Nashville and Memphis may have many differences, but two of Tennessee’s most influential parent advocacy organizations say the quality of their school boards shouldn’t be one of them.
That was among the takeaways from Monday night’s more than hourlong public conversation between Sonya Thomas with Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L. (Parents Requiring Our Public Education system to Lead) and Sarah Carpenter with the Memphis Lift. The two parent leaders held an online discussion on a wide range of education challenges families are facing in their communities as part of Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L.’s Speaker Series.
The two women say school board members in Nashville aren’t listening to the needs of parents in the same way school board members in Memphis are.
“We have got to put people in position, who will make decisions in partnership with parents,” said Thomas. “Nashville does not have that. Nashville does not have that right now.”
Thomas criticized Nashville leaders for how they’ve responded to the failures of the 19 priority schools in the Metro Nashville Public School district. Priority schools are the consistently low performing schools based on multiple years of Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) assessment data (bottom 5%) or have less than 67% graduation rate during the most recent school year.
Thomas said more needs to be done to help these schools, especially as some have been on the priority list since 2015.
“That means that these children are going to low performing schools from elementary to middle to high school, never ever experiencing a quality education,” said Thomas. “Never in their life.”
Carpenter also expressed concern about reading proficiency in Memphis, but she’s encouraged by recent moves the Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education has made, especially with regards to its search for a new school superintendent.
The district has named Capenter to the advisory board for the search.
“For so long people haven’t been listening to the community and I think we got a board now that realize that the community is important, the community sent them there to represent us,” said Carpenter.
The advisory board will draft a leadership profile describing the qualities and experiences they would like to see in the next superintendent.
The MSCS Board of Education hopes to name a new superintendent by the end of this school year.
Carpenter says being part of the advisory board was a critical step to ensure parents like her have a place at the table on the superintendent search.
“And I don’t plan on being on the menu no more,” said Carpenter. “If I have to push my way through every time, I don’t plan on being on the menu and guess what our parents not gonna be on the menu, we tired of getting ate up on the menu.”
Both organizations are a part of the Powerful Parent Movement coalition of of grassroots organizations that work together to help parents advocate for better schools.
