The Battle is Over

Metro Nashville Public Schools removed the “interim” tag from Adrienne Battle’s title today. The Board voted to end the current search for a Director of Schools and give the job to Battle, who has held it on an interim basis since Shawn Joseph left the position.

The Tennessean has more:

During a specially called meeting on Friday, the Metro Nashville Schools Board decided not to continue its search and appointed Adrienne Battle as superintendent. Battle has led the district since last year.

Board Chair Anna Shepherd said she asked for the motion to appoint Battle to allow for continuity as the city recovers from tornado damage and as Nashville grapples with the novel coronavirus pandemic. Battle’s actions and her calm leadership over the last week have been celebrated.

“While adhering to the search process is vitally important, I understand we must respond rapidly to changing circumstances and provide stability,” Shepherd said.

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TC and Dr. Battle

Nashville education blogger TC Weber sat down recently with MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle to talk about her experience as both a student in MNPS and now as the district’s top official.

Here’s how it got started:

It’s an amazing and humbling opportunity for me because as you’ve mentioned, just being a student here in MNPS, I’ve experienced many of the same things that our students are experiencing. I’ve sat in the same seat. Along the way, it’s a positive opportunity to reflect back upon. I really do attribute a lot of my opportunities and my success to the experiences I had right here in MNPS. I had loving, caring, talented teachers around me every single day. As a matter of fact, I knew very early on I wanted to be an educator because of those teachers. They were my heroes. I witnessed every day what they were doing to pour knowledge into me and other students. It was just a powerful thing that instilled in me a desire to do that for others as well. So this is very surreal and also a great opportunity, one that I don’t take lightly.

READ MORE about Dr. Battle’s journey through education in MNPS.

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