No spelling bee this year

This from the Tennessean today:

Dear Spelling Bee Coordinators:

As most of you know, The Tennessean has made the decision to cease our sponsorship of the Middle Tennessee Regional Spelling Bee beginning with the 2007-08 school year. The Tennessean took on this sponsorship when the Nashville Banner closed. Since that time, it has been our privilege to provide this program for schools throughout Middle Tennessee. After much deliberation and evaluation of our core mission, we determined that our resources need to be directed to programs that link more closely with our core mission.

Belmont University is very interested in taking on this sponsorship for the 2008-09 school year, but is not able to do so for the current school year. Because there is no local sponsor for the Middle Tennessee Regional Spelling Bee, it will not be conducted in 2007-08. Middle Tennessee will not have a representative at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May 2008. This mailing list will be provided to Thom Storey at Belmont University, so that he can notify you about the 2008-09 school year. (snip)

So what's their core mission again? Oh, that's right. Make money.

Bill Hobbs has much more and the funniest headline.

It belongs to all Tennesseans

Rep. Gary Odom (D-Nashville) in response to objections from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research for including the state seal on his fundraising literature :

“I think the state seal belongs to all Tennesseans,” he says. “I don't think anyone has a monopoly on it. I've got it on my door. I've got it on my stationery and on my card and so does my staff and so does most every legislator down there. To me, it's like the state flag. It's a symbol of our great state. And it sounds a little trivial to me when someone starts questioning how it's used and when it's used. The Republican Senate caucus website has a state seal on it. A lot of individual senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle have it on their websites. I've got it here on my notepad. It's everywhere.” Via PITW (adult site).

And so it is------->>>>^^^

This from TCPR:

Using the State Seal in this way does not violate Tennessee law, but it does run contrary to the State Constitution, which says that the Seal "shall be kept by the governor, and used by him officially." The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is asking all legislators – particularly those in leadership such as Odom – to stop using the State Seal when sending invitations to fundraisers.

Here's Odom's $1,000 a plate invitation.

What cowed men aren't allowed to say

and sensible women across Nashville know:

She should not have been walking through the park alone and late at night.

No, that doesn't mean she deserves what happened but she is not without responsibility in this. She made some bad choices that resulted in severe consequences.

No, that doesn't mean the criminal should be allowed to do what he did. He should be homeless no more and incarcerated for quite some time.

However, why should we be expected to hand over more of our finite resources to pay for increased patrols to enable anyone to ignore basic safety rules? Everyone has a responsibility to be their own first line of defense. Don't walk alone. Don't walk in isolated areas late at night. Be sure you're mentally alert and aware of your surroundings. Carry a cell phone, fully charged and paid up. Don't let a stranger get close. Even my youngest knows all those rules. I'll bet she knew them to. Why she didn't follow them only she knows. What a horrible lesson to have to live through. I wouldn't wish this attack on anyone and I hope her physical, mental and spiritual recovery is well under way.

In the meantime, we've got to accept personal responsibility for the biggest portion of our own safety and not demand that other people pay for untold numbers of police and equipment that cannot be everywhere all the time anyway. We can only do so much. Beyond that the truth is, as cartographers used to write: "there be monsters."


According to the City Paper the day after the attack:

The victim, whose identity is being protected, was walking home from a downtown club when the suspect asked her for a cigarette on 5th Avenue North, police said.

The woman then proceeded to walk into the amphitheatre area of Bicentennial Mall when the suspect apparently approached her from behind, threw her to the ground, held a knife to her throat and....

Saving Summer

Dear Save Tennessee Summers Supporters:

Fabulous News! Later school start date champion, Rep. Joe McCord, passed a resolution during the last legislative session creating a joint committee of the Senate and the House to study the school calendar issue. The purpose of this committee is to allow all interested parties an opportunity to present research and data relating to the issue, as well as opinions. The committee will also issue a report to the entire legislature, giving us another opportunity to educate our elected officials about the benefits of a later school start date for K-12 public school children.

The first committee meeting is Friday, November 2 and invited testimony is all that will be heard that day. During the first meeting, the second meeting time will be scheduled and the date will be published so that parents will be provided the opportunity to speak as well.

Knowing it is difficult for many to arrange child care and travel for a public meeting I'm asking all Save Tennessee Summers supporters to please write a letter to the committee at-large. Your email simply needs to state your desire for a later school start date and include any of the reasons you may have. An email as simple as "As a member of the Special Joint Committee to Study the Traditional School Calendar I hope you will consider a later school start date for our public schools. I would like to see a start date of XXXX." Don't forget to include your name and address.

Of course, adding the negative impact of early start dates on your family will only further help our cause.

I hope you will consider blind carbon copying me on the email you send, so that I can add them to our file and ensure they are received and considered by our legislators and can be used as the legislative session begins. Email addresses are listed below.

sen.jamie.woodson@legislature.state.tn.us,
sen.raymond.finney@legislature.state.tn.us,
sen.bill.ketron@legislature.state.tn.us,
sen.tommy.kilby@legislature.state.tn.us,
rep.frank.buck@legislature.state.tn.us,
rep.joe.mccord@legislature.state.tn.us,
rep.richard.montgomery@legislature.state.tn.us,
rep.leslie.winningham@legislature.state.tn.us

Sincerely,
Carol Duffin, Cathy Van Meter, Amy Olson & Tina Bruno (tbruno2 AT satx.rr.com)
Save Tennessee Summers Parent Volunteers

[Or use this link to e-mail the entire committee at once.]

What's it designed to find?

Is it me or is the MNPS search feature just about useless?




















OK, is "Bransford Avenue" broad enough a search term?







Apparently not.

Charter school committee hearings

The dates and times for the Charter Committee hearings have been published. Curious that so many are at Lowe's. We don't have enough meeting space at Metro facilities?

October 17, Wednesday, 1:30 p.m. in the Board Room
October 19, Friday, 1:00 p.m. at TSU – Clay Hall room 126
October 22, Monday, at 1:00 p.m. at Margaret Allen Middle School
October 24, Wednesday, 1:00 p.m. at Margaret Allen Middle School
October 26 Friday, 1:00 p.m. at Margaret Allen Middle School
October 29, Monday, 1:00 p.m. at Lowe’s Vanderbilt
October 30 , Tuesday, 1:00 p.m. at Lowe’s Vanderbilt
October 31, Wednesday, 1:00 p.m. at Lowe’s Vanderbilt
November 1, Thursday, 1:00 p.m. at Lowe’s Vanderbilt
November 2, Friday, 1:00 p.m. at Lowe’s Vanderbilt

Now if we could just get some agendas and know which schools would be discussed when we'd have a better idea of how to plan our schedules.

From the City Paper this morning (good luck with that link):

This year, committee members and School Board representative Gracie Porter will review three applications — Nashville Academy of Science and Technology, JWG Manna Life and Art Academy, and the already-established Smithson-Craighead Academy.

Community Band

The City Paper did a front page piece on the Isaac Litton Middle School band situation yesterday. The reporter, Alexa Hinton, doesn't ordinarily cover the education beat. The City Paper About Us page tells us "She covers books, City Confidentials, fashion, accessories and Swan Ball" which may explain why a few details were left out. The renewal of this band program has been a community effort which has also included the Inglewood Neighborhood Association, the Country Music Association and the Nashville Alliance for Public Education (the tool used by many to funnel funds to Metro schools).

The Inglewood Neighborhood Association has long known that the success of Litton is important to the success of our neighborhood. Last year we became a Pencil Partner and while we can't bring the big dollars that Sam's Club can, or the excitement of the Music City Motorplex what we do is bring the needs of Litton to the community and encourage the community to step up and help meet those needs for the betterment of the children and our community.

An integral part of that mission is to have Litton on our regular monthly agenda. It was because the needs of Litton are a regular part of our meetings that when talk of the INA creating a race through the neighborhood began 18 months ago or so the committee naturally looked toward Litton as a recipient for proceeds of the race.

The merchants of Riverside Village stepped up and were primary sponsors of this successful event. These business owners took a chance on reclaiming that corner of our neighborhood and another on an inaugural race and Litton, along with Inglewood, benefit.

The County Music Association is pouring money into the Metro school system and their recent donation of 60 instruments to Litton is no small contribution to the effort and should not be overlooked.

The Nashville Alliance for Public Education and it's leader, Pam Garrett, has been an essential partner in funneling funds from those with money to Litton, and many other schools across the county.

Rick Bradley's letter in today's City Paper states in part:

I am shocked and appalled to hear this. The mayor, [Metro] Council, and the school board should be ashamed. With the money that we put into our school system why can’t we have quality instruments for the children at Litton Middle School that want to learn and play music? How many other school band programs also have old and inferior instruments?

We have given tax breaks to local businesses and sports programs, why can’t we find money to have quality instruments for our school children that want to learn and play music in a school band.

I can't explain where all the money the Council sends to MNPS goes. Frankly, I'd welcome a third party audit. But the community isn't waiting for Metro to fix this problem. The community, ranging from neighbors to huge corporations, are getting involved and getting the job done.

Exposure is necessary

Over and over again government entities have to be reminded that their business is not private business, it's public and the public cannot be prevented from viewing the proceedings.

Today's Nashville City Paper in four very short paragraphs tells us that another attempt at keeping the public's business out of public view has failed. According to the paper MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia objected to the Charter [school] Review Committee's meetings being public and "expressed desire to conduct the meeting in closed session to prevent media exposure." However:

Board member David Fox was seeking outside legal advice on the issue because he wished to attend review committee meetings and hear plans from the three charter school groups seeking approval.

THANK YOU Mr. Fox! Why would the people's representative (Board Member David Fox) have to even wage this battle? What's the downside to 'media exposure' that Garcia is so concerned about?

It's hard enough to get a charter school started in this state, this district, but to continue to give this committee the ability to hide our business, their reasoning, their process from the public only ensures that the children of this district will continued to be denied what may be the very educational option they need because the fox is watching the hen house. Doubt that? Check this list:

2007-08 Charter School Committee

Dr. Greg Patterson, Chair
Gracie Porter, Board of Education Rep.
Dr. Lendozia Edwards, Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Kecia Ray, MNPS Policy
Avi Poster, Community Member
Shannon Puckett, Business Office
Glenda Gregory, Business Office
Mary Johnston, Metro Legal
Dr. Nancy Meador, Curriculum and Instruction
Faye Goodman, MNPS
Henry Flenory, ADA
Dr. Tina Stinson, Assessment and Evaluation
Carol Swain, IT
Dr. Christian Arthur, TSU Dean

Members in red are on the MNPS payroll. I consider these people, sans Ms. Porter as the people's representative, to have a conflict of interest in regard to charters for the children in Davidson County.

Mr. Poster is no mere 'community member' as he is a retired middle school principal from Chicago and has been a member of this committee for several years already, as well as the Nashville Chamber of Commerce's Report Card committee, and has advocated closed door meetings for school board business.

Again, thanks to BOE Rep. David Fox. I hope he'll take this a step further and publicly report to the community what goes on in those meetings.

From a post in March 2007 on this blog:

And I completely agree with David Fox in the following:

The whole imbroglio has led school board member David Fox to propose that the board’s governance committee address the administration’s treatment of charter schools by adding to its list of “executive expectation” a line item basically saying the director should make a good-faith effort to work productively with charter schools. The committee will take up the proposal in coming months. (Nashville Scene [an adult site] March 22, 2007)

They should do this immediately--though I realize that it's not likely to make an immediate impact on Garcia's contract. But it will ensure that the BOE is regularly looking at this issue and, I sincerely hope, making sure that these MNPS students get all they need too.

It appears the BOE has not yet adopted this change to their Executive Expectations as their website shows no EE changes this year at all and none to EE-17 Charter Schools since 10/11/2005. Garcia's attempt to 'prevent media exposure' would certainly fail my definition of making a 'good-faith effort to work productively with charter schools'.

5 meetings short and keep on talking

Add Gracie Porter to the list of BOE representatives hosting rezoning meetings in their districts. I've been on her e-list since nearly the beginning of her tenure in August of 2006 and this is the first e-mail I've ever received.

Metro schools redistricting

I know many of you may have questions about the redistricting proposal that was recently put before the school board. In order for you to get answers, I've scheduled a meeting for Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. at Stratford High School. Please come and bring your friends and neighbors who have questions about the process. Right now the plan just a proposal and changes should be expected. The final decisions will come only after significant public input on the plan. If you'd like to review a detailed copy of the proposal, just click here and you can download one to your computer. I caution you that it is a large file and you may only want to download it if you have a high speed connection. One of the main issues I'll be looking at is the future of Dalewood Middle School. Changes are in store for the building, but no decisions have been made. One of my goals is to keep it from becoming a magnet school because I think it's important to maintain it as a community school. I have other concerns about the district and I'll be talking with you more about them in the coming days, but I wanted to make sure you had ample time to mark Oct. 30 on your calendars for this important meeting. Thanks! Gracie

Curiously while the e-mail notice was obviously generated via her campaign website e-list the FROM was listed as: Jim Grinstead [mailto:jim@liberalvoices.com]

If you go to http://liberalvoices.com visitors are greeted with:

Radical conservatives have just one message for America's liberals.

"Shut up!"

You can hear it almost any night from Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel or any of the other mouthpieces of the Radical Right. Even the White House denounces criticism as unpatriotic.

"Shut up!" Only the Radical Right's voice shall be heard.

Not any more.

It's time for America to hear from its Liberal Voices. To hear a message of hope, not fear. A message that speaks for everyone, not just a privileged few. A message that says government should be a tool that creates a better life for us all, not a mechanism for protecting the wealth of its most influential.

Liberal Voices is a place where you can listen in to the words of others in writings and speeches.

Liberal Voices is a place where you can be heard in its blogs, by writing your own essays or becoming a columnist.

It's a place to take what you need and say what you feel.

No, Mr. Grinstead. Don't shut up at all. Keep on talking. I think some of Gracie Porter's constituents need to hear more about how her campaign supporters feel about them.

Mr. Grinstead is listed at Democracy for Tennessee as their executive director.

[Jim Grinstead] also provided media consultation for DFT chapters and several of our candidates, including as a key advisor to Gracie Porter, the DFT-endorsed candidate who won a landslide victory in Nashville last August.

Wonder if he'll be her key advisor for her reelection campaign this summer.

Tn History Festival

We spent Friday afternoon at the Tennessee History Festival at the Bicentennial Mall. This was the first time we'd been and the children enjoyed it.

The fellow to the left, Park Ranger Mike Cole, shooting toward the capitol was very informative, interacted well with the children and his rifle report was very impressive! It's a wonder our forefathers weren't all deaf.










The Best Field Trip T-Shirt award goes to Davidson Academy. Their blue shirts in the photo at left reads "Let's go Tennesseeing". We ended up following a whole gaggle of these students. That worked out well in that reenactors would start their spiel when they showed up.










Under "Worlds Collide": We caught this reenactor, at left, talking on her cell phone, but she was too quick and managed to hide it before the shutter went off. Men of different centuries pass one another on the street.














History Bill of TnHistoryForKids.org was interviewing a Cherokee Indian when came by. That made this presentation the best of all. Look for the video tape on their website.








I would have like to have seen better signage explaining what the stop was supposed to be focused on, some places to sit while the presentations were going on, and we forgot water bottles so a few water fountains along the mall itself would have been very welcome. Regardless, we were very appreciative of the opportunity to see all of this, talk about it and get to touch items from long ago. Thanks to all the reenactors, park rangers, the taxpayers of Tennessee for the facility and God for perfect weather.

Another inconvience

This from England:

A judge on Wednesday ruled that Al Gore's award winning climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" should only be shown in schools with guidance notes to prevent political indoctrination.

High Court judge Michael Burton's decision follows legal action brought by a father of two last month claiming the former US vice-president's film contained "serious scientific inaccuracies, political propaganda and sentimental mush". Breibart.com

Seems like a reasonable ruling to me.

UPDATE: Make that 9 inconviences.

6 meetings short

The Tennessean is reporting this morning that of the 9 MNPS BOE members only three have scheduled community meetings to discuss the rezoning.

School board members will hold community meetings to discuss zoning changes.

• 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Antioch High School, District 6 RepresentativeKaren Johnson

• 6:30 p.m. Oct. 25, Hillwood High School, District 9 Representative MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden

• 6 p.m. Oct. 29, Madison School, District 3 Representative Mark North

Marsha Warden is the only one of the four representatives up for reelection that has scheduled a meeting. When are the meetings for George Thompson , Ed Kindall , and Gracie Porter as well as the other three not up for reelection David Fox , Steve Glover and Jo Ann Brannon Unfortunately, all of the above meetings will fall AFTER the BOE's next meeting on this issue, October 19. They should get community input before they have their working session. They knew rezoning was coming long before Tuesday's meeting and should have anticipated the need to get input from their constituents.There should be a rezoning meeting in every district within 30 days. Much after that and the excuse will be there were conflicts with 'the holidays'.

Again, you can go to this MNPS page to view the current cluster maps and here to view the proposed cluster maps.

A hard read

From the Nashville Scene (an adult site) comes this heartbreaking tale of Rob Briley's "Affairs of State"

This is very hard reading. It's so frustrating. It enrages one to know that people who had the authority both moral and legal, to help this man, failed to do so again, and again, and again. This will be the most difficult thing you read today. But read it all so that the vermin that are running the legislature will be exposed and hopefully, they will be accountable and the SOP will change. This sort of thing has to stop. How can they dare to say they're caring for the people of Tennessee when they won't care for one of their own. They were willing to sacrifice this man for their own comfort, to hold on to power and out of fear that their own lives would then would be judged.

These friends, who ask not to be named, blame the Capitol’s well-publicized culture of sleaze for contributing to Briley’s troubles. They question why House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh never intervened to stop Briley’s affair with Littleton—a volatile, on-again, off-again relationship they say destabilized the tormented young politician. But it’s hard to imagine Naifeh objecting, given that the speaker himself romanced his now-wife Betty Anderson, a lobbyist, in the 1990s.

“Rob’s gotten up in something he can’t handle, but he’s not willing to give it up,” one source says. “All these people knew what was going on. Every one of these people knew he was out of control, but they overlooked it. Every time I leave there, I need a bath. It’s so dirty and contaminated.”

Keep praying for this man, his children and his family. Alcoholism is a family illness. They need our support.

As a constituent I would want Rob Briley to resign. He needs to focus on his health and his fractured family. That's his first duty.

Previous Post:
Powerless over alcohol, lives unmanageable

The Nobel has a shine?

Tennessee Center for Policy Research has issued a press release saying Al Gore is not deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize. While I don't disagree with that at all I take issue with their tag line:

“Making Al Gore a Nobel Laureate would forever tarnish the Nobel Prize.” TCPR's Drew Johnson.

I'm thinking that ship sailed long ago. Cruise through this list of previous winners from the Nobel Foundation or this one from Wikipedia with some descriptions and most of us would agree, whether we lean left or right, that Gore wouldn't be the first to create a dull patina on the penance for dynamite prize.

New MNPS zones

Well, the maps are out. Let the conversation begin. You can see the individual cluster maps and the clarifying information provided by MNPS on the MNPS.org website. The Tennessean provides very poor black and white copies. Don't waste your time going there as they're nearly useless. Here's the Tennessean article though. The City Paper still isn't providing direct links to articles, which is still very frustrating (and still no dates on the very few articles with direct links) so no direct link for them.

I'm very curious about the closing of Dalewood Middle. I understand we have too much capacity. Frankly, neighbors shook their heads in wonder while MNPS was expanding the facility a couple of years ago. Big on the mind of folks in Inglewood will be "What happens to the Dalewood building?" Page 10 of the .pdf suggests that it, and other schools no longer being used, will be available for "optional programs, or other instructional uses, potentially increasing future choice opportunities." OOOOKaaaaay. In the meantime, what's the plan to ensure they don't fall into disrepair while those other opportunities, uses and choices come to fruition? Frankly, I'd be thrilled if KIPP decided to abandon the shameful facilities MNPS allowed them on Douglas Avenue and moved in there.

I'm very thankful to read Isaac Litton Middle School will remain. When parents choose to transfer their children to that school---you know you've got a great team there. Let's not mess with that.

Apparently, the Maplewood Cluster, which has some of the most desperate families and students and perhaps the poorest education results, was just too hard a nut to crack. Page 42 merely says:

"Recommended for further study. Study the feasibility of consolidating some elementary schools in the cluster."

Page 12 of the .pdf says 11th and 12th graders will be grandfathered in, but transportation will be the parents' responsibility.

According to the City Paper the BOE will have a working session regarding this rezoning on October 19 from 4 to 8. You'll want to make sure that your concerns and comments reach them before then.

So you can go to this MNPS page to view the current cluster maps and here to view the proposed cluster maps.

Here's the web page with the BOE members and their contact information.

E-mail all the BOE members using this link.

Other interesting information from last evening's MNPS presentation:

Two things about this chart:

1. How can MNPS provide 'unofficial' data. Aren't they the officials that collect and report this data?

2. How does this dramatic difference in the while student population compare with the white population of Metro overall?




How much of this tremendous increase in Free and Reduced Meals population is a result of wealthier families leaving Davidson County and the increased emphasis on providing these programs and ensuring folks are taking advantage of the taxpayers charity?

MNPS rezoning

The City Paper reports this morning that a rezoning proposal will be presented to the MNPS BOE this evening at their 5:00 meeting. They also quote George Thompson (17 year BOE member, Chairman of the Board for Great City Schools and up for reelection next August) as saying district officials would be meeting with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, the Metro Council and members from the community in the coming weeks. Hopefully, they'll provide those meeting dates and places at this evening's meeting.

A couple of things to keep in mind as the MNPS BOE debates where to draw those new zone lines this evening:

1. With their renewed emphasis on Small Learning Communities (SLC) there should be little talk of closing small schools just because they're small. Either smaller learning communities work or they don't. I firmly believe that taxpayers want a good return for their money. They don't believe that's happening now. In fact I believe you'll find huge support for neighborhood schools in the community.

We've discovered, after building some behemoth schools, that are now being sectioned into SLC's, that bigger wasn't the best return for our tax money. This is the time to bring back neighborhood schools as much as humanly possible. You want more parental participation? Make sure children attend schools close to home. You want neighborhoods to invest in their local schools, make sure there are local children there. You want support from the community come budget time---make sure that their neighborhood schools are assets to the neighborhood and centers of neighborhood life.

2. I really encourage folks to provide input to the BOE. Likely, you know your neighborhood better than they do and what will make 'sense' to them may make absolutely no sense in real world practice. There is no large district wide map available online, that I or 244-INFO, can find. The closest MNPS comes to detailing all this is individual cluster maps. [Remember these are the maps they're talking about changing.] I know there are council district lines that make absolutely no sense. I suspect such is the same with school zoning lines. Make sure the BOE hears about those.

3. To those that will cringe at the thought of some neighborhood schools not being diverse I will point out that our public school population is becoming less and less diverse all the time. And I'll point you to the success KIPP Academy is having without diversity. Our focus shouldn't be on the color of a child or the numbers in their parent's bank account, but on providing that school population the tools they need for success.

4. Redrawing these lines could really upset a lot of folks. We have four BOE members up for reelection in August. They'd rather not have a lot of unhappy voters who still remember who moved their grand/child to THAT school come election time so it's no surprise to read:

“It’s premature for me to say but I think this thing needs a whole lot more attention than to put it on a greased, fast track, and all of a sudden get ourselves in a crack,” [BOE member George] Thompson said. “I really have some concern as to whether we’re premature and whether we’re a year or two early on dealing with this sensitive issue.”

Yeah, let's move this to the crack year between elections so voters have plenty of time to cool off before you're up for election and have to account for it.

Up for reelection in August:

From Left to Right:
MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden, on the BOE since 8/24/2004 , George Thompson, 4 months on the BOE in 1991 and then continuously since 8/1/1996, Gracie Porter , elected in August of 2006 , Ed Kindall , on the BOE since 7/9/1985.

Here's the BOE member page. Find your's and let them know how you want them to vote: http://mnps.org/Page22.aspx . E-mail them all with this link.

Inagural Inglewood 8K

The inaugural Inglewood 8K went very well. The weather could have been a bit less humid but otherwise it was perfect. Over and over runners and walkers commented on how challenging the course was (like that was a good thing) as well as how beautiful the neighborhood is.










Bill Crutchfield was the overall winner with a time of 32:10.



There were a bunch of girls from a running team called the Continental T-Belle Track Club. They were quite impressive for being so young and gave it all they had, especially when they could see that finish line.




Runners from 10 to 78 years participated.







There were lots of folks who enjoyed the morning stroll.


Proceeds from the event will benefit the Isaac Litton Middle School Band (some of us are determined that the Marching 100 will be back).

Thanks to all the sponsors, whether they were local businesses or neighbors.

Further information can be found at Inglewood8K.com and Nashville Striders has the results.

She moves again

The Alignment Nashville Newsletter reports that Diane Long, formerly of the MNPS information office and before that education reporter for the Tennessean has moved on again.

The Nashville Alliance for Public Education, Alignment Nashville and the PENCIL Foundation have hired Diane Long to serve as a shared grant writer for all three non-profit organizations. Long’s new position will allow the groups to coordinate and complement grant writing efforts on behalf of Metro Nashville Public Schools.

(snip)

“Diane has worked with Nashville’s public schools for the last 30 years,” Garrett said. “Her depth of knowledge and her research skills will be invaluable to us.”

I wish her success at her job. She was always gracious and very helpful when I called on her.

The fact that voters will have a say in any property tax increases is going to make every budget year a bit harder, they'll need every dime she can find.

Who said what?

Last week I fussed again about the fact that the BOE Agendas and Minutes were, again, not being uploaded in a timely fashion. I see this morning they've at least got Tuesday's Agenda uploaded.















The October 9 agenda is FULL of Grading Garcia reports (Executive Expectations) to include Advanced Placement (pg. 8 of the .pdf), Global Executive Constraint (page 11), Emergency Succession (page 13), Learning Environment/Discipline (page 15) and Facilities (page 18). If you've been concerned about SSA, about air conditioning, about the rise of crime in and around schools you'll be interested in reading through those comments.

On these evaluations the Board does of MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia they are still leaving us in the dark about who made the comments. This is a huge disservice to the community. How are we to grade our BOE members come election time if we don't know how they're grading their only employee? See Page 8 of the Agenda for example. They used to at least include the initials of the Board member after the comment. They need to return to that immediately. I'd really like them to go back and include those names/initials in reports where they've been left off.

Since typing in "executive expectations" into the MNPS website returns "no matches" I'll save you the time and point you to their Board Governing Policies page for explanations of those expectations.

Generous Harmony

The CMA has donated a substantial number of instruments to the MNPS. I'm glad to see this year that the list shows instruments provided across the system. Last year's donation was heavy on items for the Nashville School of the Arts and actually included a Chevy Silverado to haul some of it around. This time it's more spread around the system.

I'm glad to read Isaac Litton Middle School will be the recipient of some of this generosity. Last month the Inglewood Neighborhood Association heard from their new band teacher that, like what was reported in the Tennessean this morning, it had been decades since instruments and cases had been regularly purchased for the school. He brought some shameful examples. We'd fallen a long way from the Litton Marching 100 and it's national reputation.

Already in the works is the inaugural Inglewood 8K/3K which will raise funds for more instruments for the school. The event is this weekend and begins and ends at Isaac Litton Middle School at 8:00. A renewed Marching 100 is on the horizon.

Congressionial Choice

The Heritage Foundation has updated their report "How Members of Congress Practice Private School Choice".

Based on the survey results, if all of the Members who exercised school choice for their own children had supported school choice in policy, every major legislative effort in recent years to give parents school choice would have passed.

Granted, not everyone responded. Wonder why?

The report says that nationally 11.5% of children attend private schools. However:

Over 37 percent of Representatives and 45 per­cent of Senators responded that they had sent their children to private school;

I have absolutely no problem with them exercising choice. I don't have a problem with Mayor Karl Dean having exercised choice. I do have a problem when legislators who recognize their own children need something different will not provide other parents every opportunity to obtain what their children need. Is the goal to have educated children or protect a system that fails them?

I do wish someone would take the time to query our own state legislature before the session begins in January.

Of course some say that we have choices in Nashville. However, when MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden writes, as she did in the Tennessean right after Karl Dean was elected mayor, "we have programs for everyone" it's dishonest. We have all sorts of programs but your child's chances of actually getting into one are very slim.

In regard to education, there are two worlds. Those that run the systems and those that are stuck with them.

Reform News Roundup

From the October 2007 School Reform News whch hit my mailbox yesterday:

NEA Moves Even Further from Mainstream at Annual convention. This headline isn't even news anymore but there is some encouraging information in the article.

"Rank-and-file teachers are becoming increasingly fed up with the far-left policies the NEA adopted...so fed up that some of them are planning to become delegates themselves in order to change the union's makeup."

"Conservative teachers must not 'sit idly back and pay dues,' [Sissy] Jochmann said. "It's unconscionable,' she continued, for state members to do nothing while the NEA continues to 'adopt non-education policies regarding social issues...'

I've always thought Mike Antonnuci's NEA Pyramid was very illustrative of the disconnect between the NEA leadership and the rank-and-file. Good to read that people are trying to reform the old gal. Of course there are options: Professional Educators of Tennessee. (I see they've redone their website. Nice.)

Civic Group Finds Illinois Charter Schools Don't Drain Resources. The first argument out of the mouths of those who don't want this education choice available is that it will drain resources from public schools (actually educating children isn't the highest priority).

"The 112-page assessment focused on three Illinois charter schools outside the Chicago Pulbic School system that had weathered a time of financial hardship for their host districts. During the 2003-04 school year, on which the study focused, the three schools relieved their host district of 1.3 to 3 percent of the district's students while tapping only 0.9 to 2.4 percent of their host districts' operating budget.

and

"We're finding the same is generally true nationwide," [Don] Soifer [Exec. Director of the Lexington Institute] said. "Charter schools do not drain district funding."

Congress May Act to Define Graduation Rate: You had to know this was coming. Our own MNPS has modified its definition of graduation. I don't believe they're the only ones to think of it. Changing the definitions, the tests, the way we report the information are all tried and true tactics of those who want to hide the truth.

"Sadly, dishonest reporting about graduation rates turns out to be widespread," wrote Larry Ozzell in a 2005 Cato Institute policy brief."

Two bills are being introduced that would 'require accurate information regarding dropout and graduation rates.' They only mention one in this article HR2955. Here's a printer friendly version of the bill.

From the Bill:

"Approximately one-third of all high school students in the United States fail to graduate with their peers--about 1,230,000 every year." That's ONE MILLION, two hundred thirty thousand lives handicapped by not getting the education they need EVERY YEAR. I'll never understand the push for Pre-K when more than ONE MILLION of our citizens need help NOW. 4 year olds have some time. These one million students have run out of time.

"About 2,000 of the more than 20,000 high schools in the United States produce nearly half of the Nation's dropouts."

Let's Marshal Plan those 2,000.

"The average gap between State-reported and independently reported graduation rates is approximately 11 percent, and in some States that difference rises to over 25 percent."

For federal legislation it's a pretty easy read. I encourage you to go through it and let your representative know how you'd like them to vote.

And finally we have a Democratically controlled congress and so that means no more choice for those that could really use it.

DC Opportunity Scholarship Program's Future in Question.

"The DC Opportunity Scholarship program has been providing low-income students private school scholarship since 2004 when President George W. Bush signed into law the federal DC School Choice Incentive Act."

And this quote...really, this is what the DC delegate thinks is the ONLY responsible thing to do?

"I think there's very little chance that, when this runs out, it will be renewed," commented Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District in Congress. "I have said to [Washington Scholarship Fund] that I think the only responsible thing to do is to prepare the parents to understand that the program is unlikely to be funded, that it was experimental, it was never meant to be permanent."

and

"Del. Norton needs to talk to parents," Walden Ford [Exec. Director, DC Parents for School Choice] said. "Parents with children in the program are thrilled about the new opportunities in private school. They are so happy to have their children in safe and high-quality schools."

This is what she calls doing a good job advocating for her constituents? And she wants a vote in the House. I don't think so. It's not like they're asking for their children to attend Sidwell Friends or St. Albans.

Predatory taxes

"I want the Predators to stay here. They are a very integral part of our city,'' said 4th District Councilman Michael Craddock. "That said, I cannot support any proposal that would further burden the taxpayer in any shape, form or fashion."

Craddock and Arnett Bodenhamer, a member of the sports authority's executive committee, said they wanted any new tax dollars used on public safety or education, not on sports teams. Tennessean

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Government was NOT created to ensure recreational opportunities for its citizens, or neighboring citizens. Let the team sink or swim on its merits as judged by actual ticket buyers. If they don't find the team worth supporting--how dare government pick the pocket of families who have needs that take precedence over the entertainment of others.

I'm not picking on the Predators. I felt the same about the Titans, the symphony, the Sounds, the arena. I feel the same in regard to council discretionary funding. If it's such a good idea--you pay for it. If they can't persuade me to personally donate to the cause---they shouldn't take the back door of using the government to take my money.

UPDATED Thanks:

[The Preds reach for a source of revenue that the city relies on to repay our collective debt on the Sommet Center.]

But much of the sales tax and seat use fee revenue helps pay off the city's debt on the facility, and giving it to the Predators would require Metro government to make it up somehow.

"For me right now, that's the biggest question," said Erik Cole, chairman of the Metro Council's Budget and Finance Committee. "I certainly don't want to do anything that undercuts our ability to repay those bonds."

and

Councilman Jim Gotto of Hermitage said he had not seen the proposal but knows where he stands philosophically.

"I have an open mind about this until you tell me you're going to stick your hand in the taxpayers' pockets again," Gotto said. "The proof will be in the pudding." Tennessean

Presidential Match Game

This was the most colorful survey of this type I've taken thus far.

I can't vote for Mitt though. We'll have to see if Huckabee is still in the race by next November. I'm not entirely persuaded that Fred's "The Man" so I'm not quite ready to call myself a FredHead but I'm leaning that way.

Hat tip: AC Kleinheider.

MNPS accountability

I'm pulling this comment from the MNPS-PD thread below as a jumping off place for some additional comments about MNPS accountability.

din819go said...

Kay -- everything in this district is under-reported when it comes to violent episodes and uniform infractions. The checks and balances on the tests scores is the State of Tennessee report card. Tennessee even selected which kids could and could not answer the NAEP questions so its scores would look better. Hmmmm...so how can we believe anything of what we are being told about this district?

Three things immediately to mind.

One way is to actively encourage fuller vetting of the information provided by the system.

While on the school board in the summer of 2006 I quickly realized that the agenda provided to the public (all of two pages) was no where near the full agenda. Additionally, the web page to access the agenda and minutes had fallen more than 6 months out of date. It was one of the very first things I complained about when I got on the BOE. I did so 5 days later at MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia's regular Monday meeting with his staff.

Without the full agenda no interested citizen had half a chance at being able to counter information that was being carefully crafted at taxpayer expense for presentation just 5 days later. The 2 page BOE agenda would be made public on Thursday or Friday for the following Tuesday evening's meeting. 2 days of that 5 day notice were weekends which would make it difficult to contact offices to verify or research information needed to rebut or clarify the administration's position. I took it upon myself to create .pdfs and started publishing portions of it to KayBrooks.com and this blog, eventually uploading entire "Board packets" for the public to peruse over the weekend. It was still too small a window to adequately prepare counter information, especially when the deadline for getting on the agenda for a mere 3 minute comment had already passed.

At most BOE meetings a portion of the time is set aside to grade the BOE's one employee, Dr. Garcia, on his performance. The plan is that over the entire year all aspects of his job performance would be examined by the BOE and in the fall when it came time to evaluate his performance it would just be a matter of adding up the scores and we'd know whether he'd done a good job or not. The problem with this system is that the only side the BOE formally hears is their employee's. It takes a man of remarkable integrity to self-disclose all his faults. We shouldn't rely on that. The BOE must make provision to formally hear alternative views. Then weigh the information they've received and then vote on his job performance.

Eventually, after conversations with the BOE secretary, the BOE packets were regularly uploaded to the website. Sadly, I see they've fallen out of date again the last agenda uploaded is dated September 11, 2007 and the last set of minutes is dated August 30, 2007.


I'd like to see a subscription service similar to what the Metro Council, Planning and Zoning already provide where the agenda and minutes, or links to them, are routinely sent out.

Another way to get full information is to vow not to shoot the messengers of information that conflicts with the agenda of those in charge.

We need to get past the constraint that criticism of the system is equal to not supporting public education. It does not always follow. So when groups like Save Our Students present comparative information about our district and others in the state they were not given a legitimate hearing. They were immediately shouted down by people who had much to gain by keeping the SOS information out of the public eye. Instead of examining the information in an effort to improve the education of the children in MNPS their motives and political affiliations were used as a distraction technique. My own run for the school board was regularly questioned by these same people. In their eyes despite my tax money and my vote being necessary for running the system I had no business helping run it because my children weren't in public schools. What they could not accept was that public education requires public input and sometimes, sometimes, not being in the system provides a perspective that could be used to improve the system for the children.

Finally, we need to ask much more of our BOE members. Elections are coming up for 4 of these slots in August.

From Left to Right:
MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden, on the BOE since 8/24/2004 , George Thompson, 4 months on the BOE in 1991 and then continuously since 8/1/1996, Gracie Porter , elected in August of 2006 , Ed Kindall , on the BOE since 7/9/1985.

I suggest folks take a serious look at their track records (and most of them have long histories on the BOE or in public education itself) and if they find they've done an inadequate job advocating for the children, work at recruiting, funding and electing a replacement.

MNPS-PD

Inglewood residents were shocked to discover after a teacher had been assaulted at Jere Baxter Alternative School last spring that there is no police officer in this school specifically designed to hold students that have 'issues'. In fact, neither of the alternative schools had a police officer. There was only one campus supervisor assigned to the school that day of the assault. I was told that campus supervisors do not carry weapons and aren't required to have any formal security training. That made no sense.

Residents had known for some time that the students in this school made a habit of being delivered by city buses to the building and promptly heading into the neighborhood or neighborhood businesses. Local merchants had to take it upon themselves to chase the students off in an effort to keep them from intimidating their legitimate customers. Police cars regularly appear at Baxter ALC. It's hard for mere citizens to see the wisdom of letting something happen and then calling for a police officer when having one there and available could head off serious trouble.

When the police department was called and asked about why there was no police officer in the school they said it was the call of Metro Schools. When I asked Metro Schools they said it was a police department decision. What became clear was that no one was stepping up. The Inglewood Neighborhood Association invited school board rep, Gracie Porter to the May 2007 meeting to discuss the recent assault, the loitering and the lack of a police officer. She provided some basic information regarding the school, the churning of the student body population and the turnover in administration there to give us a larger picture of the situation. She also told us that she learned the day before that Nashville Chief of Police Ronal Serpas , MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia and Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Ralph Thompson were going to meet about discipline issues and police presence in schools the next week. When she was asked if she was going to attend considering how concerned we all were about this issue her reply was "I'm not going to crash Serpas' meeting." She did say she expected some restructuring to be done by the next school year that could help the situation.

So Thursday we read in the Tennessean that there is talk about school systems creating their own police forces. The legislature created a study committee (they're very good at that). The legislation is HB1765/SB1451 sponsored by State Rep. Ulysses Jones (D-Memphis) and State Senator Reginald Tate (D-Shelby County) . I'm very concerned about this. My biggest concern is that we'll not have any way of knowing exactly what has happened on those campuses. I look back at college campuses that regularly didn't report serious crimes out of concern for their image. The same could easily occur in MNPS. The Tennessean wrote:

The school district Tuesday released statistics on student offenses in Metro during the 2006-07 school year, but they weren't broken down by school.

And that's exactly correct. They report this information by cluster. There is no way for a parent to know if the school their child attends is safe, let alone exactly what happened and how many times. These are our children. We have a responsibility to ensure their safety. We have a right to know as much as possible about how safe they are while there.

And the Tennessean reports the disincentive there will be if MNPS is allowed to handle all these issues:

But creating a self-run police department can put school districts at odds with the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires states track the number of serious incidents that occur at a school. If over three consecutive years a school meets the "unsafe" requirements defined by law, students are allowed to transfer to another school.

Because police officers are responsible for recording some incidents in school, an officer employed by the school district could have an added interest in making sure a school in his district doesn't wind up on the list.

KnoxNews has an article on this issue also. The issue of who will pay for this is huge and they provide some important editorial comments about that.

It might make things simpler for the school systems, but it would make things more expensive for the taxpayers.

The push is on to create taxing authority for local school boards. Can you see it coming? Not only do we need more money to get the job of education done (as if money was the answer) now we'll need more money to create a police system. We are underfunding MPD, how are we going to afford to create an MNPS-PD?

The public education system has lost its focus. Every year, for what seems like good reasons their mission expands. It currently includes feeding, clothing, nursing, transporting, parenting and now policing children. All the while the original mission fails regularly. The school system doesn't need to expand. It's my opinion we should let the school system do the teaching and let the police department handle the crime.


For further info:
National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officers (NASSLEO).

What are you listening to?

We’ve enjoyed the free radio programs that have been provided by http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com for several years now. Each week they'd send a reminder email providing the URL of that week's free program. Even when we had a dial-up connection they were worth the wait. Today they’ve added a premium membership that provides access to the archives (previously if you didn’t get it that week, it was unavailable), listening guides and other unnamed bonuses. Until October 1 the membership is $14.95 per year---after that it goes up to $29.95. The free programs will still be available once a week, regardless.

They have provided everything from classic radio programs to audio dramas of famous books and events in MP3 format. I’ve transferred many of these to an SD card for us to use while at the dining/school table and it’s easy for my children to transfer them to their own MP3 players. It's not hard to transfer them to audio CD either and pop them into the car CD player while commuting. (They provide instructions about all of this.)

I’m not affiliated with these folks, don’t know much about them but have been thankful for the free service I’ve taken advantage of over all this time and am quite happy to pay the $14.95 for the premium package AND wanted to let you know about the initial discounted membership package. Even at $29.95 getting more than 50 radio programs a year is a great bargain.

If your child isn't inclined to read much, consider these to pique their interest. Do you have an audio learner? Here's the ticket. Not everything available is as daunting as this week's bonus for the premium membership, Orson Wells' nearly 4 hour dramatization of "Les Miserables". Some of the offerings have been very light and silly. There is plenty of variety for different ages and interests and, as I've tried to say, it's a wonderful resource for this family and probably will be for yours.

http://homeschoolradioshows.com

Jena timeline

The Jena 6 coverage has contained a lot of heat but not enough facts for me to come to any conclusion other than the obvious, high school boys do stupid stuff and sometimes the consequences are way more than anticipated.

I was thankful this morning to come across a timeline of events published by the local Jena paper in response to requests for it (scroll down).

I didn't realize that initial this story is over a year old. The nooses were hung under the tree on August 31, 2006. The paper also reports that they were removed from the tree by 7:15 am before most of the student body had come to school. The principal wanted to expel the three white students who placed the nooses in the tree but he was overruled by an expulsion committee that recommended suspension instead finding there was no racial motivation behind the prank. How nooses in a tree can have no racial connotations in Louisiana is beyond this white woman--but they say it was a prank based on a movie. Obviously, I didn't see that one.

You might want to read through this Jena Times accounting to get a better frame for all the accusations and rhetoric being thrown around. It does contain some editorializing comments here and there but just getting the events in their proper order will be tremendously helpful.