the goal. That Tuesday night they hear verbal arguments buttressing that argument. The board is expected to return their votes rather quickly which doesn't really provide any time for the community and parents in particular, to rebut Garcia's comments. If you look at the bottom of page 12 of the pdf (actual document page 11) you'll see that while this monitoring report was presented to the board on September 26 the BOE was expected to return it to the board secretary by October 2 just six days later. That doesn't leave time for public rebuttal before the board and that's a big concern to me. The only formal public comments about the performance of this employee are from his point of view. Yes, board members include comments on their evaluation forms and they ought to have had some dialogue with their constituents regarding the issue--but again, most of this is not really out there in the public where it can be legitimately rebutted and countered. It's no surprise then, that he gets very good marks as a rule.

I may be the only person who ever failed him on anything. It was on facilities and it was because I'd visited schools in the 5th District, I had a bottle of nasty water from Isaac Litton Middle School with me and knew that, at least in my district, he had failed to provide a safe and clean place for the children.

NOW is the time to let your board members know how you feel about Garcia's performance. NOW is the time to let them know how you want them to vote. Here's the MNPS page with contact information for the BOE.

"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

Suffer not the little children

KIPP Academy has been one of two red-headed step children in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools system. Despite the fact that these children are part of the public school system and are testing very well the administration seems to regularly snub them and give them the remainders. The lastest snub these children are suffering is that two months after they've begun their school year Superintendent Pedro Garcia is insisting that the children be pulled from the educational system that's working for them and be returned to their zoned schools now that those schools are no longer failing.

Liz Garrigan of the Nashville Scene reports that Pedro Garcia is failing to communicate with the school and is failing to follow the directions of the State Department of Education.

At its core, this conflict, which also applies to a group of students at Smithson-Craighead charter school that the system wants removed, illustrates a frustrating reality: that the Metro school administration, and at least a few members of the school board, resent charter schools and only grudgingly approved them in Nashville. There’s a kind of antagonism, rooted in a sort of territorial instinct, that pervades the relationship between public school educators and reform educators.

She's exactly right. Don't even begin to repeat the "Whatever it takes" motto of MNPS. Don't even repeat the new mantra of "Relevance, Rigor and Relationship'. Both are wasted breath in light of this development. This clearly demonstrates that the goal is not educating the children but protecting the system, the union jobs, and the power base.

Shame on Pedro Garcia and every school board member that doesn't hold his feet to the fire and his job on the line and require him to immediately let those children stay in their charter schools which are doing the job of educating them.

UPDATE: Liz Garrigan reports Pedro Garcia has backed off.

And, this afternoon, Garcia tells the Scene that the state board is echoing such a posture to Metro lawyers. As a result, the schools director says, he will call off the demand. He called Dowell earlier this afternoon to communicate that.

“Based on that interpretation, we’ll follow that,” Garcia says. “We were following our attorney’s interpretation.”

Update of BOE meeting 8/22/06

The MNPS board secretary confirmed that the wording for GP3.10 which passed 9-0 on the consent agenda was the same one discussed at the last BOE meeting and pulled by me for a specific vote. At that time the board voted to remove it all together and now this board has reinstated it without discussion.

"Facilitating timely and efficient communications with the administration and constituents by offering to each Board member the use of a district provided laptop or a residential fax line with fax machine.”

She also provided me with the committee appointments made by Chair Pam Garrett

Charter Schools Committee –
Connie Williams [ Executive Director of PENCIL Foundation] and
Sydney Rodgers [Chamber of Commerce Alignment Nashville]

CGCS [Council of Great City Schools] Convention –
George Thompson, honorary chair [long time BOE member and new chairman of CGCS]
Kathy Nevill, acting chair [former BOE member and vice-chair]
and George [Thompson] announced that
Dr. Garcia [Director of MNPS] would be co-chair

Committee to Evaluate the Director [Dr. Garcia] –
Ed Kindall, chair
Marsha Warden
Pam Garrett [currently BOE chair]
Steve Glover [new board member covering Kathy Nevill's old seat]