Saturday, September 16, 2006

Afterschooling as an amenity

Some very savvy apartment managers have realized that the amenities they provide apartment dwellers can include more than a laundry room and pool. They've added 'afterschooling' to the mix and are reaping the financial rewards of providing what their tenants appreciate.

Mr. Killinger, who grew up in rural Nebraska, was particularly dismayed by the plight of Baldwin Village children, who spent their afternoons behind locked doors [for safety].

Now, in two of their buildings, the partners operate resource centers where the children do their homework and play educational games. The centers are operated by teachers who arrive at 3:30 p.m. and stay until 6 p.m. each weekday.

(snip)

In a neighborhood where vacancy rates average about 5 percent, the partners said, the vacancy rate in their five buildings, which have a total of 104 units, is about 1 percent. They have a particularly easy time renting two- and three-bedroom apartments, because “parents see this as an opportunity for their children to get ahead,” said Mr. Pino,...

(snip)

If Mr. Pino and Mr. Killinger have their way, resource centers will become commonplace in low- and middle-income neighborhoods. To help make that happen, they are willing to license their manuals and methods to other building owners. “We’ve learned a lot since we began,” Mr. Pino said. New York Times

And I would think the other apartment dwellers appreciate that the children are occupied and not tempted to do mischief.

Mr. Pino and Mr. Killinger have created Education Advantage Foundation if anyone wants more information to replicate something similar in Nashville.

The headline of this article uses the words "home schooling" but it's more accurately called afterschooling.

Monday, September 11, 2006

MNPS End Results for Students

Here I'm linking to .pdfs of the TCAP, Gateway, Adanced Placement and International Baacalaureate scores for Metro Nashville Public schools as provided in the Agenda for the 9/12/06 BOE meeting.

I don't have the best scanner and I have yet to figure out how to lighten some of the charts. so they are more readable. Let me know if you need help. MNPS could help by using more contrasting colors in their charts.

TCAP "reasonable progress"
Gateway "reasonable progress"
Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate "reasonable progress"

MNPS Emergency Director Succession

Still working on uploading the 9/12/06 Agenda information. Here's another item.

One of the requests the BOE made of Dr. Garcia this summer was to create a document that clearly outlined a line of succession should he be unable to fulfill his duties. I've uploaded a .pdf copy of the document of what is EE2

"Dr. Sandy Johnson, Chief Instructional Officer for the school district, would assume the Director responsiblities in the event of the unexpected loss of the Director's services as defined by this Executive Expectation. Dr. John served in this capacity on a few occasions during the past school year during Dr. Garcia's absence."

Sunday, September 10, 2006

MNPS Discipline Charts 2005-06

I'm linking to the discipline charts included in the 9/12/06 Agenda packet provided to the Metropolitan Nashville Public School Board of Education. There is no good reason that this information isn't already uploaded to the MNPS website for citizens to access. The complete BOE agenda should always be published as soon as it's made available to the BOE members so that citizens can start participating in the process and start communicating with their BOE representatives about these issues.

There are a good number of citizens that believe, rightly or wrongly, that many many MNPS schools are unsafe. So here we have, at least, some information with which to continue the conversation. I'm sure there are mitigating factors, explanations, provisos and other 'good reasons' these charts are going to be misunderstood. I welcome clarification. I'd love to see how these statistics are viewed by the Metropolitan Police Department and how they jibe with their statistics.

Obviously missing from these charts is specific school identification. Parents and the community want and need to know which schools are safe and which are not. It's not really helpful to the conversation to not provide that specific school by school breakdown.

Here's the actual Monitoring Report by Dr. Garcia and his staff regarding EE 15 - Student Learning Environment/Discipline. He asserts that the district is in compliance with the BOE's expectations regarding truancy, safety and conduct. You'll find the expectations the BOE has enumerated at the beginning of this document.

2005-06 Discipline Charts
by Cluster:
.pdf documents



Antioch
Glencliff
Hillwood
Hillsboro
Hunters Lane
Magnet Schools
Maplewood
McGavock
Overton
Pearl-Cohn
Stratford
Whites Creek

Chart "Comparison of Total Discipline Events" 2004-05 and 2005-06

Saturday, September 09, 2006

MNPS BOE agenda for 9/12/06

I keep hoping that the agenda's will be posted to the Metro Nashville Public Schools website on the Thursday/Friday they're sent out to the Board members but not yet. I have been placed on the mailing list to get a complete copy of the agenda. I got it today in the mail and that's where I've copied this from. As I get time in the next couple of days I'll share more details. There is a lot of information from Dr. Pedro Garcia (Director of Schools) regarding grades and attendance. Also the contract with KIPP Academy the E. Nashville charter school

Immediate highlights:

New board officers will be sworn in. My understanding is that Ms. Garrett's 3 terms as chair will not be followed up with a 4th.

Dr. Garcia is asking to remove another teacher, Richard Bowers formerly of Maplewood High School. This is the third teacher in 2006 that is being so charged. All three have been from District 5. The charges look like they are part of the guidance counseling debacle that created such havoc in student records and lives at Maplewood.

Also included is a mysterious Legal Settlement Claim #C-16452 for $15,755. No other information is provided in the 117 page agenda packet. Further, it's under the consent agenda where it's unlikely it will be discussed or explained. That's $15K that we ought to know about.

The Committee to Evaluate the Director (Dr. Garcia) meets just before the board does at 3:45 p.m. in the Board Conference Room and will present to the entire Board later.

TIME










PAGE
5:00 I. CONVENE








A Establish Quorum







B. Pledge of Allegiance







C. Recognition of Audience Guests






D. Student Showcase - Vanderbilt Summer Internship Program



E. Student Board Members' Report


GP-3.1













5:30 II. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS


GP-3


A. Hattie Cotton PTO







B. Cami Townsel - 206 Tennessee Association of School Librarians'




Innovative Library Program Award





C. Recognition of Newly Appointed Administrators















5:55 III. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION


GP-3.1



We will now hear from those persons who have requested to appear at this Board



meeting. For expediency reasons, speakers are requested to limit remarks to three



minutes or less. Comments will be timed.





A. Molly Sudderth, Celebrate Nashville


1













6:00 IV. GOVERNANCE ISSUES







A. Actions










1 Approve Agenda


GP-2.2



2 Election of Board Officers


GP-3.9



3 Consent




GP-8.3




a. Approval of Minutes - 8/22/06 Regular Meeting

2




b. Change Order #2 - Brick Church Middle School Football Field 5





Improvements - Competition Athletic Construction - M-351





c. Change Order #2 - Eakin Elementary School

5




d. Legal Settlement Claim - C-16452


5




e. Request for Approval of Extended Contract Program Proposal for





2006-2007




5




f. Contract for KIPP Academy


10




g. Awarding of Bids and Contracts








1 Project for Neighborhood Aftercare

27





2 Learning Forum Educational Systems d/b/a Quantum







Learning/Supercamp


28





3 Scriba Education Services


29



3 Charges of Dismissal - Richard Bowers


30



4 Monitoring Reports - Administrative Presentation






a. EE-1 - Global Executive constraint


37




b. EE-2 - Emergency Succession


44




c. EE-15 - Learning Environment/Discipline

47




d. EE-2.1 - Academic Achievement - TCAP

79




e. E-23 - Academic Achievement - Gateway

99




f. E-2.5 - Academic Achievement - Advanced Placement/IB
106


B. Discussion









1 Graduation Rate


















7:00 V. REPORTS









A. Director's Report



EE-10




Magnet School Enrollment








Changes in Procedures for Graduation Ceremonies




B. Board Chairman's Report


GP-5




Director Evaluation Committee Report







Diversified Pay Committee

















7:45 VI. ANNOUNCEMENTS



GP-2.6













7:55 VII. WRITTEN INFORMATION FOR THE BOARD (not for discussion)



A. Board Calendar Items






B. Legislation Around the Natioin

















8:00 VIII. ADJOURNMENT/BOARD MEMBER EVALUATION
GP-2.6

Monday, September 04, 2006

They need you

Virtual Mom, Julie Hunt, reminds us that taking time to get involved in your child's education is vitally important. I was glad to provide a couple of quotes and encourage the effort.

Why bother? The payoff is two-fold: You will feel good about investing your time, talent or money, and the kids will feel good to have you involved in the school. "Staying connected to other parents to encourage one another, staying abreast of what's going on in the schools and what policies are being created that affects their children's education, and knowing how to impact the system for their child's benefit are just a few ways parents can be better advocates for their children," Brooks says.
I know most of us already have a lot to do but investing in your children pays enormous dividends for you and them. At the recent Litton Middle School open house I was at the PTA table encouraging parents to participate and heard several say they didn't have time. I nodded understanding and told them that the commitment portions were smaller than they used to be and 'many hands make light work'. l encouraged them to talk with the school and the other parents. Let them know what your skills and talents are and what time you do have available. Some help is better than none.

As a friend wiser than me often quotes: "This job is too important to be left to the professionals." They're your children and they need you.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Missing supporters

Shelby County Schools Superintendent Bobby Webb's bullet points on improving their school system were presented the other day. At the very end is

What We Must Do to Better Prepare Our Students for their Future!

We must have support from:
--Teachers
--Administrators
--Parents
--Shelby County Schools Board of Education
--Local Business and Industry
--Elected Officials
Commercial Appeal

What you MUST have is support from taxpayers and voters. Why do these two groups regularly get left out of these lists? Granted, some of the folks listed will actually live in the district and be regular voters, however, not all are. Without the votes of citizens and the money of taxpayers not much at all will get done. You won't get far preaching to the choir. You've got to persuade folks to sit in the pews and then persuade them that when that basket is passed they should contribute.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Today's must read

Regardless of whether you agree with his politics or not you should do yourself a favor and add Ben Cunningham's Taxing Tennessee site to your RSS feed. His guest blogging elsewhere has only made many of us wonder why he hadn't created his own blog--well, thank goodness--he finally has. You're going to be bookmarking from Ben and glad you did. And if you accidentally discover he's an OK Joe and not as whacked out as some on the other side of the political spectrum make him out to be--all the better.

Yes, he's going to keep you updated on tax efforts here and across the nation but also much more. If you're not into taxes and politics the tastier tidbits from Ben's Internet buffet include:

Google Book: Gutenberg was good--but this is Google folks.
25Gigs of free online storage--who couldn't use more virtual closet space?
Obituary info--family sluthes, heads up.
Marley Money--proving even bad hair decades doesn't hold some back
They do so have a small--now the secret's out.
The Fauxtoshop Diet--sign me up.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Ben. It's good to see you here.

(Hat tip Bill Hobbs)

Whose neighborhood?

You gotta wonder just who these folks are working for when, in regard to zoning changes, they're quoted in today's City Paper as saying:

Meanwhile, the Metro Planning Department still believes such mass downzoning is not a good thing — it makes duplexes a limited resource at a time when more and more people are moving into Nashville and want a variety of housing options for reasons of convenience and cost, according o the department.
and
Customers will still buy these, [real estate broker Many] Wachtler said, but residents relocating from Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles in search of housing at about $500,000 “want new, and they want in town — so the only way to do that is to get two [houses] on the lot.”
Councilmen Jim Shulman and Lynn Williams are both spending a lot of time trying to save their neighorhoods from these out-of-towners. CM Williams explains the neighbors' concern by saying:
“It is the character of the neighborhood they bought into,” which they wish to maintain, she said.
Indeed. I wish them success at preserving their neighborhood.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Absentee landlords

I'm glad to see a modest proposal to ensure that the very people that help craft and manage Metro policies are going to have to live under them. Councilman Charlie Tygard is introducing legislation to the Metro Council that would require

Mayor’s Office employees and employees of the Metro Council office to live within Davidson County if they earn $100,000 or more annually (City Paper)
Falling outside this legislation but of serious concern:
The statistics showed that by far the city’s public safety departments employ the highest number of workers who live outside Nashville: 432 police employees live outside the county, receiving about $21.3 million in annual salary dollars, and 526 fire workers live outside the county, earning approximately $28.4 million in annual salaries, according to the statistics.

In addition, six Metro department heads do not live in Davidson County, as well as six employees of the 39-member Mayor’s Office. In total, roughly 27 percent of Metro employees live out-of-county, receiving about $124 million of $413 million in total salary dollars Metro pays annually.
Allowing employees to live elsewhere has created a form of absentee landlordism. Imagine what having 432 extra police officers living in our neighborhoods could do to our crime rates. Imagine the improved response time when 526 emergency workers are closer to us in the event of a natural disaster. Many of them have had to make the difficult decision of choosing to live in the city they care for and providing the best education possible for their children--a very hard choice indeed.

Missing from this list of employee groups is teachers and support staff not living in Davidson County. Other than property tax rates nothing impacts our city like the schools and when 28.6% of our teachers are not putting their own children in the system they help craft and many not even living in the city we have a serious problem. A few people fussed at me in my school board race regarding my own children not being in the system--why the silence and even support for these folks?

When these people leave the county they are not part of the natural pressure that would be created to force change in our schools and government. These people know the systems intimately and they're choosing to leave. We've got to wonder why.

On a related note Ben Cunningham's Tennessee Tax Revolt group has had their signatures certified and their initiative to allow voters a direct voice on property tax increase will be on November's ballot.

Don Driscoll, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 205 that represents Metro employees and who opposes the measure, said he could not say whether the union would take any legal action if the measure passes. Both Metro and the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office have expressed doubts about the concept’s constitutionality.

Still, Driscoll was biting in his attacking of the idea, saying he believes it could damage the city’s education and health care systems. (City Paper)

Perhaps if more of these employees actually lived and paid property taxes in the city Mr. Driscoll's concern for his union members could be mitigated. Regardless, I believe our city would be better off with both CM Tygard's and Mr. Cunningham's proposals.

Monday, August 28, 2006

MNPS Maps and charts



Encouraged by a conversation with parents over at Nashville PTO Talk I spent most of this morning updating the chart page at KayBrooks.com. The new charts are scanned copies of information I received from MNPS Student Assignment Services while on the BOE.

You'll find maps of private schools students, Free And Reduced Meal (FARM) students, population v. MNPS enrollment, students by race and even Hume-Fogg & MLK students by property values.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

MNPS enrollment figures

I posted these figures as a part of a NashvillePTOTalk list thread regarding marketshare. I received these from Student Assignment Services while a member of the BOE. I've added the % of Population column.

Year MNPS Enrollment Nashville Population % of Pop
1960
399,743
1961 75,884
0.189832
1962 78,577

1963 82,340

1964 85,800

1965 87,823

1966 89,937

1967 90,834

1968 93,107

1969 93,720

1970 95,789 448,003 0.213813
1971 95,524

1972 88,451

1973 85,406

1974 83,851

1975 81,441

1976 80,165

1977 77,998

1978 76,016

1979 73,830

1980 71,662 447,811 0.160027
1981 68,837

1982 66,734

1983 66,328

1984 63,765

1985 63,162

1986 63,346

1987 65,843

1988 66,325

1989 66,408

1990 66,623 510,784 0.130433
1991 67,140

1992 67,580

1993 69,176

1994 70,248

1995 70,481

1996 68,600

1997 70,679

1998 70,677

1999 69,685

2000 69,579 569,891 0.122092
2001 68,768

2002 69,938

2003 70,028

2004 70,759

2005 71,458 602,679 0.118567
2006 73,144

Friday, August 25, 2006

AYP appeals

At last week's AYP briefing at Kirkpatrick Elementary I asked Dr. Garcia which schools were having their status appealed. At the time he didn't know.

Just now I've received the list of schools that are having their Annual Yearly Progress appealed from Paul Changas, Director of Assessment and Evaluation for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Here's the list:

Brookmeade Elementary
Cohn ALC
Glengarry Elementary
Goodlettsville Middle
Hunters
Lane High School
J. B. Whitsitt Elementary
Martha Vaught Middle
McGavock
High School
Stratford
High School
Stratton Elementary

He further stated that these appeals should be resolved some time next week.

Nashville's Big Dig

Shades of Boston's Big Dig and Memphis' Mud Island. Last night dreamers revealed a plan to create our own Panama Canal in Nashville. I don't think so.

"Not many cities are actually making their rivers wider." said Gavin McMillan on of the planners. Tennessean
Well, there's a reason for that. Let's name a few.

$292 million dollars. And no, just because you can get federal dollars for this project doesn't mean it's free. Where do people think those federal dollars come from? From mere citizens in one way or another. Any taxpayer whose been around nearly any time at all knows that there is no way that's what this project will actually cost 'just' $292 million. In the end it will be appreciably more.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I know that many have considered that recycling center a eyesore. Well get over it. It's legitimate and honest work. Try seeing it in a more positive light. Steiner-Liff (PSC now) has been there quite some time and were reducing, reusing and recycling long before it was cool. I and many other women I know clothed out children from the fabric bins that used to be there. We're not the only Nashvillians that dumped broken appliances there grateful to know that it wasn't going to a landfill. Let's spin that site as proof positive that for decades Nashville has been doing its part in the war on waste.

Catering to a Jamestown mentality. One of the lessons my children get from the founding of Jamestown is that when the swells don't pull their weight and focused on recreation instead of the essentials and the town suffered greatly as a result. When you've got a segment of your population focused on how to have fun and catering to those focused on having fun you're in potential danger. In an economic downturn what's going to be the first thing to go? Jobs at PSC or boat sales and Titans tickets?

Mud Island. Please.

Where were councilmembers? They were down at the Planning Commission meeting that was scheduled for just about the same time. I was there too. My invitation from Metro Planning to this meeting came just about 48 hours before this big dig unveiling. I e-mailed back and fussed about the lack of notice and the conflict with the Planning Commission meeting. I got no response. This conflict came off as if they didn't really want some folks to come. Now I know why.

Long term. Do we have any guarantees that when this dig is finished in 15 years or so, and you know just like the money the timeframe will grow, we'll still have a contract with the Titans for the use of the stadium? And when the Titans decide that they need a new stadium have we dug ourselves into a hole that we can't get out of?
A final master plan, paid for with a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and $200,000 from the Metro Parks Department, is scheduled to be presented in December. City Paper
Well, there's another $400,000 we'll never see again and could have been put to better use. I wonder how many policemen, teachers, emergency room visits or sidewalks that would have provided?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Magnet shutout

Bernie Driscoll's magnet school effort isn't going away and gets some support from the Tennessean this morning in an editorial headlined "Why the magnet shutout?".

School authorities point out that current policy says the roster of students for school closes on the first day of school. But parent Bernie Driscoll asks why schools can't create leeway so if a student moves or decides not to attend the magnet school, another student could fill that seat. Given the intense desire among students and their parents to be part of magnet schools, filling in those spots would appear to be common sense.
Ah, yes, common sense.
Driscoll says he's a "loudmouth" in raising the issue, but maybe a loudmouth is what the schools need on this issue, because it really shouldn't be so controversial.
I'm with Bernie on this and we're still waiting to hear why this policy is necessary and should not be changed. Dr. Garcia?

CompStatting schools

Considering that MNPS with over 73,000 students is a fair sized population I'm a little surprised to learn that we're just now considering what looks to me like a mini MPD CompStat program to track discipline issues.

Back in June CM Pam Murrey hosted a meeting in Cleveland Park to discuss the grave situation at Maplewood and how the community might help turn things around. At that meeting I, as a BOE member, asked Ralph Thompson, Assistant Superintendent for Student Services, for crime information about Maplewood. He wasn't able to provide it. He did say that new statistics were expected shortly and that he'd have to go through it before he could provide the information needed. He has since managed to give me a few numbers but nothing comprehensive.

From today's City Paper we learn that a free program call School COP (Crime Operations Package) is being considered. I would have thought, given the success of CompStat techniques in Nashville, East Nashville specifically, we could have been doing this all along.

Of course, just like real life, if citizens/students don't report incidents they don't get logged and patterns and needs are not revealed.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Williamson County leaves TSBA

The Williamson County Schools are unsatisfied with the Tennessee School Boards Association and has decided they'll use the $8,547 in dues for something else this year.

According to a brief article on page 2B of this morning's Tennessean:

"There are other organizations the school district could belong to, said Schools Director Becky Sharber."
and
"[School Board member Mark] Gregory said TSBA needs a wake-up call and WCS would deliver it. All 12 members voted not to pay the dues."
Very interesting.

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]




This isn't going away

If folks thought that the little dustup at the last BOE meeting over the magnet school process was a blip on the radar--I believe they're completely wrong.

Today's Tennessean highlights a complete waste and an injustice that must be changed. I, as a BOE member, had been lead to believe that there was hope for parents who were on the magnet school waiting list and so I passed that hope on to parents. Apparently, such isn't the case at all.

Current policy states that the roster of students closes on the first day of school. If a student leaves a magnet school on the first day, the spot is not filled, said Sandra Johnson, chief instructional officer for Metro schools.

What a complete waste. Didn't we budget and hire for a certain number of magnet slots? Is the administration committed to the magnet school program or not? Policy can be changed. What is the downside to making this change?

Parent Discoll asks a good question that deserves a prompt and clear answer:

"Why not create a two-week buffer where, if a kid moves or decides not to attend the school, then the next in line gets in?"

and

As for Driscoll, who hasn't been shy about his disdain, he's thinking about starting a Web site for parents fed up with the magnet school lottery process.

Let me know if I can be of any help Mr. Driscoll.

And as an aside, heretofore, the Tennessean has been providing BOE member contact information in their "Make your voice heard" box. In this article it points people to MNPS alone.

Here's a link for e-mail all the BOE members.

Clicking on the District # will take you to the MNPS website for that district. Not sure which district is yours? Check here. Clicking on the name will bring up your e-mail so you can write them.

District 1: George Thompson GHTHOMPSONIII@aol.com
District 2: Joann Brannon ILOBU5444@aol.com
District 3: Pam Garrett (BOE Chair for the moment) pamgarr@bellsouth.net
District 4: Steve Glover Steve.glover@comcast.net
District 5: Gracie Porter gracieporterschoolboard@yahoo.com
District 6: Karen Johnson Kvettej@aol.com
District 7: Ed Kindall EtKindall@aol.com
District 8: David Fox david@fox4schools.com
District 9: Marsha Warden marshawarden@bellsouth.net

Want to e-mail them all? Here ya go.

It's a whole new BOE

I watched much of last evening's MNPS BOE meeting via the 'net while preparing dinner. Since a great deal of that meeting was a tutorial on the system it didn't require my full attention having received OJT in this over the summer. I was glad that this overview was done at their first meeting. It needed to be and Pam Garrett ought to be commended for ensuring it was.

I would encourage folks who are interested in how the board actually works to view the 'policy governance' portion. I expect that in the near future it will be available to download from the Internet and I'll link to it for your convenience. I think it's very important for the taxpayers, voters and parents of Davidson County to understand this governing system as they attempt to interact with the board. I believe Mr. Ralph Schulz of the Adventure Science Center does an excellent job at clearly explaining it for lay people.

The introduction of the cabinet members is also very handy information and I hope that, as I've suggested, the actual PowerPoint presentation slides will be available to the public so that we can more easily follow along. There was some valuable information being shared but having a hard copy of that information would be a good resource for the community.

I was disappointed to hear that by unanimous consent the first vote of this new board included providing themselves laptops or fax machines and phone lines. I never bought the plea that not having those tools may keep a poor person from participating on the board and I never understood why the taxpayers even had to provide these in the first place. We've got teachers across the county paying for supplies out of their own pockets and taxpayers viewing this as an unnecessary perk. Great, you've staked out your parity with the council members. How does that really help the children of MNPS?

I did miss hearing the committee appointments that were to be announced at the end of the meeting. Mr. Kindall asked early on about when those were going to be announced. Ms Garret, as chair, remained firm though and reiterated that they'd be announced at the end of the meeting. I'm waiting to hear back from MNPS what those were.

The BOE will hold a 'retreat' this Friday and Saturday. I expect it will be an intense time for them as they get to know one another and their jobs, set priorities for the upcoming year, begin the evaluation of Dr. Garcia and decide who is going to lead this newbie board. It will be my earnest prayer that they'll be able to work together, set aside previous allegiances and relationships, hold the director accountable and will be able to quickly bring about the changes that must be made.

It's time to walk the campaign talk. God speed.