School Board Update
|
Indya
KINCANNON |
|
School Board Update |
|
Greetings!
We’ve had a whirlwind of activity since I last sent out an update. Below is an overview of what I’ve been doing and what’s ahead.
On a personal note, I am really enjoying the whole experience. It’s interesting, meaningful work that offers the opportunity to make a positive difference in our community. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the cooperative spirit among Board members and by the overall quality of our discussions. Another surprise is how often we are asked to travel out of town. And if I attended every meeting or event to which I’m invited, I’d never have a night at home! Of course I attend all School Board meetings, and as many events in 2nd District schools as possible.
If you have any questions or comments about anything, please let me know. If there are things going on in a school that you think I should know about, please do not hesitate to contact me. You are my eyes and ears in the community! I welcome your insights and appreciate any feedback.
Very Truly Yours,
Indya
Part-Time
Jobs and Job-Sharing for Teachers
Attracting and retaining our best teachers is a key goal. I
proposed a policy that allows for part-time teaching (middle and high schools)
and job-sharing (in elementary schools). Some
of this is being done on an ad-hoc
basis already, and the job-sharing idea has been successfully piloted at Halls
Elementary. Many excellent teachers
stop working to take care of children or older parents, or to retire, but they
might stay in the field if there were other options.
This could also help in hard-to-staff subjects like foreign languages,
science, math and Special Education. The
proposed policy has been discussed at a Board workshop and it should be on the
agenda for a vote in February. Board
members seem receptive, and teachers are enthusiastic. Kids will
benefit by having highly motivated teachers who want to be in the classroom.
Sibling
Policy for Magnet Programs
I’ve proposed a policy giving admission preference to any eligible
child applying to a magnet program who already has a sibling in that school.
This would encourage the entire family to be invested in the school and
its programs. I am working with
staff to develop the policy so that it is equitable, complies with the Office of
Civil Rights Agreement and also promotes the magnet programs.
I recently toured the magnet schools and see a lot of untapped potential. The magnet programs have been in place for at least 10 years in most cases; Board members and staff are evaluating the programs to see if they are meeting the needs of the neighborhood kids and the goals for which they were originally established. This assessment should be completed by the end of March.
In December we hashed out the details for the new Knox County Great
Schools Partnership. The Partnership
will bring educators, business people and government leaders together to help
improve student achievement. It’s
modeled after a similar partnership in
There are still 2 open slots on the Great Schools Partnership Board that we will appoint in February. One of the slots must be an employee of the school system. The other slot is for a member of the community at large. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, you can read more about it at http://www.kcs.k12tn.net/, (scroll half-way down the page). To nominate someone, fill out a short form at http://kcs2.knox.k12tn.net/greatschools/new.htm. If you would like me to nominate you, let’s talk about it. Call me at 546-7098. All nominations must be submitted by January 28th.
We updated our capital budget plan in December.
I visited 10 of the 13 schools under consideration and made
recommendations in response to immediate, acute needs.
Capacity
Study
After a lot of hard work the administration completed an analysis of
functional capacity for all 89 schools. This
will enable us to determine whether or not a school is truly over-crowded.
They also developed a template to be updated on a routine basis as
student enrollment fluctuates. This
should be an excellent planning tool which I hope will be well-used by MPC,
New High School
As you may have read or seen on the news, this week for the first time we discussed an actual site for a new high school in West Knox County. In my mind, we need to identify several suitable properties with willing sellers and then negotiate a fair sale. I do not condone the secrecy with which this search has been conducted nor the lack of communication with potential sellers. Condemnation should be an absolute last resort, not something that is used as a threat. At this juncture condemnation was discussed, but has not been voted on or even come up for a vote. Hopefully it will not come to
that.
I find it hard to believe that there are not several suitable properties for a new high school,
with willing sellers who will sell to us at a price that is fair to taxpayers. I will encourage the
school system staff and the other Board members to make this a more open and fair process.
School
Report Cards
School Report cards, both achievement and value-added, were recently
released. 2nd District
schools did well in some places, but need a lot of improvement in others.
One highlight is Inskip school, which although it did poorly on
achievement tests, had all A’s and B’s on the value-added test results.
This means that while many Inskip students start school behind their
peers, they are catching up thanks to very effective teaching.
Another highlight is Shannondale Elementary, which had all A’s across
the board. If you want to peruse the
results yourself, go to: http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/rptcrd04/index.asp.
Knox
Here's how it works:
1. Get a form for a child at
any library branch in
2. There is no cost, it is FREE!
3. The books will start arriving in 8-10 weeks and come every month thereafter until the child's 5th birthday.
This program is available to
EVERY child who lives in
My update would be incomplete without recognition of
Looking Ahead
We are about to start the complex process of analyzing our
budget, department by department. I look forward to scrutinizing our
expenditures and making sure we are getting the most bang for our buck. I
want to be sure we make the best possible use of every resource for our kids.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I look forward to working for you on the School Board and hope 2005 is a great year for you!
