By Sally Absher

This week, the KCS administration is working overtime – with meetings scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (June 1-4). The agendas for these meetings can be found here: http://knoxschools.org/Page/2110.

 

June 1

Knox County Schools BOE Work Meeting

The Board of Education will convene for their June work session on Monday, June 1 at 5 pm in the First Floor Board Room of the Andrew Johnson Building located at 912 South Gay Street.

Interested persons may sign up to speak by contacting the Board Executive Assistant at 594-1630 or by arriving at the meeting five minutes early to sign up.

Board Policy BCBI states that at non-voting (i.e., work and mid-month) meetings public comments on agenda items will be heard during Public Forum. Individuals not addressing an item on the agenda will be recognized and allowed to speak for up to 5 minutes  as a part of the Public Forum at the end of the Board meeting.

 

June 2

Community Meeting on Student Assessment

The Knox County Schools’ Student Assessment Inventory Committee will host a community meeting on Tuesday, June 2, at 6 p.m. at West High School (3300 Sutherland Avenue) to gather input from the community regarding student assessments. The meeting is open to educators, students, parents and members of the community.

The community meeting is part of a comprehensive student assessment analysis the school system is conducting, funded by a grant provided by Achieve, Inc. Broad Resident Christy Hendler is directing this effort.

Ultimately, the goal of the analysis is to “help ensure that all assessments given to students in the Knox County Schools are either required or useful in informing instructional decisions.”

(It should be noted that last year’s Teacher Advisory Council completed a similar exercise in which teachers wrote down every single assessment given in all the grades across the system, and then crossed out the ones that were of little to no value to teachers and students. Which was most of them).

The June 2nd community meeting will begin with a brief overview, followed by “break-out” sessions where participants can discuss their questions and concerns related to student assessment.

After the break-out sessions, the small groups will summarize their discussions for the broader group. The large group sessions will stream live on knoxschools.org/kcstv and can be viewed live on Comcast cable channel 10 or AT&T U-verse channel 99.

(But it’s really better to be there in person. The administration needs to hear from parents who are concerned about the over-emphasis on standardized tests, including the huge amount of instructional time lost each year to test prep, test practice, and actually taking the test).

 

June 3

Knox County Schools BOE Regular Meeting

The Board of Education will convene for their June regular session on Monday, June 1 at 5 pm in the Main Assembly Room of the City-County Building located at 400 Main Avenue.

Interested persons may sign up to speak by contacting the Board Executive Assistant at 594-1630 or by arriving at the meeting five minutes early to sign up.

Board Policy BCBI states that at voting meetings individuals will be granted up to five minutes  to speak when their topic of interest is addressed on the agenda. Note that all public forum speakers should address items on the agenda. (The agenda can be found here:

June 4

Joint Education Committee Meeting

The Joint Education Committee, including members of the School Board and the County Commission, will meet on Thursday, June 4 at 4:30 p.m. in the board room located on the first floor of the Andrew Johnson Building.

 

If you can’t attend the meetings, email the BOE and Superintendent with your thoughts on transparency, treatment of teachers, testing, and any other concerns about public education:

amber.rountree@knoxschools.org,

mmcmillan.kcboard@gmail.com,

patti.bounds@knoxschools.org,

terry.hill@knoxschools.org,

karen.carson@knoxschools.org,

lynne.fugate@knoxschools.org,

doug.harris@knoxschools.org,

tracie.sanger@knoschools.org,

gloria.deathridge@knoxschools.org,

StudentRep@knoxschools.org,

superintendent@knoxschools.org.