Responsibilities of Knox County School Board include: Proposes and adopts policies on day to day operations of Knox County schoolsDetermines grade and graduation requirements and curriculumSets guidelines for County wide testingEstablishes student dress codeDetermines how resources are distributed to the schools such as school counselors and nursesProposes budget to Knox County CommissionEstablishes discipline proceduresUse of resource officers and police in schoolsThe Board shall have all such duties, powers and authority necessary or reasonably implied to manage and control the County School System as provided by Constitution, general law, this Charter or ordinance.There shall be established within the county nine districts for the purpose of board of education representation. The number of seats on the board of education elected from each of the nine districts shall be governed by the Knox County Charter. The nine districts hereby created are delimited as follows and more specifically shown in Exhibit A which is attached to Ord. No. O-11-10-102:From: https://library.municode.com/tn/knox_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICO_CH2AD_ARTXIIIKNCOBOED
Campaign Phone
(865)919-1998
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/Owen4Schools
I believe that every student deserves to have access to experienced educators and great opportunities to build on their unique talents. Students/parents and staff deserve to have leaders who are willing, able, and available to hear from them and effectively advocate for their needs whenever necessary. Our public schools need leaders who understand and have experience with the challenges facing them and the challenges facing our educators. Our communities need public school advocates who can help them understand what our schools need to help our students grow and thrive. I believe that my experience advocating for public schools and public school students is absolutely necessary to helping our school board make decisions that best serve our students
The biggest current challenge is retaining our great teachers. The administration is continually looking for ways to bring in new employees, but retaining employees has not gotten enough attention and that failure is partially responsible for creating the need to attract more new employees.
While hiring managers believe they are being creative in making jobs appealing, the reality is that we are not truly listening to what people need and want. We absolutely must remove unnecessary duties, extra paperwork, and extra meetings from every day and allow time for teachers to focus on teaching.
Vouchers misuse public funds.
Legislators falsely claim this takes nothing from public schools and that the funding does not come from TISA.
TISA is a funding formula - not funding. Money that goes into the formula is whatever legislators choose. When funds are withheld for private schools, that money is no longer available for public schools. Which "bucket" it came from is irrelevant.
Our state has underfunded schools for decades - by billions. Withholding public funds from public schools is a disservice to all Tennesseans and we cannot afford to run two school systems.
Rather than trying to court students from public schools, legislators should be funding them at levels that allow public schools to be as successful as possible.
Students should have interactions with diverse educators who are trained and qualified in the courses being taught so that they can make sound pedagogical decisions that meet their students' needs.
Staff should have adequate time and support to be able to accurately evaluate each student's needs and make appropriate plans to address those individual needs.
Students need materials and resources that allow them to be engaged in learning in ways that are meaningful for them and ways that allow them to demonstrate their individual abilities.
School achievement is best evaluated by local parents, students, staff, and communities.
While state testing can be an indicator of student growth, it should not be the only indicator. Standardized testing is a single snapshot and is an inaccurate and heavily flawed method of determining the overall achievement of an entire school or even an entire classroom.
School librarians are highly qualified professionals with the experience and training to determine what materials are appropriate to keep in their collections for use by the students in their schools.
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