Amy Frogge receives national hero treatment for her Nashville anti-school choice role.

Amy Frogge

by Rod Williams - Nashville's leading opponent of school choice, school board member Amy Frogge, is receiving national recognition for her anti-reform efforts and is being treated as a hero.

Diane Ravitch, education historian, education policy analyst, former Assistant Secretary of Education, and author has profiled Amy Frogge in a new book, “Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America’s Public Schools.”  The book profiles several people who have, in Ravitch's words, "successfully fought off the people she calls 'Disrupters,'  those who were trying to privatize America’s public education system."

Ravitch's profile of Frogge has been excerpted in Ravitch's blog, and the Washington Post and several other sites. One excerpt reads, "She courageously stood up to the right-wing governor, the legislature, the state commissioner, and Mayor Dean, who were all pushing for more charters in Nashville." That "right-wing governor" Ravitch is referring to is Bill Haslam.

Another except says, "The local newspapers criticized her as “divisive” and “shrill” for taking a stand (these are the words applied to women who speak out but not to men, who are seen as “forceful” and “strong”). The newspapers grew tired of her complaints about the large amounts of outside money that poured into school board races." Those newspapers accused of anti-women bias have to be The Tennessean, The Scene, and maybe some others.  They are not named but to refer to our liberal newspapers as having a anti-women bias and implying a conservative bias is a joke.

I wish Amy Frogge success on the national stage.  Maybe if she is successful she will resign from the School Board and leave Nashville.  To read more of the fawning, distorted, one-sided writing,  follow one of the referenced links above.

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Here is another reason to dislike Amy Frogge

 Here is another reason to dislike School Board member Amy Frogge. This is a Facebook post from her posted today.

Amy Frogge

This is big news. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin lost last night.
Bevin spent his time in office attacking teachers. He called them “ignorant,” “selfish,” and “thugs.” The media called this race teachers’ “biggest electoral test.” Teachers defeated him.
What if teachers in Tennessee banded together to elect education-friendly candidates?

I really didn't need another reason. She is one of the most vocal opponents of school choice on the school board, almost as bad as former school board member Will Pinkston.  She did somewhat redeem herself by breaking with Pinkston and being a critic of former MNPS superintendent Shawn Joseph, however.

I was disappointed to see Governor Bevin lose last night.  I thought he was one of the rising stars in national politics.  I saw him speak at a First Tuesday event some time ago and was very impressed. He had a passion and a serenity and bold ideas.  I was especially pleased by his passion for prison and sentencing reform.

Blevin attempted to put Kentucky's house in order.  When he took office the State faced a $500 million shortfall (link) and Standard and Poor had downgraded Kentucky's credit rating due to underfunded pension liabilities. Part of Bevin's plan to resolve the Kentucky budget crisis was to reduce the annual cost-of-living increase in benefits of retired teachers from 1.5 percent to 1.0 percent. 

Teachers rebelled and protested. "It's about just straight up wanting more than your fair share," Bevin said of the teacher opposition. "This is a group of people just throwing a temper tantrum." The governor said on a radio program that Kentucky teachers are paid much higher than neighboring states. He also criticized teachers for getting pay raises during retirement saying that state Troopers "who get shot at" don't get raises.  (link) Thousands of teachers protested Bevin and a war of words escalated. He did not call teachers "thugs" but denounced their "thug mentality."

The teacher's union beat Bleven and Kentuckians will face raising taxes and continued debt and cuts to other budget needs to fund teacher pensions. Amy Frogge wants teachers to band together to do the same thing in Tennessee that the teacher's union did in Kentucky.

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The Tennessean: School board member Amy Frogge nearly torpedoed the process

Editorial, The Tennessean, May 9, 2015 - ... when after a full day of interviews with six top-notch candidates, board member Amy Frogge nearly torpedoed the process. .... She motioned for the board to consider interviewing an educator who had rebuffed the school board’s offer for the top job 15 years ago and was not even on the list of six candidates. .... a jaw-dropping slap in the face to a delicate search process..... Frogge's motion was baffling as well as imprudent and disrespectful.... (link)

My Comment: I don't always agree with the position of Tennessean editorials; but when I do it is because they are right.

Amy Frogge needs to be replaced on the school board.

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TIF Tax Breaks May Get More Oversight From New Council Members

WTVF Channel 5 News, Oct 14, 2015, NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Newly elected Metro Council members promised more oversight of the city's use tax-increment financing (TIF) after a meeting Tuesday at the Tennessee Comptroller's Office. (link)

My Comment: This is good news. Jeff Syracuse and Larry Hager, who are prominently featured in this video, may evolve as two of the "good councilmen" in the new Council. I supported both of them in the recent election. I do not know Jeremy Elrod or Mina Johnson but if their comments in this news report are indicative of how they will vote in the Council, then they may also evolve as "good councilmen."

This video reveals that even after their Tax Increment Financing loan are paid off, the tax revenue generated from properties financed by TIF continues to flow to MDHA rather than the city treasury. This means those downtown properties do not help fund our schools, or roads or police or fire or any of the other functions of Metro Government. I hope the new council will put a stop to this abuse of TIF.

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Amy Frogge is continuing her war against Metro public charter schools. Why The Latest Flap Is About More Than A Book

School Board member Amy Frogge is continuing her war against Metro public charter schools, this time using the argument that a certain book selection used at Nashville Prep contains four-letter words and sex scenes and therefore the school, which is one of the top-performing schools in Nashville, should be shut down.  Nashville Public Radio explains in the piece below. For the rest of the story follow the link.

Why The Latest Flap Between School Board Member And Nashville Charter Is About More Than A Book

What appears to be a battle over an inappropriate book is really the latest skirmish in Nashville’s running feud over privately-operated, publicly-funded charter schools.

A seventh grade reading assignment resulted this week in calls for one of the city’s top-performing schools to close. Twelve-year-olds at Nashville Prep were reading City of Thieves. A parent alerted school board member Amy Frogge about the prevalence of four-letter words and sex scenes. Frogge then asked for the school district’s office overseeing charter schools to step in, telling them that Nashville Prep  "needs to be shut down."

“It really isn’t about a book," school founder Ravi Gupta says. "That’s a judgment call. We could debate it out, and we may never use that book again. But it’s about the fact that we went from a choice of a book to shutting down a school in a matter of hours.”

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"Pushing young children to read is not good for them," says School Board Member

April 24, 2015- From TN-Edu Independent - "Pushing young children to read is not good for them." This comment was made recently by a school board member in Nashville. This comment reflects a policy view that would be detrimental to students across the MNPS system.

If anything, we have the exact opposite problem. We don't have the right policies and the appropriate execution of practices that foster the early literacy skills that so many Nashville students need.

Way too many young students in Nashville don't have adequate early literacy skills, and this deficit continues to hurt them in a big way throughout their K-12 learning years (if you can't read, it is hard to learn in other subjects or from other texts).

The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates for reading out loud to children (and is pushing their pediatric members to communicate that to parents).

It's somewhat shocking to me for a school board member to advocate for not pushing young children to read. While advocating for developmentally appropriate policies for children, which has merit and makes sense, this statement is irresponsible. If this was about making a political statement, related to the video below, and tied into the very skewed Diane Ravitch education policies (that is more about test opt-outs, everything should be play for children, etc), it's still irresponsible, and shows how allegiance to adult politics can trump rational and sensible policies for educating children.

A couple of thoughts stand out.

1. If pushing young children to read is not good for them, then we shouldn't fund the Reading Recovery appropriation in the most recent MNPS budget nor anything else related to early literacy instruction.
2. I'm basically a terrible parent for reading Dr. Seuss books with my 16 month old.
3. Dolly (and many others) have gotten it way wrong all these years by sending books to homes through the Imagination Library program.
4. The early literacy skills gap is a very serious issue that underpins a lot of our issues in K-12 education. This gap is particularly problematic for low-income and minority students. Note the reading gap (diamonds) among different income levels:
   
5. The above video showcased Mission Hill school in Boston (along with Matt Damon's mom - Nancy Carlsson-Paige).

The video is more about testing opt out issues, and an advocacy for an approach to education that is all about play based learning. To make the statement that we shouldn't push young children to read and learn early literacy skills is going way too far.

And when it comes to student proficiency levels in reading (English Language Arts), the approach advocated for in the video in the school that is highlighted isn't working very well. Only 1/3 of Mission Hill school students are proficient or advanced in English Language Arts school-wide. For some grades, it's extremely low (4th grade - only 8%), and they have a very high percentage of students in the "warning/failing" classification for English Language Arts.

Yes, Mission Hill is a Title 1 school, but so are many others in Boston that have much higher reading proficiency rates.

Pushing young children to read and develop early literacy skills IS GOOD for them!!

 

My Comment: If you were wondering which school board member said, "pushing young children to read is not good for them;" it was Amy Frogge. Go to her Facebook page and it is posted on April 19. Rod



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What happend at the School Board Meeting of 1/13/15? Board Ok's KIPP Conversion of Kirkpatrick. Suprise, surprise, Amy Fogge votes "no."

Due to work and other things that interfere with blogging, I have determined that I cannot continue doing a play-by-play of Metro School Board meeting. I hope someone is watching however. There is not much that the city of Nashville does that is as important as educating our children and the schools spend the bulk of our local tax dollars.

With The Tennessean shrinking their news hole and staff and focusing more on what their polls tell them people want to read about, the Tennessean is becoming more like a gossipy tabloid than a city newspaper.  I am not even sure they cover School Board meetings anymore. Fortunately, The Nashville Scene does cover school board meeting. They at lease tell you the most important thing that happened at a school board meeting. Below is a link to the Scene story of the school board meeting of 1/13/2015.

If you want to keep informed about what is happening at the school board you are almost on your own. To watch the school board meeting in less time, you can watch it in time-and-a-half or double time and not lose much content. If your computer does not automatically give you that option, follow this link and click "HTML5 player." If you find something worth watching, please post a comment and summarize it and give a timestamp video location.

The School Board produces great school board meeting agendas. You can get your copy of the 222- page agenda of this meeting at this location: Agenda.

School Board OK's KIPP Conversion of Kirkpatrick

The Nashville Scene, By Andrea Zelinski , Wed. Jul. 14, 2015 - After months of the district wringing its hands over which school it should hand over to an area charter, the Metro Nashville School Board easily handed over the keys for Kirkpatrick Elementary to KIPP schools on Tuesday.

The board voted 7-1 to approve the conversion, transitioning management of the kindergarten and first grades to the charter school beginning in the 2015-16 school year and adding a grade annually through fourth grade.

....The only board member to vote against the conversion plan was Amy Frogge....

School board members also hired a company to help the district assess what capacity it has to turn its own low-performing schools around, heard a proposal to expand community services to 16 more schools — including eight priority schools — and were put on notice that one board member wants to put a moratorium on all new schools until the district devises a way to close a projected $22 million budget hole.

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Frank Daniels takes issue with School board members Amy Frogge and Jill Speering who support the status quo for poor-performing schools.

Frank Daniels, editor of The Tennessean, takes issue with School Board members Amy Frogge and Jill Speering who argue that poor performing schools should be left alone and continue in the hands of those who have been managing them for years. (link) I wholeheartedly agree with Frank Daniels and disagree with Frogge and Speering.

Frogge and Speering have come out against the Achievement School District plan to take over failing schools and they attack the whole concept of the state's plan to improve the worst schools. They argue that the "raw" data from some schools taken over by the ASD do not show an improvement. Daniels points out that the state has created a complex "report card" system that combines various factors to assess school performance and by that measure, ASD is performing relatively well.

Daniels points out that the ASD is in the third year of its mission to turn around the state's poor performers and he says it has a long way to go to achieve its lofty goals. It is too soon to pass judgment on the ASD, he says, and Metro schools should be supporting its efforts instead of worrying about who is nominally in charge. I agree.

I go further than Daniels however and do agree with ASD chief Chris Barbic who says there is a 'believe gap" between those who  believe all children are capable of learning and those who believe that due to being handicapped by poverty and circumstances that they cannot. It seems almost miraculous the results that some charter schools have achieved. Charter schools have taken children from the worst neighborhoods, children who would have ended up school dropouts with many of the girls pregnant and the boys in reform school, and have not only seen them graduate high school, but attending college.

I am not sure that that success can be replicated again and again but it is sure worth trying. Keeping failing schools in the same management hands as they have been and doing the same thing we have been doing for sure is not working. It is time to give the radical experiment of new management and conversion to charter schools a chance. With conversion occurring one grade at a time, certainly we have not had time to determine if charter conversion under ADS is working. We need to give it a chance before declaring it a failure. Almost anything we do will be an improvement over the status quo.

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School Board approves Charter School for Donelson-Hermitage area in contentious meeting. (Updated Report)

Last night was a victory for school choice! This one-hour-and-twenty-minute meeting is devoted solely to consideration of the approval of a charter for STRIVE Collegiate Academy. This is one of the most interesting Metro School Board meetings I have ever watched. Ellissa Kim shines in this meeting and Will Pinkston looks like an ass.

A few months ago the school board adopted a policy that said new charter schools would only be approved if they were taking over failing schools or it they relieved overcrowding.  A couple months ago a new school applied for a charter from the School Board to open a school in the Donelson-Hermitage area and it did not meet one of those criteria. The School Board turned them down. They reapplied and last night were approved. Had they been turned down, they would have been the first charter to appeal and apply for approval under a new state authorizer provision.

Mr. Alan Coverstone, the Executive Director of the Office of Innovation, tells the board that a decision to deny would most likely be overturned on appeal (See time stamp 8:56). School Board member Jill Speering argues to reject the application (10:26), her main point being that in conformity with Roberts Rules of Order, the board should follow an established police. Speering is followed by Elissa Kim who makes a passionate argument (15:06 -22:54). She says she is not an expert on Roberts Rules but when only 30% of third graders can read on grade level that "overwhelms everything" including the finer points of Robert's rules. She says, "I'm excited by this application." She points out that of 18 schools in Metro cited by the state as being superior schools, seven of them were charter schools. That is 39% of the best schools are charter schools, yet charter schools only make up 12% of the schools. 

Will Pinkston appears obviously angry at Coverstone and Register. He puts Dr. Register on the spot and makes his state his position on the application.  Previously Register had not stated a position but he says he recommends approval. Pinkston  attacks Coverstone and Register for recommending approval saying the Board policy was developed with their input and something happened to change their mind. He says he is thinks he knows what it was but is not going to cast aspersions today, he will wait for another day. (see 1:11:00) I don't know what he means by that and wish he would have explaining himself. When one says they are not going to cast aspersions, they are casting aspersions.

Anti-school choice zealot Amy Frogge makes essentially the same argument as Jill Speering but with more hostility. "This entire process has seemed very dishonest to me. I've lost trust in our administrators," she says.

Departing Board Member Michael Hayes speaks in favor of approval saying, "charters have elevated our scores as a district" and, "this is an opportunity to bring in an incredibly high performing school."

The final vote is 5-3 for approval with Elissa Kim, Michael Hayes, Jo Ann Brannon, Anna Shepherd and  Cheryl Mayes voted in favor and Will Pinkston, Amy Frogge and Jill Speering voted against it.

Below is the Tennessean's report on the meeting:

Metro school board OK’s charter for Donelson-Hermitage

by Joey Garrison, August 21, 2014 - STRIVE Collegiate Academy received the go-ahead Thursday to open in Nashville after the Metro school board decided a new school option in Donelson-Hermitage outweighed the board’s stated priorities on where new charter schools should locate.

The board, after spirited debate, voted 5-3 to approve STRIVE’s revised charter on appeal, just two months after it had unanimously rejected the school’s initial proposal.(link)

Here is the Nashville Scene's report on the meeting: School Board Approves STRIVE Charter On Appeal

               

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Nashville's traditional public schools are to be held to the same standards as Charters.

This is the school board meeting of Tuesday August 12, 2014.


On the Saturday before the above meeting there was a four-hour committee meeting which was not televised. According to news reports, at that meeting, the board’s Governance Committee voted for a policy that would require that all of Nashville charter School publish financial documents, including a disclosure of the source and amount of any private funds that supplement public funds. The committee also voted to require the same of each public school. That policy was adopted at the August 12th MNPS Board meeting.

Anti-school choice zealot Amy Frogge led the effort to require this new policy and pro-school choice advocate Elissa Kim successfully argued that the same standard apply to charter public schools and traditional public schools.

Here are the Tennessean's report on this issue. Charter school financial transparency to mirror all Metro schools.  Charter school policy meant to promote transparency.

Here is the Nashville Scene's story included tweeted play-by-play of yesterday's meeting: School Board Mints New Charter Transparency Policies.
 
I have not watched the above video. Caring for my ill wife is a greater priority than blogging or engaging in political activity at this time, so I am cutting back on some of the things I have been doing. If you wish to watch this two-hour video, you can watch it in half the time, if you double the speed. I can usually watch videos of meetings in double speed and still get all of the content. If the video does not give you the option of watching in fast speed, here is a link that will show you how to do that. Rod

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Frogge 'betrayed' by Register speech on charter schools. Pinkston also unhappy.

Amy Frogge

by Joey Garrison, The Tennessean, July 11, 2014- In a speech that surprised everyone watching Thursday night, Metro Director of Schools Jesse Register told the Metro Council he wants to bring civility back to the conversation about charters and replace what he called an "us versus them" mentality.

But he's disappointed at least one school board member.

Amy Frogge, who just last month raised concerns over the fiscal transparency of charters, said that she felt "betrayed" by Register's remarks, ....She said it's made her "lose trust." ..... (link)

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School Board meeting of 6/24/2014: The another-battle-over-charter-schools meeting.

The school board produces great agendas that contains all of the reports and handouts that are given to the school board members. To get your own copy of this 248-page agenda, follow this link.

In case you missed it, Nashville has now joined a program where all children will get free breakfast and free lunch. Of course we know there is "no such thing as a free lunch" but it will be free to the consumers of the lunch. Will Pinkston commends the administration for joining this program. One of the reasons for this change is to remove the stigma of those who accept free lunch.  In my view this is a mistake.  The stigma of accepting free lunch provides an incentive for people to earn enough money so they are no longer eligible for free lunch. It may encourage children to do better than their parents so their children do not feel the stigma of a free lunch. Stigma is not a bad thing. When we removed the stigma of having children out of wedlock, out of wedlock births soared.  If free lunch is a right rather than charity given to the disadvantaged, then people feel entitled to it.  Free lunch, free healthcare, free phones, make people feel entitled to the wealth of others and makes them ungrateful for the assistance they get. This is one more step along the path that is turning America into a European style welfare state where everyone is a ward of the State.

Charter School Motion discussion starts at time stamp 10:14.  Dr.Alan Coverstone , Executive Officer of the Office of Innovation, recommends two brand new charter schools for approval and one conversation charter and two high schools which are "pathways" from existing charter schools, meaning the new high schools are a continuation of a  K-8 charter for the students of the existing charter who enter grade 9. Three applicants are recommended to be denied. The recommendations are followed but the vote is close on some of them.

One of the criteria for approving new charter schools is that they relieve overcrowding. Another criteria is a conversion charter where a charter takes over a failing school. Mr. Coverstone makes the case that it is less costly to approve a new charter rather than build a new school in a high growth area. To see agenda information on the schools denied and approved go to page109 of the agenda.

Amy Frogge attacks the renewal of Rocketship's charter and her attack is refuted by Michael W. Hayes (see time stamp 50.05). Their charter is renewed with Frogge voting "no." I think Ms Frogge votes against all charter applications. There is "no" vote on almost all of the charter applications and I assume that "no" vote is from Frogge but it is not a recorded roll call vote and the video does not clearly show who the "no" vote came from but I am almost sure it was Frogge. 

There is an attempt on the part of Pinkston to amend the terms of the approval of a new charter school.  Valor Collegiate applies for a K-8 charter to start with grade 5 and then add lower grades. Next year they would add K and grade 1. Pinkston says this is a "Trojan horse" for a middle school. He wants them to start with grade K. This application is approved but just barely with four "no" votes. The "no's" are Speering, Pinkston, Frogge, and I could not determine the other person who voted "no."

The school calendar is approved. For parents wanted to view the calendar see page 7 of the agenda.

Below is more information from the school board. It seems that if a charter school cannot be defeated by a vote to deny them a charter, that some members of the school board want to bog them down with so much bureaucracy and regulations so they are no more efficient than a regular public schools. 

School board member: Charters must be more transparent

by Joey Garrison, The Tennessean, June 24, 2014 - Nashville charter schools would be required to document and publish their finances, funding sources and conflicts of interest more thoroughly under a policy overhaul floated by a Metro school board member. 

But the measure is already getting pushback from critics questioning the purpose behind the effort, arguing that it would establish a double standard apart from the district’s traditional public schools. (link)

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Amy Frogge steps up her attack on charter schools: They "opeate like vultures," "shodowy motives"

Amy Frogge

by Joey Garrison, The Tennessean, April 22 - The Metro school board's fiercest charter school critic called for an "end game" on what future Nashville charters should look like during a blunt speech Tuesday that made accusations of profiteering and corporate interference.

Board member Amy Frogge, calling for Metro to hit the "pause button" to think strategically on charters, used strongly worded closing remarks at Tuesday's board meeting to argue the district has gotten away from "early visionaries" who saw charters as simply labs of innovation.

"Many charter schools today have become something very different as corporations, not educators, are increasingly involved in setting their directions," she said. "Charter schools have become competitors with traditional schools for funding and for students. (link)

My Comment: I hope a qualified candidate runs against Amy Frogge next school board election. She needs to go! Here vitriolic attacks and relentless campaign against charter schools is unacceptable. Charter schools are outperforming traditional schools and people like Amy Frogge just can not stand it. They want to protect mediocrity and hate the competition that shows just how poorly regular public schools perform.

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Update: Parents stand up to Amy Frogge; defend Nashville Prep. School Board meeting of 3/11/2014.

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Below is the Tennessean's coverage of the meeting:

Dozens of Nashville Prep parents defend charter school to school board

The Tennessean, March 12, 2014, by Joey Garrison - Nashville Prep parents showed up in full force before the Metro school board Tuesday to defend a place they say is demanding yet fair — and their choice — as they sought to quash a board member’s call for an investigation of the charter school.

“I’m here because I believe it’s imperative that the voices of the parents of scholars at Nashville Prep provide the information that tells the Nashville prep story,” said Michelle Lane, whose son attends the third-year charter.

“It’s rigorous, structured and hard, but that’s a large part of why we chose Nashville Prep.”

Earlier in the day, the district’s Alan Coverstone had already found “no actionable items” after board member Amy Frogge last month asked that MNPS explore “disturbing” complaints from two parents that centered on Nashville’s Prep’s disciplinary procedures. Their children no longer attend the school. (link)

Below is the Nashville Scene's coverage: 

Will Pinkston vs. Tennessee Charter School Center

After a contentious school board meeting Tuesday night where flyers from charter supporters attacked board members Will Pinkston and Amy Frogge (pictures of the flyers with those links), Pinkston has fired back.

In a letter to the Metro Council, the former Bredesen administration official blasted the Tennessee Charter School Center.

Honorable Metro Council Members: Regarding the below email exchange ... Consider the following facts about the Tennessee Charter School Center:

1. Despite claims to the contrary, the Tennessee Charter School Center is not interested in respectful or collaborative dialogue. Last fall, this multi-million-dollar "nonprofit" organization flew in out-of-town activists to protest at Bransford Avenue after the Nashville School Board had the temerity to raise budget concerns about the unabated growth of charter schools. In case you missed it, attached is news coverage of the Center's astro-turf protest.

2. The Tennessee Charter School Center is the leading proponent of legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly that would strip the Nashville School Board, and Davidson County taxpayers, of the ability to approve or reject charter schools. This organization is a linchpin in the legislature's broader agenda to take away local control from Davidson County's elected officials.(link)

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Supporters, mostly Black parents, protest hostility toward charter schools

This is a short clip of the demonstration that took place at the Bransdford Ave offices of the Metro Nashville Public Schools on Friday. It is gratifying to see Black parents realize that the current one-size-fits-all public education system is a system that is failing their children. The protestors are right, "Parents need choice, Parent need choice!"

Supporters protest 'hostility' toward charter schools 

by Lisa Fingeroot, The Tennessean, Aug. 29, 2013 -  Nashville charter school supporters called in reinforcements from Washington, D.C., Thursday to help protest the hostility they claim Metro officials show toward charters.

The protesters also opposed Metro Councilman Steve Glover’s plan to ask the state to give Nashville a moratorium on approving charter schools.

“We’re here to essentially send the message that the hostility toward high-quality charter schools needs to end and that we need to be seen as a tool,” said Rebecca Lieberman, vice president of external affairs for the Tennessee Charter School Center. (link)

School Board member Amy Frogge, the most hostile of the school board members who are hostile to charter schools. used her face book page to defend herself saying, "To turn this discussion into a racially-charged attack on MNPS was a terrible act and offends me deeply."

All I can say is, "be offended." Many  Blacks are no longer willing to stay on the liberal plantation. They want what works and just like most parents, they want what is best for their children.

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Video and summary of the 1/8/2013 School Board meeting

This meeting is 1 hour and 45 minutes long. There is very little of a broad general interest that occurs at this meeting and there is no controversy.

There is a discussion of School security including plant design, protocol and the cost of armed guards (see 1:07:08- 1:30:32)

Board member Amy Frogge announces she will be bringing an anti State charter authorizer resolution to the Board at the next meeting.

Announcement: I am looking for someone to take over the job of reporting on education matters for this blog. Your post would carry your byline.  I would want someone who has a passion for education and who would be diligent and timely. I would prefer someone with conservative values similar to my own, however if a person was more liberal than I, but could report on education matters with objectivity they would be considered. If interested, contact me. Rod 

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Nashville school board backs off suing state over lost funds

The Tennessean, Dec 12, 2012 - Despite one board member’s push to dig in and fight, the Metro school board on Tuesday backed off its threat to sue the state for withholding $3.4 million in funds to punish the district for rejecting a charter school application.

Board members expressed hope that the state might willingly restore the funds if the district takes a more cooperative approach instead.

The school board voted 8-1 on Tuesday to defeat a motion from board member Amy Frogge to pursue litigation against the Tennessee Department of Education.....(link)

My Comment: Thankfully sanity prevailed. 

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