TSBA Summer 2013 Journal Publication

Vol. 30, No. 3

Tennessee School Boards AssociationS u m m e r 2 0 1 3

Act LocallyThink Globally

Summer 2013 | TSBA Journal | 1

Renea Jones-RogersTSBA President

President’s Message

Our job as school board members is to shape the future of our community by influencing the quality of education for our children. Boards of education are the “voice of the people” and must collectively speak in terms of what the board wants to achieve with its educational program. Because of locally elected boards of education, the control of education continues to stay close to the community. The schools of today will determine what the citizens of tomorrow will become and what schools are will be determined by local boards. School boards direct the most important, most technical and most difficult of all public business. TSBA launched Local Schools, Local Decisions statewide this year. Its goal is to increase awareness of the importance of local control of public schools. The focus of the campaign is to promote the belief that public education should not be allowed to become a tool of any single group or person and that education exists to serve all people equally. Support for a strong system of public education is crucial. We need your help in enlisting the support of all citizens from across the state to ensure that the future of public education remains in the hands of the community which it serves.

1. Ask citizens to support public education by visiting our campaign website at http://localschoolslocaldecisions.net/ and signing up as a supporter of public education.

2. Show that your local constituents support Local Schools, Local Decisions by submitting a photo of them to TSBA with the “I Support Local Public Schools” logo. Scan this QR code to access the digital logo. TSBA will post the photos on the website and use them throughout various publications. Congratulations to the winner of the May photo contest, the Maury County Board of Education, who submitted over 1000 photos!

3. Spread the good news about what is happening in your local public schools by submitting local stories of the good things going on in your public schools—the successes, the triumphs and the academic gains.

4. Contact your legislators regularly to stress the importance of education decisions being made at the local level.

5. Take advantage of the local public schools advocate toolkit to assist you in preparation for presentations and communications with local constituents. This toolkit can be found under the “Take Action” tab of the campaign website.

Whether you are talking about raising student achievement, spending local tax dollars wisely, or ensuring that children are educated in a manner consistent with community values, the importance of local control is all too clear. School board members must speak out more forcefully about this reality. Local control ensures that the community has a say in spending tax dollars, selecting curricula and making sure the needs of the children and the community are met.

School board members are unique in that our mission is solely devoted to student learning. We are the voice of public education. As your president, I am asking each of you to help advocate for Local Schools, Local Decisions!

2 | TSBA Journal | Summer 2013

TSBA BOARD of DIRECTORSRenea Jones-Rogers, Unicoi County

PresidentCarolyn Holt, Hamblen County

President-ElectSusan Lodal, Kingsport

Vice-PresidentDebbie Shedden, Hawkins County

TreasurerBob Alvey, Jackson-Madison County

Immediate Past-PresidentCynthia Glenn, Lauderdale County

Delta District DirectorStoney Crockett, Robertson County

Mid-Cumberland District DirectorKathy Dougherty, McMinn County

Southeast District DirectorJimmy Copous, Milan Special

Northwest District DirectorDavid Baker, Hardin County

Southwest District DirectorMike Treadway, Blount County

East District DirectorMark Clark, Fayetteville

South Central District DirectorCharles Robinson, Dekalb CountyUpper Cumberland District Director

Thomas Deakins, Knox CountyMember At Large

Don Long, Sumner CountyMember At Large

Cheryl Mayes, Metro Davidson CountyMember At Large

Kevin Woods, Shelby CountyMember At Large

David Pickler, Shelby CountyNSBA President, ex-officio member

Dr. Tammy GrissomExecutive Director

Publisher: Dr. Tammy GrissomEditor: Lindsay Campbell

The Tennessee School Boards Association Journal (ISSN 0747-6159) is published quarterly by the Tennessee School Boards Association,

525 Brick Church Park Drive, Nashville, TN 37207. Phone: (615) 815-3900. Fax: (615) 815-3911.

The cost per subscription is $20 annually through membership dues or individual subscriptions. Periodical postage paid at Nashville, Tenn.

and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER please send change of addresses to:

Tennessee School Boards Association, 525 Brick Church Park Drive

Nashville, TN 37207.Members of the Journal Editorial Advisory Board are: Janet Galyen, Coffee

County; Kathy Austin, Greene County; Dixie Parker, Bedford County; Mary Wade, Murfreesboro; Houston Robbins, Overton County; and

Jo Ann Brannon, Metro Davidson County.

Contributions to the Journal are solicited. Contents may be reproduced provided credit is given, except for materials copyrighted or from other publications. The

materials published in this issue represent the ideas and beliefs of those who wrote them and do not necessarily reflect the ideas and beliefs of the

Tennessee School Boards Association.

1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . President’s Message

3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Executive Note

4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What is a QR Code

7 . . . . . . . . . PARCC End User Device Orientation

8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Board Secretaries’ Conference

10 . . . . . . . A New Chapter in NSBA’s Rich History

13 . . . . . . Fall District Meeting Schedule/Locations

14 . . . . . . . . . . School Board Member Frequently Asked Questions

17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TSBA Policy Services

18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Source

21 . . . . . . . . . . The Big ‘Green’ Yellow School Bus

23 . . First Look: TSBA 2013 Leadership Conference and Annual Convention

28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time After Time

30 . . . Common Core State Standards: Myth vs. Fact

35 . . . . . . . . . . TSBA Deadlines and Happenings

36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TSBA Business Affiliates

Tennessee School Boards AssociationS u m m e r 2 0 1 3 Vol. 30, No. 3


Jim Clifton, Chairman of Gallup, states in his book The Coming Jobs War, “ “That Gallup is six years into their global data collection effort and they may have already found the single most searing, clarifying, helpful, world-altering fact: What the world wants is a good job. Students don’t want to merely graduate; they want an education that results in a good job. Gallup has found that kids drop out of school when they lose hope to graduate. That’s it. Not because they’re lured into gangs or have to flip burgers to support their family. Having no vision or excitement for the future is the cause of kids dropping out of school.”

Clifton states, “Leadership strategy must first and foremost be built on hope rather than on grades and attendance, because loss of hope precedes bad grades and truancy. Gallup scientists have learned that hope predicts academic success and graduation better than grades or test scores do. Increasing hope isn’t easy, but it can be done. And it has to be done LOCALLY on a city-wide basis rather than on a national one. Only a LOCAL focus has a chance.”

What does this mean for local boards of education? Boards need to think globally but act locally by creating a vision for their school system that creates, in students, excitement and hope for the future. Our vision is not about what we are, but about what we want to be. Boards of education must work with their communities to ensure that the top priority for each student is to graduate with an education that provides a pathway to a good job. Students need to know that their school district confidently expects them to graduate.

How do boards engage their communities? Most school board members are elected by district but need to really know and understand their entire community. Communities are constantly changing, businesses come and go and populations shift. These changes affect school board goals and policies. No one person or group can create the vision for the community. Boards need regular input from all stakeholders as to what they think students need to know and be able to do. When board members combine their talents with participation and input by the entire community, they create a solid and relevant vision of the district’s education future. This is Board leadership at its very best!

How do boards ensure that their vision becomes reality? Accountability! Board accountability means that you answer not only for your actions, but also for the results of your actions. Accountability includes sharing credit for achieving the desired results while accepting responsibility when targets are missed. A board that keeps student success as its focus will ask their superintendent and community leaders such questions as:

1. Are our students learning? How do we know?2. How do we know our system is evolving with the changing times? If it is not, what are the roadblocks to

our success?3. What does our community aspire to become?4. What are the global challenges that our students and community face?5. What are the superintendent and principals doing to increase student achievement? Is every school within

our district making progress? How do we know?

These types of questions will keep boards focused on students, not mired in administrative details. For our students to find a good job/career and succeed in life, we need to make sure the entire community is focused on that outcome.

We need Local Schools, Local Decisions to ensure the success of all our students!

Dr. Tammy GrissomTSBA Executive Director

executive note


What is aQR Code?

You may have heard about or seen a QR Code on various promotional materials and thought, “What is this new bar code and what does it do?” QR Codes, or Quick Response Codes, are a type of two-dimensional barcode that can be read using smartphones or other electronic devices, that link directly to text, e-mails, websites, phone numbers and more! Your mobile device’s camera reads the barcode and displays the data contained within the code.

Why Should I Care About QR Codes? Over half of Americans now own smartphones, and that number is constantly growing. QR Codes have the potential to have a major impact upon society and particularly in advertising, marketing and customer service with a wealth of product information just one scan away. TSBA will be implementing these codes to provide you with instant access to digital publications, annual convention details, presentation materials and much more!

How to Scan the Code? If you have a smartphone like an iPhone, Android or Blackberry, then there a number of different barcode scanner applications such as QRReader and QR Droid that can read and decode data from a QR Code. The majority of these applications are completely FREE. Once the application has been installed on your device, the program will use your phone’s camera to scan the barcode, which will then automatically load the encoded data for you. Below you will find the three items you will need to display the data from a QR Code.

You will need the following to scan a barcode:1. A mobile device with a camera - ex: smartphone, iPad, Android tablet, etc.2. A QR Code Reader app. This app can be downloaded from your platform app store.

- Google Play (Android users) search “QR Droid” - App Store (Apple users) search “QRReader”

3. A QR Code to scan.

How Can I Make My Own QR Code? Before considering to create a QR Code, discuss how your system or school board would like to implement this concept. Who is your audience, and what information will be embedded within this code? QR Codes can be created for free by using designated 2D barcode generators. Scan the code in this article to access the program used by TSBA.

TSBA QR Codes have been produced from the website qrstuff.com. Scan this code to visit QRstuff.com.


TSBA and the Tennessee County Commissioners Association (TCCA) will host a joint meeting on Friday, August 2, 2013, at the TSBA Headquarters in Nashville. TSBA’s school board chairmen and members of TCCA are encouraged to attend this free, informative conference. For a complete agenda, visit http://bit.ly/1cR3KaB. To reserve your spot, visit http://tsba-tccaconference.eventbrite.com/.

TSBA &TCCA Host Joint Meeting on August 2

TSBA and the American Schools Foundation Alliance presents the 2nd Annual School Foundation Conference. Ten-nessee’s public school leaders and education foundation executives are encouraged to attend this informative confer-ence. Registration is $65 for members and $75 for non-members. The event will take place at the TSBA Headquarters in Nashville from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. on August 22. For a complete agenda, visit http://bit.ly/12GGNB0 . Register by visiting, http://bit.ly/17IWcGE.

2nd Annual School Foundation Conference to be Held on August 22

Nominations are being accepted for the following TSBA Officers: Treasurer, Vice President, and President-Elect. These positions hold a one-year term, Jan. 1, 2014 - Dec. 31, 2014. Nominations are due September 30, and elections will be held during the 2013 TSBA Annual Convention at the Delegate Assembly. For the officer application, visit http://bit.ly/13lJUFW or contact Sandy Jones at [email protected] or ext. 3914.

2014 TSBA Officer Nominations Due September 30

TSBA’s Annual New Board Chairman Workshop will take place at TSBA Headquarters in Nashville on October 11, 2013. This workshop was developed to provide new school board leaders with tools to assist them in their efforts to build better school boards. Topics to be presented at the workshop will include meeting management techniques, parliamentary procedure, board development, legal responsibilities, and the chairman’s role in working with staff, policy, and promotion. Register soon for this informative workshop by visiting http://www.tsba.net/Meetings/TSBA_Meetings/New_Board_Chairman_Workshop, or contact Betsy McNair at [email protected] or ext. 3910.

2013 New Board Chairman Workshop is October 11

The TSBA Awards Program is a way to appreciate boards, students and volunteers across the state for devoting their time to public education. Applications for School Board of the Year, All Tennessee School Board/C. Hal Henard Distinguished Service, and School of the Year for Excellence in Architectural Design must be submitted to TSBA by September 30, to be considered. All award recipients will be recognized at the TSBA Awards Luncheon at the Annual Convention on Monday, November 11.

2013 TSBA Award Deadlines September 30


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End User Device Orientation PARCCpartnership for assessment of readiness for college and careers

The Tennessee School Boards Association, along with the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents and the Tennessee Educational Technology Association partners, hosted a PARCC End User Device Orientation meeting on June 10, 2013, at the TSBA headquarters and the event was accessible through four distance learning sites. Over 185 school board members, superintendents, technology coordinators and other education leaders gathered at one of these five sites to participate. The meeting included over 28 presenters from various technology companies and organizations.

The day featured informative and interactive presentations on the various devices and applications available for school systems as they begin, or continue, the integration of electronic devices for student learning. Attendees received information on contract purchasing and leasing computers, the use of social media in schools and details on instructional use for e-textbooks. Sessions were conducted by representatives from Apple, MXN, Central Knox, Microsoft, CDWG, Technology Express, Loudon County Schools and Coffee County Schools.

If you were unable to attend this orientation meeting, please feel free to access all of the materials and a full recording of the meeting by visiting http://bit.ly/15glD26. You will also find vendor information with product and contact details.


Gather for Annual Professional Development Conference

TSBA hosted the 20th Annual Board Secretaries’ Conference for school board secretaries, administrative assistants, executive assistants, and school board support staff May 3, at its facility in Nashville.

The day featured informative and interactive presentations on Roberts Rules of Order, board minutes and agendas, how to comply with open records laws, using technology to become more efficient and the do’s and don’ts of being a successful board secretary. In addition, attendees benefited from the exchange of ideas and best practices between veteran and new board secretaries. Attendees received an update on the action’s of the Tennessee General Assembly and ended the day with a networking session to provide secretaries from similar sized districts the opportunity to share notes on policy, board operations and additional procedures. Sessions were conducted by members of the TSBA staff and board secretaries.

“Board secretaries are extremely important to the success of school boards and school systems,” TSBA Executive Director Tammy Grissom said. “We look forward to this conference every year because it gives us direct contact with these key players who serve as a link between the Association and school board members. We work with them every day, and it’s great to have a chance to see them and work with them in person. Our annual conference is designed to keep them updated with the latest information they need to effectively perform the variety of tasks they handle. They are certainly a dedicated group of professionals.”

During the annual business meeting of the Tennessee Association of Board Secretaries (TABS), which was held in conjunction with the conference, Judy Spears of Coffee County was elected TABS president for 2013-14. Jan Nunley of Cumberland County was elected to serve as president-elect, and Lisa Springer of Milan Special was elected vice-president.

In addition to electing officers for the coming year, TABS members who achieved various levels of certification over the past year were recognized for their achievements. The aim of the TABS Certification Program is to encourage professional growth. Levels are achieved by meeting a variety of professional development measures and other criteria, with the achievement of Level III resulting in the designation of Certified Board Secretary. Those individuals who received honors at this year’s conference were:

Level 1: Debbie Benard, Haywood County; Kim Bivens, McMinn County; Bethany McConville, Shelby County and Jennifer Winegar, Hawkins County Level 2: Shirley Johnson, Maury County and Kim Martin, Clinton County

Board Secretaries


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I recently received a book that details the history of the National School Boards Association. This book not only told some fascinating tales about the 73-year-old organization, it also gave me a great understanding of

where we’ve been and described some of the battles we’ve undertaken as a national organization.

Some of these are familiar debates, but the lesson I took away from the book was this: There has never been a more critical time to stand up for local school board governance and for public education across the country.

As your 2013-14 NSBA President, I’m working with Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel, who took the reins in December after nearly 30 years at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, and his team to transform the organization. We are revamping NSBA to be a tougher, leaner, and more effective advocate for the work you do as school board leaders.

While we know that NSBA has always been a player in Washington, we may not have operated to our full capacity. And with the current political environment, we no longer can afford to do that.

NSBA is focusing on our core missions--legislative, legal, and public advocacy, and member services--to better promote school board governance and public education. We are going to take on the misguided special interests who seek

to dismantle public education for their own profit. Those who promote school choice though vouchers, charters that are not held accountable by local school boards, and other unproven experiments will have to answer to us.

NSBA will go to battle, through the courts and legislatures, for laws and policies that support public education and local school board governance. We will build strong partnerships with state association members, corporate stakeholders, and other national groups to increase our effectiveness.

To do this, we are building an army of advocates: local school board members who will take a stand for our community schools. I believe we have a responsibility to fight for the futures of our more than 50 million schoolchildren and their civil right to a great education.

By David Pickler, NSBA President and Shelby County Board Member


NSBA’sRich HistoryinWe need school board members across the country to unite behind this cause and help us stave off all the initiatives from state lawmakers who are being bought out by special interests.

We’re going to take our army to Capitol Hill and demand that the federal government back off and let local school boards do their jobs.

For example, this year NSBA proposed legislation, the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act, and it recently has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. We now have 20 cosponsors for the bill, which would establish a framework for improved recognition of local school board authority when the U.S. Department of Education acts on issues that impact local school districts unless specifically authorized in federal legislation.

NSBA worked with the Louisiana School Boards Association to file suit against the state’s school voucher program. The Louisiana Supreme Court found in favor of public schools and declared the funding mechanism for the vouchers unconstitutional earlier this year.

We also soon will be launching a major public advocacy campaign, to show the good work of public schools and school boards. And you will be hearing about new services we will offer to help you do your jobs better. We are living in exponential times of change in NSBA and the opportunities that lie ahead are incredible. Failure is not an option. We must be a greater force to take on those who are trying to take away our American institution of public schools and school board governance.

I hope you will join us. Thank you for all you do for your local public schools and our students.



TSBA Fall District Meetings

On the road to student success

Meeting Agenda 4:30 p.m. Registration

5:00 p.m. Welcome and Announcements

5:05 p.m. The Changing Landscape of Education Advocacy

5:30 p.m. Legislative Session/Survey

6:15 p.m. Are Your Students Learning?

6:45 p.m. Dinner 7:40 p.m. Wrap up and Evaluations

7:45 p.m. Adjourn

•IntroductionofGuests •100%Boards •RollCallofBoards •StudentRecognitionAward •SchoolVolunteerRecognitionAward •LevelsI,II,IIIandIVBoardsmanship Awards

•NSBADistinguishedServiceAwards •RecognitionofBoardsofDistinction and Master School Board Members •DistrictDirectorElectionsinNortheast, East, South Central and Upper Cumberland •FRNDistrictCoordinatorElectionsin East, South Central and Upper Cumberland

Date District Host System LocationTuesday, September 3 Southwest Chester County Chester County High School

Thursday, September 5 South Central Bedford County Community High School

Thursday, September 12 Upper Cumberland Fentress County South Fentress Elementary

Monday, September 16 Delta Fayette County Ware Comprehensive High School

Tuesday, September 17 Northwest Benton County Camden Central High School

Thursday, September 19 Mid Cumberland Cheatham County Harpeth High School

Monday, September 23 Northeast Elizabethton Elizabethton High

Tuesday, September 24 East Jefferson County Patriot Academy

Thursday, September 26 Southeast Bradley County Bradley Central High School

2013 Fall District Meeting Schedule

For more information or to register for your Fall District Meeting, visit www.tsba.net/Meetings/TSBA_Meetings/Fall_District_Meetings


By Randall Bennett, TSBA Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel

school board member frequently asked questions

WWe regularly get calls from board members wanting to know what their role is and how their board of education should operate under state law and board policy. We decided to answer the most frequently asked questions in this issue of the Journal. This list is by no means complete, but it should give board members a basic foundation.

What constitutes a board meeting?School boards must hold regular meetings at least quarterly for the purpose of transacting public school business. The chair may call special meetings whenever in the chair’s judgment the interest of the public schools requires it or when requested to do so by a majority of the board. A majority of all the members constituting the board, not merely a majority of the quorum, is required to transact all business coming before the board in regular or special meetings.

What is expected of me at board meetings?The short answer is, “be prepared.” You should receive your board packet with the agenda and any supporting information well before the meeting. It is your responsibility to study the material carefully and take the time to call the superintendent or board chairman to ask questions about anything you don’t understand. Come prepared to the meeting by having read the packet and reviewing the issues on the agenda. If you have questions, ask them of the appropriate person.

What are the requirements for public notice?There is no concrete definition for adequate public notice and courts will decide the issue on a case by case basis. Reasonable/adequate public notice must be given for all meetings of the Board in accordance with law and district policy. The notice should include the date, time and place of the meeting and for a special called meeting, the specific item(s) to be considered at the meeting.

How can our board meetings be run more professionally?All board meetings need to follow some set of “rules of order” for parliamentary procedure. Most Tennessee Boards adopt Roberts Rules of Order except as otherwise provided by any statutes applicable to the Board, or by policies set by the Board.

What is the Open Meetings Act?The basic intent of the Open Meetings Act is to strengthen the right of all citizens to know what goes on in government by requiring public bodies to conduct nearly all business at open meetings. This Act governs how you should operate and run your meetings. As a matter of district policy and state law, meetings of boards or committees of boards are open to the public.


May the Board ever meet privately or in “Executive Session?”Prior to entering an executive session, it is best if the Board meet first in open session. At this open meeting, the Board then announces the executive session after stating the reason for the executive session.

What can be considered in Executive Session?The only times a Board may meet in an executive session are:1. On the recommendation of the board’s attorney to

receive legal advice from the attorney on any litigation that has been filed against the board or is likely to be filed,

2. To conduct a student disciplinary hearing unless the parent of the student specifically asks that the hearing be conducted in an open meeting; and

3. To discuss labor issues with and give direction to the board’s collaborative conferencing team.

Can the Board make a decision while in Executive Session?Generally the answer is no. The only exception is to make a decision in a student disciplinary hearing. Student records are protected under state and federal law. Additionally, when being advised by the board attorney, the board may not deliberate toward a decision on the matter until it reconvenes in a regular open session.

Can board members meet socially without violating the Open Meetings Act?Yes. Social gatherings are not considered school board meetings, even if a quorum is present, so long as the board members in attendance do not discuss school business or arrive at decisions about an issue.

What role does the superintendent play in meetings?The superintendent is a key person at all school board meetings. The superintendent and board chairman plan the meeting together, but the superintendent makes certain the meeting room is set up as required and all tools that are needed are available, such as computers, audio/visual equipment, microphones, etc. The board chairman introduces each item on the agenda; however, the superintendent is often asked to explain the issue. Most Boards ask that a recommendation be provided by the superintendent and used to make the motion.

Who is responsible for setting the agenda?The superintendent and board chairman (Executive Committee) are responsible for setting the agenda according to most Boards’ policies.

How can I get my issues onto the board agenda?Usually, the process for getting an item on the board meeting agenda is contained within board policy. Be careful not to spring any surprises. It is not an emergency, and a decision is not needed immediately, it is better to have the topic added to the agenda for the next meeting when board members will have sufficient time to become informed and prepared to discuss the topic.

What is a consent agenda?A consent agenda is an item listed on the regular agenda that groups routine items under one agenda heading. Routine items (such as paying bills, approving minutes of the last meeting, approving the agenda, etc.) can thus be approved by a unified motion and vote of the Board. The purpose of the consent agenda is to expedite business and streamline the meeting. There is no discussion of items on a consent agenda. If clarification of an item is necessary, then you should request that the item be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda for that meeting.

How should I ask questions at the board meeting?Hopefully, you have taken time to review your materials in your board packet and have asked for clarification when necessary from the superintendent prior to the meeting. Certainly as the discussion of an item ensues, other questions may occur to you that you have not previously asked. It’s important that you get all your questions answered so that you have a knowledgeable and well-thought-out vote.

How is voting done at a board meeting?All votes of a school board must be by public vote, public ballot or public roll call. No secret votes are allowed. A public vote means a call for the ayes and nays vocally expressing their will in unison.

Do most school boards vote in a rotating order, consistent order or does it matter?The manner in which your meeting is run is determined by your school board. It doesn’t matter how you vote—in a rotating order or the same order each time. The Open Meetings Act simply requires that the public must be able to determine how each board member voted.

When does the board chairman vote?The board chairman votes each time a vote is called. Some people think that the board chairman only votes to break a tie. This is not true. The board chairman is expected to vote as a member of the Board, in whatever sequence the Board is following. Whether the vote is rotated each time or each member votes in the same sequence, the board chairman votes in the same way as the other board members.


Additionally the board chairman may make or second motions.

When is it appropriate to abstain or vote no?The only time it is appropriate to abstain is when you have a conflict of interest, which should be declared prior to the vote. A “no” vote is appropriate when you disagree with a motion. It is not appropriate to abstain because you have not taken the time to ask questions or because you are uncomfortable with the topic. It is your responsibility to be informed and prepared to vote on a decision.

How can I ask questions at a board meeting and still adhere to the “no surprises” rule?If you want to ask a question that you anticipate being controversial, you should alert the superintendent or chairman ahead of time. Together, they can help you decide if there is a better way to address the issue or get information.

What is expected of me when I think the Board has made a bad decision?If you don’t agree with a decision that the Board has made, it is still your responsibility to not work against the final decision of the Board. Your opportunity to show your disagreement was during discussion and through your vote, which is public record. If you are asked about the decision, you should explain why the Board voted the way that it did. It is permissible to say how you voted; however, you should not do it in a way that undermines the Board’s majority decision. As long as your comments remain factual and do not evaluate the Board action, you are showing respect for the decision. There will come a time when the majority shares your perspective, and you will appreciate those that voted against the decision acting in this manner.

Is there any requirement as to the length permitted for public comments and must they be permitted throughout the meeting?Board policy will establish if, when and how public participation will be conducted at a board meeting. A Board meeting is a business meeting of the district, the rules of which are established by the Board and there is not a statutory requirement to allow public comment. However, most Boards find that public comments are useful and normally a time allotment is indicated on the agenda. If there are a lot of people, you may be forced to reduce the amount of time set aside for comments. Once the time set aside for comments has been completed, it is neither required nor advisable to allow public comments throughout the remainder of the meeting. The timing of public comments is a decision that the Board must make and should be included in your policy.

You can designate time at the beginning, the end, or the middle of the meeting; some Boards have public comment at both the beginning and the end. Other Boards allow public comment on each agenda item, after the Board has had an opportunity to discuss the item. It’s up to your Board to decide.

If you have other questions not addressed in this article, please feel free to contact Randall Bennett at 800.448.6465, ext. 3902.


Policy ServicesTennessee School Boards Association

Customized Policy Service: This service is designed to help boards develop or completely revamp a policy manual. We begin by reviewing your board’s current policy manual while having someone with your school district complete a questionnaire. After learning the operations and specifics of a system, we draft recommendations for new policies that will encompass the goals and priorities of the system while complying with state and federal laws and regulations. We deliver the recommended policies along with explanations and legal authorities for each, and then we assist your board with changes prior to adoption. This customized policy service also includes one year of policy maintenance at no charge.

Maintenance and Online Manual: After a manual is customized, the board may sign up for our policy maintenance service. As your board adopts new policies or amends current policies, we will review the changes to ensure compliance with the law and suggest changes if needed. Also, we keep copies of your current policies and will physically make the changes and distribute copies according to your preferences. Subscribing boards will receive regular updates and recommendations regarding policies throughout the year.

The TSBA Policy Department provides educational, administrative, organizational and legal assistance to provide your board with consistent, effective, and current policies that comply with the applicable statutory and/or regulatory requirements.

The TSBA Policy Service is a member of the American Association of State Policy Services (AASPS), which provides access to a wide variety of policy information from other states. What do TSBA Member Boards receive from the policy department?

• Model policies upon request that may address recent legislative and regulatory changes or court decisions.• Timely notification of statutory/regulatory changes that require the development of policies.• Access to a list of the policies required under state or federal laws or regulations.

How are policies developed?

Policies are developed as laws change, court cases are decided, State Board Rules change, and attorney general opinions are written. Sometimes, policies are developed based upon suggestions from school systems or other stakeholders, and we always welcome your input and suggestions.

What services are available through TSBA’s policy department? We offer a number of fee‐based services and products to member boards:

As an additional service to our maintenance subscribers, we offer an online service. This service provides the opportunity for an online manual which is completely hosted and updated by TSBA. With a simple email, letter, or fax to submit your changes, the updated policies will uploaded to your online manual to ensure that your communities have online access to your current manual.

For additional information, please contact TSBA’s Director of Policy, Lee Harrell, at [email protected] or 615‐815‐3903 or TSBA’s Assistant Director of Policy, Loniel Greene, at [email protected] or 615.815.3906.

1.

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Open

Each spring and summer nearly every board of education in our state hears the same refrain: It is going to be a tight budget. And they are right.

Since “The Great Recession” began in 2008, budgets have been tight and all schools have been tasked with the responsibility of becoming leaner and more efficient. At the same time, we face the challenge of preparing for the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the new assessments to measure our proficiency. It would seem that the very real economic impact of CCSS and corresponding online assessments (PARCC) could not have come at a more inconvenient time.

Challenges notwithstanding, we have begun the process of implementing new and relevant curricular materials to meet CCSS. We believe that we can accomplish this challenge by re-tasking the dollars that we already spend to assist us in accomplishing the goals of a rigorous and relevant curriculum aligned with CCSS and sufficient technology and proficiency with technology to assure that we are able to assess content online with our PARCC participation.

I typically spend a few weekends a semester teaching graduate classes for Middle Tennessee State University. In that role, I embrace the process of providing a “dynamic syllabus” to my students. This document is dynamic in the sense that the syllabus is enriched with “hypertext” and “url’s” to allow my students access to the newest information related to the school finance or school law

class I am teaching. Certainly, in addition to the fact that the information is current, I am able to provide court cases, articles and reviews that are available for their use at almost no cost.

As I consider our classes in our schools, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in our small district to acquire textbooks. We adopt and purchase those textbooks on a six-year cycle so the idea of “current” is naive at best. Our textbook purchase will include the acquisition of some titles that cost more than $100 each. While this model leads to excessive expenditures to acquire dated materials, we had trouble finding a better option until we researched and began our utilization of open source materials.

We understand well the challenges associated with the digital revolution in which we are involved. There are distractions, devices everywhere, lack of engagement, and at times too much engagement off assigned task. I am confident that the digital distractions differ little from the “Mad” magazines that were tucked behind the cover of my seventh grade science text.

However, the digital device carried today can serve as the conduit to some amazing resources freely available and aligned with the CCSS. As a board of education, we knew the potential and the challenges, but we had trouble with the framework to accomplish our goal. In the next few paragraphs I will share a few of our questions and

By Dr. Dan Lawson, Director of Schools, Tullahoma City Schools


Open Source

the answers we found to be valuable as we continue on our digital trek. Implementation of a digital delivery of open source materials is a lot like buying shoes: One size certainly does not fit all. Please keep that disclaimer in mind as we share our thoughts.

Where did we start? We started with a belief that we had to build a highway before we bought a car. Simply put, we knew that the best plans and hardware would be useless unless first a network infrastructure and sufficient bandwidth was in place to execute our plan. The challenge: We spent considerable sums of money before a teacher or student experienced a difference in the classroom. After the network was in place in our system, our “open source” migration began with the utilization of online digital products that have taken the place of many licensed software programs in our schools. Student and teacher use of “open source” development software became a ubiquitous part of our way of doing business before we looked at any “open source” curricular materials.

Why did we embrace “open source?” And oh, by the way, what are “Open Source” materials? “Open source” materials are developed with the underlying philosophy, intent and licensing to be freely available for redistribution, revision, and remixing. In other words “open source” assumes obsolesce and provides both a model and expectation to update educational materials. In the K-12 community the pioneering force in the “open source” movement is the CK-12 Foundation whose mission is “…dedicated to increasing access to high quality educational, materials for K-12 students all over the world. We offer free high-quality standards-aligned, open content in the STEM subjects.”

As we began our process of migrating to an “open source” environment, several questions emerged that were pertinent: What device is necessary? Why would we modify? And the cynic’s question that I almost always pose first…What is the downside?

What device? Our local dialogue mirrors that of CK-12. We see advantages to many devices and are confident that so do our student and teacher users. The CK-12 platform is not platform specific. In fact in a recent research project conducted in Utah the platform selected was paper in a three ring binder. The technology used was not a part of the equation. Likewise, in our implementation we have supported the program by upgrading our network infrastructure and security to allow for a comprehensive bring your own device (BYOD) initiative. My youngest son used his iPad, his phone, a desktop and his laptop during the course of this school year. Certainly, all students do not have all the devices but MOST have access to A device.

Why would we need to modify our materials? The scientific events that take place in the world around us provide an ideal answer to that question. We began the discussion of migrations to and “open source digital delivery” environment in a classroom with each of our members of the board of education logged onto a device. The materials on the devices were all downloaded from CK-12 and all delivered on different devices.

“Implementation of a digital delivery of open source materials is a lot like buying shoes: One size certainly does not fit all.”


Furthermore, each “book” presented was customized with more recent updates or local references. As we consider the issue of local reference, we are drawn to the discussion of making our curriculum more “rigorous and relevant.” The dialogue of relevance seems to be excessively focused on the relevance to a standardized test or a specific related outcome. We believe that one of the most powerful components of a locally “relevant” curriculum is the fact that we include names, places and events of local importance from people and places that our students know.

As an example, after our class with the board of education, our mayor requested that we share a similar class with members of the board of mayor and aldermen. Of course, we immediately jumped on the opportunity to share. But in doing so, we added materials to the books that we shared. Our presentation at City Hall was scheduled for the first Monday in August, which immediately followed the landing of the Mars rover Curiosity. Within hours of the rover landing, we updated our seventh grade science “FlexBook” and presented new materials to our board of mayor and aldermen.

In addition to video information provided by NASA and added media providers, we included reference to the parachutes involved in slowing the descent of the rover. While many communities may have little reason to care about something like a parachute on Mars, we knew that the unit and almost everything that flies or goes into space is tested in Tullahoma.

Furthermore, we knew that illustration of that component immediately meant a lot to our students who have parents, neighbors and acquaintances responsible for that work. Curiosity immediately was brought to the forefront of our students’ interest based on the connection between them, Arnold Engineering Development Complex and Mars. Make no mistake; this is powerful stuff and a real object lesson in how we can accomplish curricular relevance in all of our communities.

The downsides? Truly as we continue our transition, the single biggest downside we have found is that notion that we have never done business this way before. But we have. The greatest teachers in schools today are not those who best recall the pages of the textbook.

Our best integrate resources provided with student interests to make the learning real, relevant and applicable to where they live, and those that they know. Another downside is that many want to dialogue about the device. We intentionally are device agnostic. It is easy to be trapped in a dialogue that really matters little in our process. Our focus is on function.

Certainly, as we continue our transition to a 1-1 environment, we know that our platform will become standardized. But as we standardize, we will do so to meet our needs and expectations. Certainly there are still questions that remain as to how we will effectively “vet” the curricular changes that we propose as we update our digital curriculum. We know that there are facts that we teach that will not change, and there are historical accounts that must be retained. We continue to struggle with that question and are working to accomplish a structure to satisfy that challenge while confident that most of our teachers take great care to protect the integrity of the subject that they teach and the students in their care.

Our transition to an “open source” environment was not an instant fix or a “silver bullet.” Instead, we consider this effective transition to an “open source” environment as one that allows us the ability to re-task limited funds to provide our students with relevant and timely curricular materials aligned with our standards. As our resources are stretched, we will continue to look for avenues to best serve our students and communities. We are confident that a greater utilization of “open source” resources is one of those avenues to pursue sooner rather than later.


The Big ‘Green’ Yellow Bus

By Dr. Edward Diden, Director of Schools, Morgan County Schools

In August 2012, Morgan County Schools became the first school system in Tennessee to use compressed

natural gas (CNG) and propane, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG), to power three school buses. The project required preparation and planning to determine which buses to purchase, as well as identifying fueling options, driver training and other logistics. School buses that use alternative fuels are a growing trend nationally, and Morgan County chose to set the standard in Tennessee. They overcame these challenges to create a great pilot project which demonstrates environmental protection, decreased dependence on foreign oil and improved safety for students, bus drivers and the general public.

Morgan County, with a population of just over 20,000, has approximately 3,300 students enrolled in the eight schools within the district. They currently have a fleet of 45 buses that travel almost 556,000 miles per year. Former Coalfield school board member, Jim Rivers, was the original champion of the move to purchase buses using alternative fuels. Former bus maintenance supervisor, David Armes, and Director of Schools Dr. Edd Diden, were influential in scoping out the new project to make the school system more sustainable. Project planning began during the 2009-2010 school year when school administrators worked with East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition (ETCFC) Executive Director Jonathan Overly to learn more about alternative fuel options in the region.

Determining fueling infrastructure options prior to purchasing the buses was vital. Citizens Gas Utility District, Morgan County’s local natural gas utility, had conveniently started plans to install a public CNG station to fuel local fleets, and the logistics were worked out for fueling the CNG bus there. Citizen’s Gas also helped determine that placing a tank at the school maintenance facility would be best for convenient propane refueling. The county was also able to initiate a project to build a new maintenance and transportation facility. The new building made it much easier to plan and develop the new bus technology.

Morgan County purchased one large bus that runs on CNG and two smaller buses that run on propane. The large bus is a Type D or flat-front rear-engine bus which is one of the largest school buses on the market. The large bus is used to transport students grades K-12 from the southern parts of the county to several schools in and around Wartburg. The smaller buses are Type A buses consisting of about 20 seats and are used to transport special education students. These buses cost $34,000 more than their traditional counterparts, but approximately $1.50 less per gallon to fuel.

The return on investment is estimated to be approximately 5-6 years for the propane buses and 8-10 years for the CNG bus. They are used for 17 years, allowing 7-12 years for reaping financial benefits following the payback period. The Alternative Fuel Excise Tax Credit, which covers infrastructure and fuel costs, was extended through this year and is retroactive for 2012. Operators can receive 50 cents per gallon in tax credits for using propane and CNG.

Given the significant budgetary challenges schools face, being able to introduce a cleaner, money-saving option when purchasing new equipment clearly can make a real difference in terms of better air quality, enhanced health and safety, and economic viability. Dr. Diden and current transportation supervisor, Keith Duncan, have been contacted by other schools that are interested in alternative fuels for buses. Morgan County was the first to make this commitment in Tennessee, and they hope to purchase additional such buses in the future.

Scan this code to watch a video with more information on Morgan County: The 1st System in Tennessee to use CNG and Propane School Buses.


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Firs t LookTennessee School Boards Association Leadership Conference &Annual Convention20

13Firs t Look

L calLOCAL SCHOOLS, LOCAL DECISIONS

Nov. 8-11, 2013Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention CenterNashville, Tennessee


Fi r s t L o o k : Le a d e r s h i p Co n fe re n ce & A n n u a l Co nve nt i o n

Mark your calendar now for the 2013 TSBA Leadership Conference and Annual Convention, November 8-11, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. The 76th edition of this annual professional development event is shaping up to be one of our best. Outstanding speakers, engaging clinics, and timely workshops geared toward helping your school district empower each and every student with the tools they need to achieve excellence. Board members will find new ideas from experts in a variety of educational fields, and vendors to meet all of your system’s needs will be available to answer questions in the always popular Exhibit Hall. For the latest information about the 2013 TSBA Leadership Conference and Annual Convention, visit the Annual Convention section on our website, http://bit.ly/q64Eme.

2013 Leadership Conference

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8

5:00 p.m.-5:05 p.m. Welcome and Introduction Speaker: Renea Jones-Rogers, TSBA President

5:05-6:05 p.m. Open Minds for Open Source Speakers: Dr. Dan Lawson, Director of Schools, Tullahoma Pat Welsh, Chairman, Tullahoma

6:05-6:30 p.m. BREAK

6:30 - 7:15 p.m. Open Minds for Open Source, continued

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9

7:15 a.m.-8:00 a.m. BREAKFAST

8:00-8:05 a.m. Welcome/Introduction/Overview of the Day

8:05-8:10 a.m. Inspirational Thought

8:10-9:45 a.m. Enhancing Instruction with Technology Speaker: Joan Gray, Executive Director, Tennessee Educational Technology Association (TETA) 9:45-10:15 a.m. BREAK

10:15-12:00 p.m. Moving Forward with Common Core and PARCC Speaker: Joan Gray

12:00 p.m. Adjourn

The TSBA Leadership Conference is November 8-9, 2013. This conference is primarily for superintendents, chairmen and vice-chairmen; however, it is open to any member who is interested in attending. The fee for attending this conference is $135 and the deadline to register is Friday, October 18. Optional credit is available for attending both days of the conference. School Board Academy Optional Credit is only awarded to those individuals who have satisfied their Basic Core Modules and Orientation.



Leadership Conference Keynote Speakers

Friday Leadership Conference Speaker: Dr. Dan LawsonDr. Dan Lawson was appointed Director of Tullahoma City Schools in 1997 after serving as a classroom teacher, high school principal and superintendent in Missouri. Dr. Lawson received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the University of Missouri, a Master’s degree from Missouri State University, a Specialist Degree from the University of Missouri and a PhD from the University of Mississippi. In his Tennessee experience, Lawson has served as the President of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS) and is the current President of the Association of Independent and Municipal Schools (AIMS). Dr. Lawson was honored by his colleagues by being named South-East Regional Superintendent of the Year and was subsequently named by TOSS as the Tennessee Superintendent of the Year in 2003. Dr. Lawson is active in his church as he teaches as ninth grade Bible study class, and is a Paul Harris Fellow and member of the Tullahoma Noon Rotary Club. He volunteers as a basketball official and an “interview coach.”

Friday Leadership Conference Speaker: Pat Welsh Pat Welsh is a graduate of Tennessee High School and received a Bachelors of Science in Secondary Education and Social Science from Tennessee Technological University. Pat taught and coached at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, Tennessee from 1976-79. He worked for Builders Supply from 1979-2005 and currently works as a banker for Southern Community Bank in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Pat previously served as Alderman for the City of Tullahoma, Chairman of Tullahoma Industrial Board, and Past President of the Chamber of Commerce. Pat has served as the Tullahoma Youth Wresting Coach for the past twenty-two years and as the Trinity Lutheran Church Sunday School Teacher for the past twenty-five years. He currently serves on the Tullahoma Rotary Club. Pat has devoted his time to serve on the Tullahoma School Board the past twelve years and has served as chairman the last two years. He has achieved Level IV in the TSBA Boardsmanship Awards Program.

Saturday Leadership Conference Speaker: Joan GrayJoan Gray is the Executive Director of the Tennessee Educational Technology Association (TETA). Joan brings a vast knowledge of technology, leadership, and effective instructional practices to this role. Joan began her career in education as a classroom teacher in Marshall County in the fall of 1965 and taught math and English there for 17 years. She then taught in Giles County and Bedford County before leaving the classroom and becoming a Supervisor of Curriculum, Secondary Instruction, and Director of Technology for Bedford County before retiring on June 30, 2011, with 45 years experience. During that time Joan received honors at every level. Joan was elected to the Board of Directors for TETA in 2002 and served as Chair of that organization from 2009-2011. She was selected as the Middle TN TETA Member of the Year in 2009. Joan gained experience in the political arena when she was appointed by former governor Lamar Alexander as Vice-Chair of the Tennessee State Certification Commission and as a member of the Education Commission of the States, a National Governor Association organization.



2013 Annual ConventionThis year’s convention theme is Local Schools, Local Decisions. The program will provide attendees with four general sessions that will feature not only outstanding speakers, but student entertainment from around the state. There will be three pre-convention workshops, an Exhibit Hall, learning lounge sessions, informative clinics and an Awards Luncheon with entertainment by Street Corner Symphony.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Convention Registration

Noon-2:00 p.m. Tailgate Party in Exhibit Hall

Noon-5:00 p.m. Exhibit Hall Open

1:30-5:00 p.m. Pre-convention Legislative Advocacy Workshop

1:30-5:00 p.m. Pre-convention Legal Workshop

1:30-5:00 p.m. Pre-convention District Leadership Workshop

4:00-5:00 p.m. Past President’s Reception

5:15-6:45 p.m. Opening General Session Special Guests: David Pickler, NSBA President Julio Salazar, SCOPE President Speaker: Dr. John Draper

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Convention Registration

7:00-8:30 a.m. Exhibit Hall Breakfast

7:00-1:00 p.m. Exhibit Hall Open

7:30-8:30 a.m. TSBA GASB 45 Trust Meeting

8:45-9:45 a.m. Clinic Session A

10:15-11:15 a.m. Clinic Session B

12:30-1:00 p.m. Door Prizes in Exhibit Hall

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, cont.

1:15-2:15 p.m. Second General Session Speaker: Kevin Huffman

2:30-4:30 p.m. Delegate Assembly

2:30-4:30 p.m Board Secretaries’ Meeting

5:00-6:15 p.m. Third General Session Speaker: Dr. Donna Beegle

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11

7:00-8:30 a.m. Convention Breakfast

8:30-10:00 a.m. TCSBA Meeting

8:35-9:45 a.m. Closing General Session A Salute to Our Veterans and Military Children (During this session we will recognize all of those that have served in our armed forces) Speaker: Rep. John Forgety

10:00-11:00 a.m. Clinic Session C

11:30 - 1:00 p.m. Awards Luncheon Entertainment: Street Corner Symphony, Runners up on NBC reality show “The Sing-Off ”

1:00 p.m. Adjourn



Annual Convention Keynote Speakers

First General Session Speaker: Dr. John DraperDr. John Draper has enjoyed a wide variety of experiences in his lifetime. He has been a newspaper reporter, construction worker, jailor, actor, timber buyer, musician, small business owner, choir director, soccer coach, Sunday school teacher, and door-to-door aluminum siding salesman. For the last 30+ years he has been middle and high school teacher, assistant principal, principal, Executive Director of the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools, CEO of the Educational Research Service in Washington, DC, and now serves as the President of Cambridge Strategic Services. Cambridge is dedicated to helping school districts develop proactive plans to create extraordinary learning communities. Dr. Draper earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Montevallo in Alabama and his Doctorate from Samford University. He is most proud of his doctorate from the school of “hard knocks” earned as a middle school assistant principal in charge of discipline for 1400 students.

Second General Session Speaker: Kevin HuffmanKevin Huffman was sworn in as Tennessee’s state commissioner of education on April 4, 2011. Huffman began his education career as a first and second grade bilingual teacher in the Houston Independent School District. As a lawyer at the Washington D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson, Huffman represented school districts, state departments of education and universities, working on policy and litigation matters including challenges to state finance systems, desegregation litigation and special education hearings and trials. Huffman joined the senior management of Teach For America in 2000, serving as the general counsel, the senior vice president of growth strategy and development, and the executive vice president of public affairs during more than a decade with the organization. Huffman graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in English Literature in 1992, and from the New York University School of Law in 1998, where he was a member of the Law Review. Third General Session Speaker: Dr. Donna BeegleDr. Donna M. Beegle inspires and educates individuals, organizations, politicians and entire communities with proven models to better outcomes for people in poverty. Born into a migrant labor family and married at 15, Dr. Beegle is the only member of her family who has not been incarcerated. By age 24, she earned her GED and then, within 10 years, received her doctorate in Educational Leadership. She is an authentic voice from poverty, who speaks, writes and trains across the nation to break the iron cage of poverty for others through services provided by her company, Communications Across Barriers. For more than 23 years, she has traveled throughout hundreds of cities in 47 states and four countries to assist professionals with proven strategies for breaking poverty barriers. Dr. Beegle’s inspiring story of moving from 28 years of homelessness to achieving a doctorate and her ground-breaking work assisting people to move out of poverty have been featured in newspapers and television around the nation, including CNN and PBS. Dr. Beegle has received numerous awards, and recently Portland State University’s School of Social Work Building was named in her honor.

Closing General Session Speaker: Rep. John ForgetyJohn Forgety was born on March 28, 1946 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a retired 1st Sgt. with the Tennessee Army National Guard and a former McMinn County Superintendent. He was a school administrator for forty years and served in the Tennessee Army National Guard for twenty years, along with deploying to Iraq in 2004 to 2005. In 2011, he was elected as a Republican Congressman for the 23rd district, a seat formerly represented by now-Senator Mike Bell. He is the President of the Athens chapter of the Kiwanis. He is married with two children. He is a Baptist and he lives in Athens, Tennessee with his wife Faye.


By the middle of last summer, the U.S. Department of Education had issued nearly three dozen waivers to states seeking relief from the repercussions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Unable to push through reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as NCLB is formally known, the White House saw the waivers as the only option to address the law’s shortcomings.

States received flexibility from some of the law’s more onerous measures but, in return, agreed to adopt reforms that would move them closer to meeting the Obama administration’s education goals. These goals include, among other things, building an effective teaching force and ensuring all students graduate ready to enter college or launch a career.

In December, five states announced how they plan to exercise their newfound freedom to raise student achievement: by adding more instructional time.

All together, 11 school districts from Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee are entering a three-year pilot project to add at least 300 instructional hours to the school year beginning in the fall of 2013.

Though a multitude of reform initiatives have come and gone in the past several decades, the amount of time teachers and students spend in school has remained remarkably constant, with most districts adhering to a six-and-a half-hour, 180-day academic calendar.

And while instructional time— which some studies estimate is actually closer to five hours a day when assemblies, hallway pass times, and other interruptions are accounted for— has stayed the same, the expectations for what students must learn in that time has increased dramatically in the past quarter century.

Numerous reports, from 1983’s “A Nation at Risk” to 1994’s “Prisoners of Time” have attempted to push the topic into the spotlight by illustrating how corrosive the eroding school year can be on student learning.

The Center for Public Education (CPE) delved into the issue with its own analysis, “Making Time: What Research Says About Reorganizing School Schedules.” The 2006 report scrutinized numerous studies and data to determine not only what was being done when it comes to reforming the school day and year, but what appeared to be working.

Time After Time

By Naomi Dillon, Editor, NSBA’s Center for Public Education

Districts are adding more instructional hours to the school day and year as a way to increase student achievement, but it must be done strategically to work.

CPE’s report corroborated what other researchers have discovered: More time does not necessarily equate to more learning. Indeed, simply adding more time to the day or year will not result, in and of itself, in greater academic gains. But time that is strategically added to the school schedule and focused on academic activities can and does make a big difference to a school’s performance.

Among the other major finding in CPE’s report:• The average school day has been slowly but steadily

increasing from 6.3 hours in 1988 to 6.6 hours in 2008.

• Clocking in at an average of 990 hours per school

year, the U.S. school year is actually on the longest in the world— which means little when one considers Finland provides an average of 858 hours of instruction per year yet ranks markedly higher academically on international tests.

• Year-round schools have seen a dramatic increase, serving some 2.1 million students in 2006-07, more than five times the enrollment of two decades earlier, according to the National Association for Year-Round Education. What’s more, studies show year-round schools have a positive relationship to academic performance, especially in reading and math— although many of those studies were conducted at the elementary level.

• Students in full-day kindergarten programs achieve greater learning gains than those in half-day programs. According to the 2010 Digest of Education Statistics, however, just 15 states require attendance at all.

Efforts to extend the school day and calendar have been limited and stymied by politics and simple reality. Funding is obviously and issue.

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), which is partnering with the Ford Foundation to help implement the three-year pilot program in the previously mentioned five states, estimates that 300 additional hours of instruction— an increase of 25 percent more learning

time— would cost about 10 to 15 percent more per student.

The 11 districts participating in the program will receive additional funds from the TIME Collaborative, as Ford and NCTL call their partnership, as well as from a mix of local, state, and federal sources.

The TIME Collaborative will focus on helping the districts prepare, plan, and implement the necessary changes to modify their school calendars. These changes create operational challenges and cultural shifts, requiring additional staff training and buy-in from all involved.

It should come as no surprise that CPE’s report identified professional development as critical to any attempt to expand the school day or year, as teachers will need to incorporate new methods to engage students and deliver instruction.

What is surprising, however, is that teachers unions aren’t adamant in their opposition to adding more school time. When asked if they would support an additional hour in the school day, 37 percent said yes in 1982; that number has nearly doubled since then, according to a Center for American Progress report.

There is growing consensus that the current school day is insufficient for the amount of ground educators are expected to cover. How can we reconcile that disparity? Strategically added time with an academic focus seems to hold some promise.

Reprinted with permission from American School Board Journal, March 2013. Copyright 2013 National School Boards Association. All rights reserved.

There is a growing consensus that the

current school day is insufficient.


The Common Core State Standards focus on math, reading, and writing. Compared to current standards, Common Core State Standards focus on deeper mastery of less content each year. Rather than a “mile-wide, inch-deep”

curriculum, leading to superficial coverage of topics, the Common Core State Standards focus on the core skills required for success in college and career. The Common Core State Standards do not prescribe a particular curriculum or textbook, or prevent a particular course of study. Local school districts maintain the ability to purchase curricular materials and create their own course materials. The standards establish the skills that students should know and form the basis for the assessments given at the end of the year.

The Common Core State Standards are meant to “provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. For more information, take a look at the “Common Core State Standards History and Fact Sheet,” provided by the Tennessee Department of Education. http://www.tncore.org/sites/www/Uploads/Common_Core_Facts_History.pdf. Unfortunately, there has recently been inaccurate information shared/published about the Common Core State Standards. Below you will find fifteen factual statements to correct those misconceptions. This information was developed by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE). http://www.tnscore.org/

When you expect more, students achieve more!

Tennessee CommonCore State Standards

Did You Know...Myth vs. FactMyth: “Did you know your Governor agreed to Common Core before the standards were written?” Fact: This statement is false. Tennessee’s path to higher standards began in 2007 when the state started work to develop higher academic standards in reading, language arts, math, and science as well as new high school graduation requirements. Tennessee chose to set higher expectations for students by first adopting these standards in 2008 and then adopting the Common Core State Standards in 2010, only after several drafts of the standards had been reviewed.

Furthermore, during the development of the Common Core State Standards, Tennessee was represented in the feedback groups by the content experts at the Tennessee Department of Education. This group of nationwide experts was charged with providing feedback on the content and presentation of the standards. There was a

period for public comment before the standards were finalized, and many comments from Tennessee teachers and parents were included in the revision process. On July 30, 2010, Common Core State Standards adoption was passed unanimously by the State Board of Education.

Myth: “Did you know Common Core is NOT State Led?”Fact: The Common Core standards initiative has been state-led from the beginning. The standards were not developed by the federal government, but rather were a result of states working to develop higher academic standards for students. Tennessee chose to adopt these higher standards because our state’s policymakers, legislators, business leaders, and parents were concerned that Tennessee’s students did not have the skills and knowledge needed for success in the workforce.

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Myth: “Did you know schools must adhere to the program word for word, with the ability to ADD only a small amount of content – but that additional content will not be on the exam?” Fact: This statement is not accurate. While Tennessee’s Common Core State Standards set goals for what students should know in each grade, they are not a curriculum. Local school districts will continue to customize and choose their own curriculum and textbooks in order to best prepare their students for success. The Common Core actually gives teachers more freedom than they have had in the past. The new standards are clear and focused, allowing teachers to explore important topics in depth with students, rather than skimming the surface of numerous topics and spending time preparing them for tests. With fewer standards to teach in each subject, teachers can now spend more class time devoted to making sure every student understands the material.

Myth: “Did you know if you do not like what is being taught, neither you nor any official in the state of Tennessee will have any power to change it or anyone to call?” Fact: The Common Core does not impact an individual state’s control over its public education system. Tennessee’s Constitution makes it clear that it is the state’s responsibility to maintain and support the public education system, which includes decisions on setting academic standards. The Tennessee Department of Education and Tennessee school districts are deeply committed to open communication with schools, teachers, and parents throughout the transition to Common Core State Standards.• www.TNCore.org is the primary website for

information about implementing Common Core State Standards and includes links to resources and training information.

• The email address [email protected] was created to facilitate answering questions about curriculum and instruction, including Common Core.

• The email address [email protected] was created to gather feedback from educators and the general public about the Common Core State Standards and implementation.

• The email address [email protected] serves as a help desk for all training related issues.

Myth: “Did you know no one really knows how much the Common Core will cost in the future?” Fact: The primary costs of training teachers to be ready for Common Core State Standards will be paid for by the Tennessee Department of Education as part of the Race to the Top grant. These costs include $15 million in training and support and content material development.

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Approximately $10 million of this allocation comprises stipends to Tennessee educators who will lead these trainings. The transition to Common Core State Standards should involve similar costs as administration of the current Tennessee Diploma Project standards.

Myth: “Did you know the estimated extremely high cost of Common Core will rest on the backs of taxpayers?” Fact: The primary costs of training teachers to be ready for Common Core State Standards will be paid for by the Tennessee Department of Education as part of the Race to the Top grant. These costs include $15 million in training and support and content material development. Approximately $10 million of this allocation comprises stipends to Tennessee educators who will lead these trainings. The costs of preparing students to meet the Common Core State Standards are similar to the costs currently allocated for the education of children. The Tennessee Department of Education and local schools and districts have always paid for assessment, professional development of teachers, and materials and resources.

Myth: “Did you know even though the federal government said the program was voluntary, Tennessee has to adopt Common Core to be eligible for Race to the Top and President Obama has said he wants to tie federal Title 1 funding to adoption of Common Core?” Fact: Tennessee did not have to adopt the Common Core to be eligible for Race to the Top funding. States were not required to apply for Race to the Top funding, nor were they required to specifically adopt the Common Core State Standards. As part of the Race to the Top application, states were asked to show their commitment to working with other states to develop and implement “standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.”

Myth: “Did you know while Common Core was advertised as “internationally bench marked” it is not?” Fact: International benchmarking played a significant role in both sets of standards. The college and career ready standards include an appendix listing the evidence that was consulted in drafting the standards and the international data consulted in the benchmarking process is included in this appendix.

Myth: “Did you know at least in grades 6-12 English teachers would be required to spend at least 50% of their time on non-fiction and informational texts such as US political documents, court decisions, and scientific and technical manuals?” Fact: The Common Core gives teachers more freedom

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than they have had in the past. The new standards are clear and focused, allowing teachers to explore important topics in depth with students, rather than skimming the surface of numerous topics and spending time preparing them for tests. Teachers will continue to teach literary classics, as they always have. The Common Core enhances that material with added emphasis on informational text (the Gettysburg Address, for example), because research shows that the old standards required students to read little informational text in school. Guidelines are available for states and districts to consider when looking at what instructional materials to use, but they are not meant to dictate classroom practice.

Myth: “Did you know The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a major funder? What do they know about education? They sure know how to sell computers, though.” Fact: The Common Core State Standards are part of a state-led effort to give all students the real world skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Although the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officer helped organize the work, they relied on guidance from educators and content experts to develop the standards themselves. The Gates Foundation has been a long-time supporter of education reforms that seek to expand opportunities for student success.

Myth: “Did you know a child could answer a math question correctly but be marked wrong because he did not use the Common Core prescribed method for getting to the correct answer?” Fact: The Common Core State Standards are raising the bar for student achievement by ensuring that learning focuses on real learning instead of rote memorization or test taking skills. There is a large difference between a student who can recall a math answer by memorization compared to a student who can recall the math answer and explain why the corresponding answer is correct. The Common Core State Standards are increasing rigor so all students have a more conceptual, deeper understanding than basic memorization and recall.

Myth: “Did you know children could be required to select a career path as early as middle school or even elementary school?” Fact: This statement is false. The Common Core State Standards do not include a tracking component, but offer rigorous standards to adequately prepare students for college and career. The Common Core State Standards establish what students need to learn, but they do not dictate the curriculum or how teachers should teach. Teachers can create lesson plans and tailor instruction to the individual needs of students.

Myth: “Did you know the testing costs under Common Core may be triple what Tennessee is currently incurring?” Fact: The new PARCC assessments that will be aligned with Common Core will be administered online. However, there will be a paper-pencil backup option for at least the first year of administration. To administer PARCC online, schools will need approximately one computer for every six to seven students. Investment in technology is also a priority for improving instruction in schools. One computer for every six or seven students represents a minimum standard of instructional readiness for a 21st century school. In this year’s budget, Tennessee’s governor included a one-time investment of $51 million for technology in schools. Much of the infrastructure upgrades align with the year-to-year technology upgrades that systems would implement.

Myth: “Did you know a child could answer a math question correctly but be marked wrong because he did not use the CC prescribed method for getting to the correct answer?” Fact: The Common Core State Standards are raising the bar for student achievement by ensuring that learning focuses on real learning instead of rote memorization or test taking skills. There is a large difference between a student who can recall a math answer by memorization compared to a student who can recall the math answer and explain why the corresponding answer is correct. The Common Core State Standards are increasing rigor so all students have a more conceptual, deeper understanding than basic memorization and recall.

Myth: “Did you know English teachers would need to be retrained in order to teach children how to read technical manuals instead of works of literature?” Fact: With the Common Core State Standards teachers will continue to teach literary classics, as they always have. The Common Core enhances that material with added emphasis on informational text (the Gettysburg Address, for example), because research shows that the old standards required students to read little informational text in school. In addition, reading for the workplace and education beyond high school is often based on informational and non-fiction texts.

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HFR Design, Inc.7101 Executive Center Dr.

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TSPMA MINI CONFERENCE REGISTRATION November 8th, 2013

Tennessee School Plant Management Association Mini-Conference Paris Landing State Park

400 Lodge Road. 731-642-4141 for reservations

Buchanan, TN 3822 We need some information to help plan for this conference, please provide as much information as possible. This is a one day conference with no cost to your system other than your travel. School System _________________________________________________________ Name __________________________________ Name __________________________________ Name __________________________________ Name __________________________________ Name __________________________________

Please respond to this flyer as soon as possible so we can have lunch prepared for you and your staff. We encourage you to invite you director of schools, business manager, facilities manager and your IT folks. We need your information returned to us no later than October 15, 2013. You can contact me by email at [email protected] or call me a 606 344 7977. Look forward to seeing you in Paris Landing State Park.

If responding by mail, mailing address is P.O. 98, Dover TN 37058 Bill Partin Sincerely: Bill Partin, Exec. Dir/Sec. TSPMA


&Deadlines HappeningsAugust

2

9

15

22

TSBA/ TCCA Conference - TSBA Headquarters

Policy Update Workshop-TSBA Headquarters & Distance Learning Sites

Award for Excellence Deadline

School Foundation Conference- TSBA Headquarters

16

17

19

23

24

26

27

30

30

Delta Fall District Meeting- Fayette County

Northwest Fall District Meeting- Benton County

Mid Cumberland Fall District Meeting – Cheatham County

Northeast Fall District Meeting–Elizabethton

East Fall District Meeting–Jefferson County

Southeast Fall District Meeting–Bradley County

TSBA Board of Directors 3rd Quarter Meeting- TSBA Headquarters

TSBA Officer Application Deadline

TSBA Award Deadlines:School Board of the Year, All TN School Board and School of the Year

September

2

3

5

8-11

12

15

Labor Day- TSBA Closed

Southwest Fall District Meeting- Chester County

South Central Fall District Meeting- Bedford County

Superintendents’ Conference- Gatlinburg

Upper Cumberland Fall District Meeting- Fentress County

Master School Board Member Portfolio Deadline

September, cont.


USAble Life/EBI (B)Brett Chaffin/Geoff Haussin

615/269-3393, 800/852-3293

Education Networks of America (T)Dana Moore: 615/312-6010

For more information on becoming a TSBA Business Affiliate, contact Leigh Mills at [email protected] or 615/815-3905.

Alexander Thompson Arnold CPAs (BS)Hope Cooper: 731/686-8371

Hart Freeland Roberts Inc. (A)Stephen Griffin: 615/370-8500

Kaatz, Binkley, Jones & Morris Architects, Inc. (A)David Brown: 615/754-5393

Michael Brady, Inc. (A)Roy Latham: 865/584-0999

Renaissance Learning (I)Peggy Packer: 866/559-7791

Silver Business Affiliate

Premier Business Affiliate

Business AffiliatesTennessee School Boards Association

Professional Educational Services Group, LLC (BS)Betsy Boone Bledsoe: 615/491-8374

School Cast powered by High Ground Solutions (T) Mitch Edwards: 888/988-5884

A - Architecture

BS - Business Services

EM – Energy Management

B - Benefits

C - Construction Management

I-Instructional Support

B/G - Building/Maintenance

E - Equipment/Supplies

T - Technology/Software

Tennessee school boards association

Gold Business Affiliate

Five Points ICT, Inc. (B)James Smith: 615/791-0404

Alliance Corporation (C)Chris Houchens: 270/651-8848

Architects Weeks, Ambrose, McDonald, Inc.(A)William Ambrose: 865/546-8232

Cope Associates, Inc. (A)Alice Miller: 865/694-9000

Hewlett Spencer, LLC (C)Ron Bargatze: 615/832-5026

JayKay Sales Company (E)Rucker Chunn: 615/948-5585

Merit Construction, Inc. (C)Buddy Heins: 865/966-4100

Red Chair Architects, Inc. (A)Tiffany Epps: 865/633-9058

SSC Service Solutions (B/G )Matt Cooter: 865/546-8880

The Lewis Group Architects (A)Todd Brang: 865/584-5000

Upland Design Group, Inc. (A)Derrick Clemow: 931/484-7541

Well Child, Inc. (I)John Thompson: 901/827-5858

Basic Business Affiliate

GCA Education Services (B/G )Craig Colquitt: 888/588-0863

Tennessee school boards association

Policy Update WorkshopFriday, August 9, 2013

8:00 a.m. - 4:00 pm.

TSBA HeadquartersNashville, TN

PROGRAM TOPICS

• State Board of Education Policy Revisions

• State and Federal Legislation Updates• Legal Implications of Policy• Policy vs. Procedure• Policy in the Courts• Policies Required by Law

Registration DetailsThe fee to attend this workshop is $125.00 for TSBA members. Registration must be received two weeks prior to the meeting. Once registration has been received, TSBA will send your system an invoice. To register online today, please visit http://www.tsba.net/Meetings/TSBA_Meetings/Policy_Update_Workshop. Cancellations must be e-mailed to Betsy McNair and received by the registration deadline in order to receive a refund. Optional credit available.

For additional questions contact Betsy McNair at [email protected].

• Bristol City Central Office • Hawkins County Central Office• Lauderdale County, Ripley High School • McMinn County Central Office• Weakley County Central Office

Distance Learning Sites:

Workshop Locations

Periodical

Tennessee School Boards Association525 Brick Church Park DriveNashville, TN 37207

@TSBA_News- #TSBA (General tweets)- #tsbaac13 (Annual Convention 2013)- #TNFDM (Fall District Meetings)

Are you Connected?

Connect with TSBA and fellow board members through Twitter at all TSBA Meetings! Don’t forget to include @TSBA_News and a hashtag with your tweets.

Using Twitter to share messages is as easy as:1. Connecting to Twitter on your mobile device, through the TSBA mobile application (iTSBA), or on

your ipad2. Typing your message including a hashtag and “@TSBA_News” (140 characters only)3. Gitting the “tweet” button

Get the TSBA iPad/iPhone and Android app (iTSBA) for Annual Convention materials, education updates, and more!

To download the application today from Apple, visit http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itsba/id527962540?mt=8. For additional feature details, including a demo video, visit the application webpage http://new.tsba.net/Mobile_App.

There’s an App For That!