Nashville school board gets in harmony Jesse Register, director of Metro schools, hugs school board member Karen Johnson of Antioch before the board's meeting Tuesday. DIPTI VAIDYA / THE TENNESSEAN
Faced with losing their jobs if this year's test scores don't improve, Nashville's once-divided Board of Public Education is enjoying what some call an unmatched period of productivity.
Gone are the marathon meetings, the visible disdain between board members, the public fights. In their place is a school board focused on two objectives, observers say: meeting state testing requirements and supporting new schools chief Jesse Register.
The newfound momentum is significant because it could weaken arguments to ditch the elected school board and put the mayor in charge of the district.
Metro Nashville Public Schools has failed to meet state standards for five years, giving the Department of Education partial control of the district. If the district fails to meet the mark again this year — a decision likely to come by August — the state will have the power to remove school board members. It would take legislation to give the mayor control of the schools, a leadership option popular in other failing urban districts.
That outcome looked probable last year, when the board was without a director of schools, and state officials publicly blasted board members for "sabotaging" academic intervention.
Now, the same state official who threatened to document board members' behavior praised them for recent progress.
"A light came on, and now everything is strategic," said Connie Smith, assistant commissioner of accountability for the Departmentof Education. "They're working as a cooperative body and as a team, they're communicating, and there's no hidden agenda."
'Clear agenda'
The federal No Child Left Behind Act and its sanctions for districts that repeatedly fail to meet testing standards have united boards nationwide, said Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association. The key is not focusing so much on test scores that overall education gets ignored.
"Once you have a clear agenda, it's amazing how much a board and superintendent team can drive the right work," she said. "If you have no agenda and you're not using data, the last idea that came up is as good as the next one."
-->(2 of 2)
Board Chairman David Fox said the difference has been a sense of urgency to make quick improvements. A businessman elected in 2006, Fox said it was an adjustment to work in an organization that didn't feel daily pressure to change.
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"A lot of the drama has disappeared," he said. "A high-functioning board is not in the newspaper every day."
School board members frequently made news during debate over how to draw new school attendance boundaries — an issue that illustrated their sharpest divisions.
For more than three years, the board argued the rezoning issue, along the way scrapping plans that were too controversial, holding exhaustive meetings and parting ways with former Director Pedro Garcia, who claimed he lost the board's support when he failed to push a plan he thought would racially segregate the district.
Garcia resigned. Five board members voted in favor of the plan that ultimately passed, four against.
'Common challenge'
Register, director of Metro schools since January, also is credited with improving the board's dynamic.
Three years ago, board members were ignorant of shortfalls that would land them in trouble with the state. They focused on issues related to their districts, such as naming schools and enrollment projections.
Over time, Garcia's outspoken style exasperated divisions in the board, said Pam Garrett, former board chairwoman and now executive director for the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, a nonprofit that raises money for schools.
Garrett said this is the most cohesive and functioning the board has ever been.
"They have a real common challenge, and so there's not a lot of room for personal agendas," she said. "It's a time where they have got to stay focused, and it is very good for the public to see them stay this focused."
Register is seen as a calm director who communicates with all members of the board, even those who didn't support his hiring.
"I've been pleasantly surprised," said longtime board member Ed Kindall, who did not vote to hire Register. "He does seem to reach out to all board members, and he does seem to have a keen sense of the district in terms of demographics."
But some observers are skeptical of the board's newfound cohesion.
Community activist Elois Freeman frequently attends board meetings and said she felt the discourse among previous board members was healthy.
"In a democracy you have to have that creative tension," she said. "I see a contrast, and I have observed that even with so much upheaval in the district, there's no discussion."
The newfound momentum is significant because it could weaken arguments to ditch the elected school board and put the mayor in charge of the district.
Metro Nashville Public Schools has failed to meet state standards for five years, giving the Department of Education partial control of the district. If the district fails to meet the mark again this year — a decision likely to come by August — the state will have the power to remove school board members. It would take legislation to give the mayor control of the schools, a leadership option popular in other failing urban districts.
That outcome looked probable last year, when the board was without a director of schools, and state officials publicly blasted board members for "sabotaging" academic intervention.
Now, the same state official who threatened to document board members' behavior praised them for recent progress.
"A light came on, and now everything is strategic," said Connie Smith, assistant commissioner of accountability for the Departmentof Education. "They're working as a cooperative body and as a team, they're communicating, and there's no hidden agenda."
'Clear agenda'
The federal No Child Left Behind Act and its sanctions for districts that repeatedly fail to meet testing standards have united boards nationwide, said Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association. The key is not focusing so much on test scores that overall education gets ignored.
"Once you have a clear agenda, it's amazing how much a board and superintendent team can drive the right work," she said. "If you have no agenda and you're not using data, the last idea that came up is as good as the next one."
-->(2 of 2)
Board Chairman David Fox said the difference has been a sense of urgency to make quick improvements. A businessman elected in 2006, Fox said it was an adjustment to work in an organization that didn't feel daily pressure to change.
triggerAd(2,PaginationPage,15);
"A lot of the drama has disappeared," he said. "A high-functioning board is not in the newspaper every day."
School board members frequently made news during debate over how to draw new school attendance boundaries — an issue that illustrated their sharpest divisions.
For more than three years, the board argued the rezoning issue, along the way scrapping plans that were too controversial, holding exhaustive meetings and parting ways with former Director Pedro Garcia, who claimed he lost the board's support when he failed to push a plan he thought would racially segregate the district.
Garcia resigned. Five board members voted in favor of the plan that ultimately passed, four against.
'Common challenge'
Register, director of Metro schools since January, also is credited with improving the board's dynamic.
Three years ago, board members were ignorant of shortfalls that would land them in trouble with the state. They focused on issues related to their districts, such as naming schools and enrollment projections.
Over time, Garcia's outspoken style exasperated divisions in the board, said Pam Garrett, former board chairwoman and now executive director for the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, a nonprofit that raises money for schools.
Garrett said this is the most cohesive and functioning the board has ever been.
"They have a real common challenge, and so there's not a lot of room for personal agendas," she said. "It's a time where they have got to stay focused, and it is very good for the public to see them stay this focused."
Register is seen as a calm director who communicates with all members of the board, even those who didn't support his hiring.
"I've been pleasantly surprised," said longtime board member Ed Kindall, who did not vote to hire Register. "He does seem to reach out to all board members, and he does seem to have a keen sense of the district in terms of demographics."
But some observers are skeptical of the board's newfound cohesion.
Community activist Elois Freeman frequently attends board meetings and said she felt the discourse among previous board members was healthy.
"In a democracy you have to have that creative tension," she said. "I see a contrast, and I have observed that even with so much upheaval in the district, there's no discussion."
Board Chairman David Fox said the difference has been a sense of urgency to make quick improvements. A businessman elected in 2006, Fox said it was an adjustment to work in an organization that didn't feel daily pressure to change.
"A lot of the drama has disappeared," he said. "A high-functioning board is not in the newspaper every day."
School board members frequently made news during debate over how to draw new school attendance boundaries — an issue that illustrated their sharpest divisions.
For more than three years, the board argued the rezoning issue, along the way scrapping plans that were too controversial, holding exhaustive meetings and parting ways with former Director Pedro Garcia, who claimed he lost the board's support when he failed to push a plan he thought would racially segregate the district.
Garcia resigned. Five board members voted in favor of the plan that ultimately passed, four against.
'Common challenge'
Register, director of Metro schools since January, also is credited with improving the board's dynamic.
Three years ago, board members were ignorant of shortfalls that would land them in trouble with the state. They focused on issues related to their districts, such as naming schools and enrollment projections.
Over time, Garcia's outspoken style exasperated divisions in the board, said Pam Garrett, former board chairwoman and now executive director for the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, a nonprofit that raises money for schools.
Garrett said this is the most cohesive and functioning the board has ever been.
"They have a real common challenge, and so there's not a lot of room for personal agendas," she said. "It's a time where they have got to stay focused, and it is very good for the public to see them stay this focused."
Register is seen as a calm director who communicates with all members of the board, even those who didn't support his hiring.
"I've been pleasantly surprised," said longtime board member Ed Kindall, who did not vote to hire Register. "He does seem to reach out to all board members, and he does seem to have a keen sense of the district in terms of demographics."
But some observers are skeptical of the board's newfound cohesion.
Community activist Elois Freeman frequently attends board meetings and said she felt the discourse among previous board members was healthy.
"In a democracy you have to have that creative tension," she said. "I see a contrast, and I have observed that even with so much upheaval in the district, there's no discussion."
School board members frequently made news during debate over how to draw new school attendance boundaries — an issue that illustrated their sharpest divisions.
For more than three years, the board argued the rezoning issue, along the way scrapping plans that were too controversial, holding exhaustive meetings and parting ways with former Director Pedro Garcia, who claimed he lost the board's support when he failed to push a plan he thought would racially segregate the district.
Garcia resigned. Five board members voted in favor of the plan that ultimately passed, four against.
'Common challenge'
Register, director of Metro schools since January, also is credited with improving the board's dynamic.
Three years ago, board members were ignorant of shortfalls that would land them in trouble with the state. They focused on issues related to their districts, such as naming schools and enrollment projections.
Over time, Garcia's outspoken style exasperated divisions in the board, said Pam Garrett, former board chairwoman and now executive director for the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, a nonprofit that raises money for schools.
Garrett said this is the most cohesive and functioning the board has ever been.
"They have a real common challenge, and so there's not a lot of room for personal agendas," she said. "It's a time where they have got to stay focused, and it is very good for the public to see them stay this focused."
Register is seen as a calm director who communicates with all members of the board, even those who didn't support his hiring.
"I've been pleasantly surprised," said longtime board member Ed Kindall, who did not vote to hire Register. "He does seem to reach out to all board members, and he does seem to have a keen sense of the district in terms of demographics."
But some observers are skeptical of the board's newfound cohesion.
Community activist Elois Freeman frequently attends board meetings and said she felt the discourse among previous board members was healthy.
"In a democracy you have to have that creative tension," she said. "I see a contrast, and I have observed that even with so much upheaval in the district, there's no discussion."
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