Clarksville-Montgomery County School System officials and educators discussed the impact of state reading proficiency requirements on this year’s cohort of third-graders, as well as the district’s decision not to arm teachers in schools, at last week’s school board meeting.
Under the state’s Third-Grade Retention Law, third-grade students who fail to show proficiency in reading on state assessments must attend summer school and or tutoring during fourth grade to advance further. Fourth-grade students impacted by the law last year must also show “adequate growth” on state testing this year to be promoted to fifth grade. Fourth graders who fail to show “adequate growth” on Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) tests can qualify to advance to the fifth grade if there’s agreement from all parties in a conference with parents, teachers, and administrators, under legislation that passed in April.
According to Stefi Outlaw, a district educator and representative from the Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Association, this year’s delay in receiving test scores placed a lot of stress on teachers and students.
“Some results will impact third graders and their families. Third grade teachers who are ending out the year with field days and activities are now racing to get students before the end of the school year, which is Thursday. That is a lot of stress on our educators and young students,” she said at last Tuesday’s board meeting. “The state needs to hold itself accountable for being able to produce scores in a timely manner before using those scores to negatively impact third graders, educators, schools and districts.”
However, Outlaw thanked the board for its recent decision not to arm teachers in school, in response to recent legislation permitting teachers to carry guns in schools with permission from district officials and law enforcement.
“I want to thank the board and [Director Jean] Luna-Vedder for making the decision not to arm our educators. We have enough responsibilities as it is without adding the dangerous burden of carrying a firearm. There are too many risks with carrying a firearm in schools that outweigh any positive scenarios,” she said. “Thank you for realizing that not all issues in the school are to be placed at the feet of educators because others do not want to effectively deal with them … I hung up my combat boots 20 years ago, and I would like to keep them there.”
In other business, officials discussed whether the end of federal COVID-19 relief funding could lead to teacher layoffs in the future. Luna Vedder assured the board that the county does not anticipate the need for any layoffs once those funds run out, adding that many new positions have already been worked into the district’s general-purpose budget.
“We are not expecting any sort of teacher layoffs in this county,” she said.
