Category Archives: MNPS

Posted on by

East Nashville United Plans Town Hall Meeting

East Nashville United is holding a Town Hall Meeting on schools on November 9th at 3:45 PM at East Park Community Center.

From their media advisory:

After weeks of contradictory and confusing statements from Metro Schools about its proposed “Third Way” proposal, East Nashville United (ENU) will host a town hall meeting to raise concerns about the future of the Stratford-Maplewood cluster. This open meeting will be held on Sunday, November 9 at 3:45 p.m. at the East Park Community Center, 600 Woodland Street, 37206.

ENU, a parent-led coalition formed after the announcement of sweeping changes to the Stratford-Maplewood clusters, invites all members of the community to join this discussion around the lack of community input into the school plan. The group has also invited MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Jesse Register, Executive Director of the Office of Innovation Dr. Alan Coverstone, and School Board Member Elissa Kim to share their thoughts on the district’s proposed changes and to take questions from the community.

“The district’s plan will affect every public school parent in East Nashville,” says John Haubenreich, ENU’s chair. “We’d like to invite parents and all stakeholders to our town hall meeting to learn more about the district’s actions and what it all means to them.”

ENU would like to particularly discuss the district’s plans for Inglewood Elementary and Kirkpatrick Elementary, particularly in light of the apparent agreement to turn Inglewood over to KIPP that surfaced last week. This news broke after the Nashville Scene published emails from Coverstone revealing that the district engaged in detailed negotiations to hand over Inglewood to KIPP weeks before Register’s announcement of his “Third-Way” proposal. The plan for Inglewood is in direct contradiction to comments made by both Coverstone and Register to Inglewood parents. Both had said no plan is set for the school, with Register telling Inglewood parents he would recommend against a charter conversion.

“Dr. Register appears to be making this stuff up as he goes along. That’s not exactly comforting to those of us who raise our kids here,” Haubenreich says. “From everything we can tell, his plan will close down some schools, convert others to charters, and affect pathways for students throughout both clusters. So far, there has been no real community input whatsoever.  Any plan like that is simply going to destabilize our schools instead of improving them.”

Dr. Register has pledged to put his sweeping plan before the school board in December. As of publication, Metro has yet to announce the members of the task force it agreed to create last month.

For more on this issue:

East Nashville Parents Call on Register to “Start Over”

East Nashville United Asks for More Time

MNPS and East Nashville United Debate the Meaning of Some Emails

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Posted on by

What Can Nashville Learn from New Orleans?

That was the theme of an event last night sponsored by Tennesseans Reclaiming Education Excellence (TREE) and Gideon’s Army for Children and held at the East Park Community Center.

The event featured parent activist Karran Harper Royal of New Orleans and Dr. Kristen Buras, a professor at Georgia State University who has studied the Recovery School District in New Orleans.

Between 60 and 70 people were in attendance for the event, including MNPS School Board members Will Pinkston, Amy Frogge, Jill Speering, and Anna Shepherd.

The event coincides with a discussion happening in East Nashville regarding MNPS Director of Schools Jesse Register’s proposal to create an “all choice” zone for schools there. Parent advocacy group East Nashville United has been critical of the plan and continues to ask for more information. For their part, MNPS says it wants to continue dialogue on the issue.

Royal spoke first and outlined the systematic takeover of schools in New Orleans by the Recovery School District. The Recovery School District is the nation’s first charter-only district. The takeover began with a state law that allowed for the takeover of low-performing schools, similar to a Tennessee law that allows the Achievement School District to takeover low-performing schools.

As schools were taken over, they were handed over to charter operators or reconstituted with charter management. Entire staffs were fired and replaced and students were moved to different locations.

Royal said some of the successes claimed by the RSD are deceptive because the district would close schools, move out the students, and bus in new students. Then, the RSD would claim they had improved the school when achievement numbers were released even though those numbers were not from the students who had been attending when the school was taken over.

Royal also claimed that the choice of a neighborhood school was foreclosed for many families, but that in two majority-white ZIP codes, families are still able to choose a school close to their home.

Buras used her time to expand on an op-ed she wrote earlier this year about the parallels between New Orleans and Nashville. She pointed to data suggesting that the RSD has done no better than the previous district in terms of overall student achievement. This point is especially important because the RSD has had 9 years to show results. Tennessee’s ASD has also shown disappointing results, though it is only now in its third year of operation.

Among the statistics presented by Buras:

  • In 2011-12, 100% of the 15 state-run RSD schools assigned a letter grade for student achievement received a D or F
  • 79% of the 42 charter RSD schools assigned a letter grade recieved a D or F
  • RSD schools open less than three years are not assigned a letter grade
  • Studies of student achievement data have shown no impact on overall student achievement and some even show a widening of the achievement gap

Buras also noted that the RSD was used as a tool to bust the teachers’ union. The district fired some 7500 teachers and new teachers in the RSD report to charter operators. The resulting turnover means nearly 40% of the city’s teachers have been teaching for 3 years or less.

Both Royal (who was at one time on the RSD Advisory Board) and Buras noted that the RSD started with the mission of improving existing schools in New Orleans. However, like the ASD in Tennessee, the RSD began gradually acquiring new schools before data was available to indicate success.

The presentations served as a warning to parents in Nashville that while reform and innovation can be exciting, it is also important to closely monitor school takeovers and choice options to ensure they meet the community’s needs.

It’s also worth noting that the experiment in New Orleans and the ASD’s experience in Memphis on a smaller scale both indicate that just offering more choice does not solve education problems or improve student achievement. Any plan or innovation must take into account community input and feedback. Additionally, while choice plans are often sold on the perceived benefits, it is important to be mindful of potential drawbacks, including disruption and instability in communities that badlyneed stability and support.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

 

 

Posted on by

In Response to the Response: An East Nashville Story

Yesterday, I reported on a clash between East Nashville United and MNPS over emails purportedly revealing a plan to turn Inglewood Elementary School over to KIPP, a local charter operator.

Essentially, MNPS says that the emails and other communications are about an ongoing dialogue. In a statement, MNPS said it appreciates the passion around the issue of East Nashville schools and that no final decisions have been made about charter conversions or other options.

For their part, East Nashville United remains skeptical.

In a response posted today on the group’s blog, East Nashville United says that MNPS is playing word games. The group calls into question the credibility of MNPS Innovation Zone Director Alan Coverstone and MNPS Director of Schools Jesse Register.

The post includes a timeline of events and lays out the case that members of the East Nashville community may not be getting the full story from MNPS.

Read the full story from East Nashville United’s perspective.

The bottom line: This story is just getting started.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

 

Posted on by

Deception or Dialogue? MNPS, Inglewood Elementary, and KIPP

One day after East Nashville United blasted district leaders for emails related to the future of Inglewood Elementary, including a possible charter conversion, a spokesperson for MNPS said in a written statement that the emails referenced by ENU only reinforce that no final decision about Inglewood’s future has been made.

In a press release issued Tuesday, East Nashville United called on MNPS Director of Schools Jesse Register to “back away from his backroom deal to hand over the management of Inglewood Elementary School to KIPP, a local charter school operator.”

In response, district spokesperson Joe Bass wrote that MNPS is “considering all of the potential options” and “discussing those options with leaders at KIPP and with parents at the schools.”

Here’s the full press release from East Nashville United:

East Nashville United is calling on Jesse Register to back away from his backroom deal to hand over the management of Inglewood Elementary School to KIPP, a local charter school operator.

On September 24th, Nashville Schools Director Jesse Register hosted a community meeting at Inglewood Elementary to discuss his recently announced East Nashville schools’ plan. Nearly every parent at the meeting voiced unbridled support for their zoned school, prompting Register to tell the Nashville Scene that he was not inclined to hand over Inglewood to KIPP.
“It sounds like this community does not want this school to convert to a charter school. So, we need to hear that,” said Register. “I would be very hesitant to recommend a conversion here. There are some other places where a conversion might work, but I don’t think so in this community.”
On Monday, however, it was revealed that Register had already made a deal with KIPP for Inglewood Elementary, despite repeated assertions to the community that “there was no plan” and statements to Inglewood Elementary parents confirming that he was not going to convert the school to a charter. Recently released emails confirm that the district’s central office had already settled on Inglewood as a location for the next KIPP location, weeks before Register announced his 3rd Way Plan to the school board.
“We made it very clear to Dr. Register that we were not in favor of a charter conversion and he appeared to listen,” says Jai Sanders, an Inglewood parent and one of the founding members of East Nashville United. “But now it’s clear that the fix was already in to flip our school to KIPP and that his meeting with parents was a charade.”
Although East Nashville United has repeatedly signaled its support for the existing charter schools in the Stratford and Maplewood clusters, John Haubenreich, the chair of the parent-led group, affirmed yet again that his group’s opposition to the district’s dealings is not over the role of charter schools in public education.
“Had the parents at Inglewood expressed any interest in handing over their school to KIPP, we would not oppose a charter conversion,” Haubenreich says. “But the parents made it clear that they did not want a charter to run their school. What they wanted–and still want–is for their zoned school to stay intact, only with MNPS providing it with the resources it needs to succeed.”
Haubenreich says he is mystified how Register could hedge his position after hearing from so many Inglewood parents.
“Our message all along has been that any East Nashville plan can be created only after listening to parents and educators,” he said.  “We thought that’s the direction we were all headed, but now it appears we’re back to square one, fighting a cram-down scheme concocted in back rooms by people who don’t live in our neighborhoods and don’t have kids in our schools..”
Ruth Stewart, the vice chair of ENU, says that the recently released emails raise serious questions about whether Register has any plans to listen to the community task force. The task force, pushed for by East Nashville United, was supposed to help devise a plan by listening to parents and educators and researching the best options for each school.  Stewart, however, says the recently released emails suggest that district officials and charter officials were already engaged in serious policy discussions well before anyone else knew an East Nashville plan was afoot.
“We were told over and over that there was no plan, but the emails show the exact opposite.” Stewart says. “Before the task force begins its work, we want to know details of this secret plan. We’re not sure what the point of having a task force is if the district is already making decisions behind closed doors, with no community input.  Who knows what else they’ve already decided and haven’t told us about.”
Here is the full text of the written response from MNPS spokesperson Joe Bass:
The emails and public comments referenced by East Nashville United only reinforce what we have consistently said all along – that no final decision about the KIPP conversion has been made. What these comments show is that we are considering all of the potential options, discussing those options with leaders at KIPP and with parents at the schools.

 

The feedback we are receiving is helping to inform our decision, and we want to receive more input before a final decision is made. It’s not just the loudest voices that should be heard in this decision-making process, but all voices.

We want to hear from parents with children currently enrolled in the schools under consideration for conversion, as well as parents who are already choosing other school options for their children and parents who have young children who will be entering the school system in the future.

We appreciate the passion that is being shown by parents across East Nashville – their involvement in this process is key to creating a stronger network of schools in that part of our city.

 

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Posted on by

Experts on New Orleans Ed Reform to Speak in Nashville

As debate continues over an education reform model for Nashville’s public schools, two local groups have teamed up to offer an event that will highlight the reform experience of the Recovery School District in New Orleans.

From a press release:

As Nashville continues to reform its public school system, it must look to the successes and failures of particular reforms in other cities as a guide. Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE) and Gideon’s Army: Grassroots Army for Children have invited Karran Harper Royal and Dr. Kristen Buras to discuss the impact of education reform on the students, teachers, and schools of New Orleans, La.–the nation’s first all-charter school district.

Kristen Buras is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. She is the author of Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where the Market Meets Grassroots Resistance, which chronicles the past decade of education reform in her hometown of New Orleans.

Karran Harper Royal is an education advocate in New Orleans. She has been a public school parent for the last 23 years and has has worked with various community groups uplifting parent and community voices in public education.

“On Tuesday, October 21, the State of Louisiana released their RSD (Recovery School District) performance scores,” reports Karran Harper Royal. “While the state average rose from 88.5 in 2013 (on a 150-point scale) to 89.2 in 2014, the RSD New Orleans average dropped from 71.9 to 71.2 during this same time period.  Does Nashville really want to follow this model?”

NOTE: These results seem somewhat similar to the so-far disappointing results coming out of Tennessee’s Achievement School District.

The speaking event “Is School Choice an Empty Promise? What Nashville Can Learn from New Orleans” will be an informative discussion about the real outcomes of charter school expansion. It will also provide an opportunity for concerned community members in Nashville to raise questions about access, achievement, equity, and accountability. The chance to dialogue across cities is a unique opportunity and is well timed in light of recent proposals to create an all-choice zone in East Nashville.

The event will be held at the East Nashville Recreation Center, 700 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN 37206 on Sunday, November 2. The speakers will begin at 3 p.m. and a question and answer period will follow. This event is free and open to the public.

Seating is limited. RSVP online is recommended.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Posted on by

East Nashville United Applauds Action by Register

From a press release by the group in the orange shirts:

 

East Nashville United—the parent-led coalition formed in September after the abrupt announcement of sweeping changes to East Nashville schools—celebrates the director’s recent actions to provide long-awaited support to East Nashville’s priority schools. For example, the district has recently provided more reading instructors and reading-related resources for several priority schools including Kirkpatrick and Inglewood Elementary and Jere Baxter Middle School. The district also hired an assistant principal for Inglewood Elementary.

 

Jai Sanders, a parent at Inglewood and one of the founding members of ENU, commends the move, even as he questions why it took so long for the district to address his school’s needs.

 

“Our school should have had an assistant principal well before we landed on the priority list. That was inexcusable.” Sanders says. “But we are grateful for the district for filling the position and providing more reading-related resources for our children. This will help children and help them right away.”

 

The support for Inglewood is particularly noteworthy considering that just a few weeks ago education insiders speculated that IES was ripe for a closure or charter conversion to KIPP. But Register quickly discredited those rumors and provided much needed resources to the priority school.

“For my family, ‘choice’ means being able to choose my zoned school,” says Sanders. “We hope that any East Nashville proposal continues the district’s recent focus on our priority schools.”

 

Posted on by

Is East Nashville Orange or Blue?

According to East Nashville United, it doesn’t matter.

The color question refers to a recent MNPS School Board meeting to discuss Dr. Register’s proposed plan to create an “all choice” zone in East Nashville. At that meeting, supporters of the group East Nashville Believes joined East Nashville United members — those who “believe” wore blue shirts while those who were “united” wore orange.

Of course, East Nashville United has been attending meetings and talking about this issue for some time now. They’ve asked the Board to slow down and receive more community input.

In the face of what appears to be a competing group, East Nashville United has attempted to reach out, asking for a comprehensive dialogue about the future of schools in East Nashville.

Here’s the latest from East Nashville United:

We want a discussion about all of our East Nashville schools and how we can make sure that they are serving the needs of our children. We aren’t going to accept a top-down plan that throws our schools—all our schools—into a state of panic and chaos. We want a plan that reflects the diverse needs of our East Nashville communities.

How then do we get there? From the very beginning, East Nashville United (and only East Nashville United) has pushed for a community-driven task force to make recommendations to MNPS. We advocated for a position from East Nashville Charter Schools on the task force. We repeat: East Nashville United pushed for a community-driven task force and for a East Nashville Charter School representative on the task force. This is a fact, and cannot be disputed.

On Tuesday, Dr. Register announced that he would be forming such a task force. This was a first step in ensuring that MNPS devises an effective, thoughtful plan for our schools—and not a collection of slogans disguised as policy. We have more work to do in ensuring that our task force has the time and resources necessary to do its job, but we’re making progress. Over the next few weeks, you can expect to see us at neighborhood meetings, football games, and walking your streets talking about schools.

We renew again our invitation to the charter school community to join us—and build on what we have already accomplished.

We have done this privately with very little success. We will continue to do so in spite of the roadblocks.  We want a genuine conversation about education policy for all schools in East Nashville, and hope that the charter school folks on this side of the river will participate. We know they love their schools; we hope they’ll spread the love for the rest of the schools in East Nashville as well.

Read the full statement from East Nashville United.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennesse, follow @TNEdReport

 

Posted on by

Pinkston on MNPS Teacher Firings

MNPS Board Member Will Pinkston had this to say about last night’s board action:

“I regret to report that, last night, the Nashville School Board moved to deprive four teachers of their careers and livelihoods without adequate process. Here are the facts: Director of Schools Jesse Register called for the teachers’ firings. Under state law, the school board had to vote on it to get the ball rolling. Dr. Register and his staff failed to provide the board with enough advance notice about these teachers and the details of their evaluations. Rather than deferring the process for two weeks in order to allow for additional fact-finding by the board, Dr. Register demanded that the process proceed immediately even though board members were given only two business days to review details of the teachers’ evaluations. Unfortunately, a slim five-member majority of the board agreed to go along with Dr. Register’s directive. You can watch the 45-minute conversation on the MNPS YouTube channel beginning at the 1h18m time mark. As someone who knows intimately the history and origin of Tennessee’s teacher evaluation system, I can assure educators: This kind of railroading approach to teacher dismissal is not what state policymakers and members of the Tennessee General Assembly intended to happen. Dr. Register and his staff are doing a disservice to the teaching profession. Teachers across Nashville should speak up and demand change.”

 

Posted on by

Start Over! Slow Down! Review the Report!

In response to MNPS Director of Schools Jesse Register’s proposal to redesign schools in East Nashville into an “All-Choice” zone with more charters and schools turned over to the struggling Achievement School District, a group of parents in East Nashville calling itself East Nashville United is now asking for a review of a consultant’s report on Metro Schools.

ENU has previously called on Register to start over with any plan for East Nashville schools and more recently has asked for more time in order to allow for broader community input before a plan goes into place.

Register’s announcement of changes in East Nashville comes amid a report detailing the increased costs charter schools impose on MNPS and reports out of Memphis that rather than turn more schools in that district’s Innovation Zone, the Director of Schools there is seeking to “double down” on what’s working: District management of schools with increased investment, support, and flexibility.

Here’s East Nashville United’s latest press release, calling on Register to revisit the report of the Tribal Consulting Group as a basis for any new plan for East Nashville schools:

An organized group of East Nashville residents is calling on Nashville schools to re-examine a consultant’s series of reports on some of the city’s struggling schools.

The request by East Nashville United—the parent-led coalition formed in September after the abrupt announcement of sweeping changes to East Nashville schools—asks Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Jesse Register to brief the school board and the public on how, or if, MNPS addressed the detailed findings laid out in the reports.

MNPS paid the Tribal Group, a British Consulting Group, $3.5 million to study nearly 40 schools, including Bailey, Jere Baxter and Gra Mar Middle Schools and Stratford and Maplewood High Schools. Although the reports provide a wealth of information on the challenges each school faces, MNPS has been noticeably silent on the Tribal Group’s evaluations. In fact, last year MNPS rejected media efforts to obtain a copy of one of the group’s reports assessing the central office.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2013/09/06/foia-friday-the-tribal-reports

John Haubenreich, the chair of East Nashville United (ENU), says that MNPS can’t dismiss the findings of its own paid consultant.

“We’ve heard so much talk of school closings, charter conversions and a rash All-Choice plan that would divide neighborhoods,” Haubenreich said. “What we’re asking for instead is a serious look at the needs of our schools and how we can provide them. The Tribal reports provide as good a starting place as any.”

Haubenreich says that Dr. Register must address the problems underscored by the group’s findings. For example, at last week’s community meeting at Jere Baxter Middle School, a teacher spoke of how the school, which hired a new principal this year, lacked stability. With the school in a constant state of transition, she said, it was difficult to develop plans to meet the needs of its students.

The Tribal report on Jere Baxter observed the same problem. In fact, the report, conducted in 2011, noted that a recent shift to a new education model “brought considerable uncertainty to the school.” The report also noted that it was challenging for the school to “develop continual improvement against a background of significant change.”

Haubenreich says East Nashville United welcomes an East Nashville plan, as long as it builds on genuine community input and critical information already available.

“What we have asked for from Day 1 is a methodical, community-driven blueprint for our schools,” Haubenreich says. “We think the Tribal reports offer useful information from our teachers and students, both about their schools and central administration. Why would we develop a plan that doesn’t take advantage of that?”

The Tribal reports provide distinct portraits of each school. They show the effectiveness of the leadership, the concerns of the teachers and, in general, the culture of the school. They also examine the quality of instruction, the use of data and the distinct behavioral issues each school faces. Most of all, the Tribal reports lay out detailed “areas of improvement” that could shape a strategy to close the performance gap of low-income children.  (You can read the reports here.)

In light of the renewed attention focused on the consultant’s reports, Jai Sanders, one of the founding members of East Nashville United, says that MNPS should brief the school board and the public about the findings of the Tribal Group.

“We’re actually stunned this hasn’t been done already. We have detailed reports about several East Nashville Schools and we don’t know how MNPS addressed these findings,” says Sanders, a parent at Inglewood Elementary.

“Sometimes we feel like the leadership at MNPS is juggling ideas around with no real strategy, moving on whatever it heard last,” he says. “Revisiting the Tribal reports is a good way for MNPS to regain credibility.”

Last week East Nashville United called on Dr. Register to push back his plan to reorganize schools in East Nashville. Register has said his plan will be finalized by January 1st. ENU wants MNPS to use remainder of the school year to develop a thorough, transparent plan that addresses the diverse needs of its unique schools.

 

NOTE: John Haubenreich, Chair of East Nashville United, is a contributor to TN Ed Report.

For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport

 

Posted on by

Charter Zone Not Planned Years Ago

Andy Spears posted an article titled, East Nashville Charter Planned Years Ago? The blog post was based on and cited an op-ed by Dr. Kristen Buras, a Georgia State professor.

I am here to tell you that is not true, in my opinion.

For starters, I don’t know how much someone outside of Tennessee (Buras) can tell about what’s happening in our school system. People in Nashville are still trying to find out about this plan because it’s came about so quickly. For someone outside Nashville to know this has been planned for years, but not anyone in Nashville, is something else altogether. What really happened is that very soon after the priority list was released, Dr. Register held a meeting with a variety of high level staffers. This happened relatively shortly before a school board meeting. Dr. Register decided to tell the public as much as he knew about the plan. One thing was clear: It was not a clear plan.

Dr. Buras’ article made it seem like you can only have community meetings before you have a plan. To have a community meeting, one must have a plan in the first place. What will you present to the community if not a loose idea of a plan? After a fluid plan was announced, Dr. Register announced meeting with all the priority list schools, which he is currently in the midst of doing.

Another way you can tell this hasn’t been planned? Dr. Register stumbled out of the starting blocks. The announcement was messy, it wasn’t clear, and there were a lot of misconceptions. But that means this was a plan that was formed at a fast pace so that it could be quickly disseminated to the public.

Additionally, we are Nashville. We are not Chicago. We are not New Orleans. We are not New York. Comparing what is happening in other cities is like comparing apples to oranges. We are a very specific district with very specific needs. We have a school board that does not approve all charter schools, closes down charter schools, and has a good discussion while doing that.

Of course we should take what happened in other cities and make sure it doesn’t happened here, but that’s totally different argument. I may not agree with what all charter schools are doing in Nashville, but I am totally confident in our elected officials and our central office staff to make sure that we don’t get run over with charters.

Finally, this is what we should actually be discussing: We are failing students. You may not agree with that statement, but I wholeheartedly agree. I see it everyday when I teach in North Nashville. I think we are failing students at the elementary level. If we cannot teach kids how to read in elementary school, they will be behind for the rest of their life. I understand all the dynamics that a child comes with when they reach elementary school. Parents don’t care, no books in the household, SES, etc. But that shouldn’t stop a child from learning to read. There are research proven ways to teach kids to the read, and we are not doing that.

Something needs to change.

What change should that be?

I don’t know, but it looks like MNPS is trying to find out.

For more on education policy and politics in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport