Two dozen apply to be the next Knox County Schools Superintendent

In a last minute rush Knox County Board of Education members were hoping for, the number of applicants for Knox County Schools Superintendent jumped to 24 just before the end-of-day deadline.

On Friday morning, there had only been 11 applicants.

The deadline to apply closed at 4 p.m. Friday. There are 24 official applicants, with one additional application that wasn't completed.

There are two internal candidates and at least one other local candidate, according to KCS spokesperson Carly Harrington.

"I sensed a little bit of panic earlier in the week," said Patti Bounds, Chair of the BOE.

More: List: Knox County Schools Superintendent candidates

On Monday, member Amber Rountree, who is also overseeing the three-person superintendent search committee, said she hoped more people applied by the end of the week.

“I would like to see some more folks and I have heard there are more folks planning to apply, and they just haven’t gotten their material together,” she said.

The committee responsible for the search is made up of Rountree, Tony Norman and Susan Horn.

Friday morning, Norman told 10News he was hopeful there would be more than 11 applicants.
"I especially hope we'll get a few internal candidates," said Norman.

The names of the two internal candidates were not immediately available.

There is at least one local applicant. Dale Lynch, who currently serves as Hamblen County Schools Superintendent, applied Friday morning.

"I had heard he was going to apply and I'm glad he did," said Bounds.

Receiving 24 applicants for this position is a 'win' for the board, who went about the recruiting process differently than they had in the past.

"I'm excited about the process. This is a little bit different than it's normally done. Many school systems in our area use outside search firms," said Bounds.

Outside search firms can cost up to $80,000. Knox County Schools used one in 2008, when Dr. Jim McIntyre was selected.

Bounds said not using an outside search firm will give them more control over the candidates.

Norman agrees.

"Sometimes those search firms also have some preferred candidates, so they'll eliminate people on their side before we even get to see them," said Norman.

On the morning of Jan. 17,  the three-member search committee is scheduled to look at who has applied. Rountree says the goal is to identify perhaps five solid candidates from among all who have applied and go from there.

Norman says the people in his top five will be applicants who have "a heart for the classroom" and "significant administrative experience and experience with large school districts."

Bounds agrees with Norman's desire to have a superintendent with classroom experience. She also hopes their new chief will have many of the leadership qualities Interim Superintendent Buzz Thomas has.

"He is very much a servant leader. He understands the role of the board and of the superintendent," said Bounds.

For now, the superintendent search is closed. However, Bounds says it could reopen at any time if the current applicants are not up to standards.

Bounds said the hope is to have a new superintendent in place by summer, but are willing to sacrifice that timeline for the right person.

"More importantly is getting the right person. The last two left without completing their contracts and I don't want to see that happen again," said Bounds.

Superintendent Search panel formed

Knox County BOE Chairwoman announced the three members of the Superintendent Search Committee: Tony Norman (District 3), Susan Horn (District 5) and Amber Rountree (District 9).

The committee will be tasked with making recommendations to the full board related to the superintendent search process and selection.

Rountree will serve as chair of the committee.

The school board authorized the creation of the search committee at its meeting on Nov. 2, giving Bounds discretion to appoint no more than three board members to serve.

The committee is expected to meet prior to the next board meeting in December.

BOE's focus on finding new Knox Co. Schools leader, testing data

The Knox County Board of Education tonight and Wednesday will continue discussions that touch on the search for a new superintendent and whether state testing data should help determine teacher evaluations and student grades for the current year.

The board also has some “housecleaning” and policy matters that officials will address during tonight’s work session, but the two “key items” focus on testing and the school system’s next leader, BOE Chairwoman Patti Bounds told WBIR 10News on Monday morning.

Bounds said the board will talk about whether it wants to put together a search committee and – if members do want a committee – then who should serve on it. The county law department has recommended three members, but Bounds said the board doesn’t necessarily have to stick to that number.

Buzz Thomas, who oversees the Great Schools Partnership, is currently serving as interim superintendent.

However, the GSP wants him back by next summer, so Bounds said the school board wants to get it done by then.

“I don’t think there are any members of this board who will not do their due diligence to get the best person, but we know we’re on a very tight schedule,” Bounds said.

The board also will talk about a proposed resolution sponsored by Amber Rountree that comes in the wake of the state’s recent announcement that it has signed a contract with Questar to oversee Tennessee’s annual student assessments.

Rountree wants the state to grant a waiver so that the tests don’t count against teacher evaluations and student grades for the current year.

The state in the past year or so has struggled to roll out new tests for students and she wants to make sure the kinks are worked out of the new tests.

Her resolution also notes that “there are documented errors on the part of Questar” to administer similar tests in New York and Mississippi, and that Knox County teachers wouldn’t be involved in writing test items for the current year.

Thomas has called the resolution “ill-advised” and “at the very least . . . premature.”

“(The) proposed resolution does not sound like a school district that is aspiring to be the best in the South or even in the state,” Thomas wrote to board members in a Sept. 23 email. “It sounds like we are making excuses. We need a good standardized test each year to tell us how we are doing compared to others across the state and the nation. We will achieve greatness not by shying away from this accountability but by welcoming it.”

The county’s Teacher Advisory Committee met earlier this month to talk about the issue.

“A great majority of those reported that in surveying their schools the teachers were in favor of Amber’s resolution . . .  (and) that their schools and teachers were in favor of it by a pretty significant number,” Bounds said.

An advisory committee member will give board members a presentation prior to the official start of tonight’s meeting.

The board meets tonight at 5 at the Andrew Johnson Building. The board’s voting meeting is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday at the City County Building.

Bounds, Rountree picked to lead BOE

Patti bounds, left, Amber Rountree, right

The Knox County Schools Board of Education named Patti Bounds board chair and Amber Rountree vice chair, respectively, during its meeting Wednesday.

The board held its first reorganization vote at its September meeting, but postponed the decision after two tied results.

In September, the votes were tied 4-4 between board members Terry Hill and Mike McMillan.

Prior to Wednesday's meeting, McMillan submitted a letter to the board withdrawing his name from consideration. McMillan was not present at Monday's board work session or Wednesday's regular meeting due to health reasons.

On Wednesday, Hill also removed her name from consideration. Board member Tony Norman then nominated Bounds, and she was named chair by acclamation.

Hill and Norman were then nominated for vice chair.

After a 4-4 tied vote, Hill withdrew her name from consideration again.

Amber Rountree was then nominated for consideration, and selected with a 5-3 vote over Norman.

Knox County BOE remains in standoff over nontenured teacher policy

Photo: Knox County Schools

Proposed Knox County Schools’ policy that would let the Board of Education have input and review the dismissal of nontenured teachers continues to remain at an impasse.

The school board on Wednesday again couldn’t come to an agreement about what revisions – if any – it would like to put into the policy.

Members are expected to talk more about the matter in the coming months.

The board has spent months looking to resolve objections to the way KCS handles renewals of non-tenured teachers, going back and forth on the language and what they want in the policy and what they don’t want in it.

The discussions come as dozens of teachers voiced concerns about the non-renewal process on their contracts.

Currently, if a teacher is not tenured, the superintendent can choose to not renew a contract without reason.

Teachers are concerned the process on their contract is not clear, and some have called it unfair. They also have argued that termination of one job – without explanation – is often career-ending.
On Wednesday, the board shot down some proposed revisions in a 5-3 vote.

Board members Patti Bounds, Amber Rountree Karen Carson, Gloria Deathridge and Mike McMillan voted against the revised policy. Members Doug Harris, Lynne Fugate and Terry Hill voted for it. Tracie Sanger was absent.

“Some of the revisions were brought to us late in the day and they could possible create new problems and I don’t think they addressed the problems in the past,” said school board member Patti Bounds.

For example, she said, a key sticking point for a number of board members was that language – initially proposed – that would allow board members to affirm dismissals was removed.

Bounds said she wants the board to have the chance to review any nontenured teacher dismissals and to have a chance to either affirm or deny them. Also, if the board voted for no renewal, she wants teachers to have the option to appeal such a decision.

“I feel it’s another checks and balances that needs to be in place,” she said.

Board member Amber Rountree agreed.

"I didn't feel like the policy as presented didn’t really restore any decision-making powers to the board," she said.

Every year, according to district officials, between 30 and 50 – or about 1 percent – of all non-tenured teachers are non-renewed. This year, 45 teachers were non-renewed. Last year, that number was 55.

Carson said she’d rather officials look at procedure rather than policy.

“I think the board should tell the superintendent to go back and look at what we’ve done the past few years – it’s very easy to review,” she said. “Changing policy should never be a knee-jerk reaction. I think the bottom line is that what we want is to make sure the procedure is the best way to carry out that policy.”

She added: “I think it starts with the review of what are we doing now. Do we have a case where the procedure in place is good but three out of 90 administrators didn’t follow it? Or do we have a case where it’s not followed by half the people or do we have a case where it’s just a bad procedure?”

Law director memo: Knox County BOE could renew teacher non-renewals

During last week’s Knox County Board of Education meeting, school boarder Amber Rountree asked the law director:

“What power does the board have with regard to the non-renewal of teachers’ contract?”

Well, apparently, a whole heck of a lot, according to Knox County Law Director Richard “Bud” Armstrong.

In a memo dated July 2, Armstrong, citing state and case law, said:

“The Board has absolute authority, in its discretion, to review any non-renewal or any other personnel matter that is brought to the attention of the Board. The Board may implement any procedure and take such action as the Board deems proper.”

In non-lawyerly language: If a principal fires a teacher, the school board – a voting majority – can overrule the principal and put that teacher right back in the classroom.

You can read the memo RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Now, why is this important?

Parents, teachers and students are upset that Christina Graham, a now former Copper Ridge Elementary School kindergarten teacher, was let go this past May. They feel that officials retaliated against her because she spoke out against SAT-10 testing for kindergarteners. Apparently Graham scored well on her evaluations, so it more than likely wasn’t about that.

A lot of folks will now probably look to the school board to see what happens next, and the pressure is on.

Does the board address the non-renewals case-by-case, or do members let it go? Right or wrong, the board will come dangerously close to micromanagement if it starts overruling principals, no matter how well-intended the situation.

Graham’s case could be the first big test.

And if I recall correctly, Copper Ridge is in board member Patti Bound’s neck of the woods, and she doesn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with the administration.

We’ll see.

KCS Board of Ed exploring ways to hold bus drivers more accountable

Knox County School Board members are looking into ways to make bus drivers more accountable.

"This is one time where I think a student reporting something that they have a concern about needs to be heard immediately and dealt with," Karen Carson said. "I would love to see us explore starting a program where a student can take a picture of a driver using a cell phone - a bus driver using a cell phone, have a hotline that they can send it to and that the school system could respond immediately."

Board member Patti Bounds agrees the district needs, "to empower the children, the feeling that they can talk about these things in a safe way with their parents," she said. "For the parents, too-- probably one of the best things to do would, not necessarily a hotline, but a way to report these things to the proper authorities so that they can be addressed and handled."

Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre, Knox County sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones and Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch met on Monday, to discuss possible enhanced safety guidelines when it comes to school bus drivers. McIntyre said details of that plan should be available in August, closer to the start of the school year.

BOE candidate Bounds to continue campaigning; backed by Vaughn

Not a whole lot of substance but here’s a statement from Patti Lou Bounds who is your new District 7 Board of Education member as of Sept. 1.

“I didn’t foresee Mr. Smith withdrawing from the race but we will continue the campaign as it started and that is to reach out to the residents of the 7^th District, identify their concerns, and make the educational experience the best possible for the parents, children, teachers and the administration. After all, the children are our future.”

I should note that the statement came from Bill Vaughn, a long-time political operative for the John Duncan family. (He is managing her campaign.) And while, I’m not sure what interest the Duncans would have in the school board races, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind putting the ol’ screws to R. Larry.