Lizzette Reynolds’ tenure as Commissioner of Education marked with many mistakes
Tennessee’s Education Commissioner is having a rough go.
From not having the required teaching credentials when she started the job to getting caught claiming a tuition waiver she didn’t qualify for to some seriously disastrous legislative hearings, Reynolds is struggling.
What signal does it send that the governor is willing to hire somebody who is completely unqualified, who would misrepresent something on a state application and seek a tuition waiver from a state university just to get on the job training. This is all completely humiliating,” Representative Clemmons emphasized.
Democratic lawmakers say Education Commissioner is not qualified
Citing a state code that says that Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education should be qualified to teach in the schools over which they have jurisdiction, some Tennessee lawmakers are calling on Lizzette Reynolds to resign her post.
Tennessee Democratic lawmakers are calling on the state’s Commissioner of Education Lizette Reynolds to resign her post, stating she lacks the qualifications for the job as described in state law.
“If she doesn’t resign, I call on the Lee administration to make another choice,” Tennessee Black Caucus Chairman Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) said. “There are plenty of qualified people out there to lead this great education system we have.”
The legislators said the state code is not ambiguous – that Reynolds (or any Education Commissioner) should have classroom experience and meet the qualifications to teach in a Tennessee public school.
Reynolds has no classroom teaching experience and does not have an active Tennessee teaching license or a license to teach in any other state.
The Tennessee Journalreports that questions are being raised about whether Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds meets the minimum standard to hold the position to which she’s been appointed.
The issue is whether Reynolds qualifies to hold the post under Tennessee Code Annotated 4-3-802, which first became law nearly a century ago.
“The commissioner shall be a person of literary and scientific attainments and of skill and experience in school administration,” according to the law. “The commissioner shall also be qualified to teach in the school of the highest standing over which the commissioner has authority.”
Lee’s press secretary, Elizabeth L. Johnson, said in a statement to The Tennessee Journal that “Commissioner Reynold’s credentials and professional experience qualify her to serve as TDOE commissioner.”
The problem is that Reynolds doesn’t have a teaching degree and has never taught in a public or other school. She doesn’t have an active teaching license in Tennessee or any other state.
In other words, she could only teach in a Tennessee public school under a waiver or emergency certificate.
Previous Commissioners with backgrounds in politics and policy also had at least some teaching experience and an active teaching license. Penny Schwinn, the Commissioner just before Reynolds, taught high school in Maryland before her career in policy.
Kevin Huffman, an appointee of Bill Haslam’s, had experience in the classroom as a Teach for America teacher.
