What's new at Southeast Davidson schools?

By SUZANNE NORMAND BLACKWOOD sblackwood@tennessean.com 259-8268 • August 1, 2008 New principal takes over at Apollo Middle As the new principal of Apollo Middle School, Ron Woodard has three main items on his agenda. "We're hoping to increase student achievement, parental involvement and community support," he said. The school did not meet average yearly progress in reading or math under the federal No Child Left Behind benchmarks. Woodard, who was previously an assistant principal at Maplewood High School, said he would be focusing on ways to make sure that doesn't happen again. "We hope to use a variety of methods to meet our goals," he said. "The first step is to build a sense of pride and continue in the great tradition this school was founded upon." At Thomas Edison and Mt. View elementary schools, Principals Ronald Powe and Kim Fowler are hoping to raise the bar for their students. First, said Powe, following in the tradition of the school's namesake, "I want to highlight the fact that we have a science and math fair." This year, though, "we want to enhance our emphasis on science and math," he said. "We want to take it to another level, not just within the school, but to competition at the district and state levels." Powe said there would be interventions, not only for students who are not meeting the benchmarks in reading, language arts and math, but also for students who are exceeding them. "We want to bring the floor up, but we also want to raise the ceiling," he said. Powe said the school would be using TCAP and other test scores "to validate our teaching, but also to help us hone in on areas where we might not perform as effectively as we would like to." A change for both Edison and Mt. View this year is Mt. View lost some of its English Language Learners to Edison. Previously, ELL students were assigned to certain schools that served as ELL centers. Now, they go to the schools for which they are zoned. Powe said some faculty members are being trained to work with ELL students. "We want to welcome parents and students who traditionally have gone to an ELL center," he said. Apollo Middle School Address: 631 Richards Road Phone: 333-5025 Web site: www.apolloms.mnps.org Principal: Ron Woodard Enrollment: 450-500 students What's new for 2008-09: Apollo has a new principal and three new faculty members for science, art and language arts. Mascot: Astros School colors: Red, white and blue Optional shirt colors: Red, blue and green Orientation: 9 a.m.-noon Monday, Aug. 4 Thomas Edison Elementary School Address: 6130 Mt. View Road Phone: 501-8800 Web site: www.thomasedisones.mnps.org Principal: Ronald Powe Enrollment: 600-625 students What's new for 2008-09: Edison has a new assistant principal, Rebecca Welch, because former assistant principal, Robin Shumate, is now principal at Lakeview Elementary. The school also has a new reading specialist, ELL teacher, music teacher, band teacher, second-grade teacher and first-grade teacher. Mascot: Lightbulb Motto: "Where Bright Futures Grow" School colors: Red and yellow Optional shirt colors: Red, yellow, black and pink Mt. View Elementary School Address: 3820 Murfreesboro Road Phone: 641-9393 Principal: Kim Fowler Enrollment: about 850 students What's new for 2008-09: Mt. View has a new math specialist; three new fourth-grade teachers; a new PTA president; and a new PENCIL partner, Vastland Realty. The school offered the SMART program for kindergartners last year but will expand it this year to include first-graders. The program, which is based on the multiple intelligences theory, uses different learning stations that require kids to use their motor and sensory skills. The school will offer BrainPop, an online animated educational site in English and Spanish that helps students with science, reading, writing, social studies and health. Parents will be able to access the program from home. The school also has a new computer lab, and all classrooms will have LCD projectors. Mascot: Mountain lions School colors: Green and white Optional shirt colors: Green, red, yellow and pink Preview night: 5:30-7 p.m., Aug. 7

Mayor Karl Dean digs deeper into schools director search

By Amy Griffith, Friday, May 2, 2008 3:21 am(city newspaper)
Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 3:21 am

As a new chapter for Nashville public schools continues to unfold today with school board interviews of director search firms, Mayor Karl Dean’s involvement with Metro Nashville Public Schools has the potential to grow.

A spokesperson for the mayor said he plans to conduct his own unscripted interviews more like “real conversations” with the three companies being considered to conduct the search for Nashville’s next director of schools.

“He’s expressed a clear desire to be involved in our schools, and that means he’ll be working with the next schools director very closely,” said Janel Lacy, spokesperson for the mayor, on Thursday. “I think it’s natural that he be involved in the decision of who that person is, considering the close working relationship they’re going to have. … This search is going to play a critical role in the direction of our schools, so it will in turn play a role in our city’s future.”

Danielle Mezera, director of the Mayor’s Office of Children and Youth, will be present at the interviews and will share Dean’s perspective on the decision Saturday morning, at an 8 a.m. public meeting called by the school board for the purpose of choosing a firm.

School board members have said they’re counting on whatever search firm they choose to play a role in shaping — at least in the planning phase — the process for selecting a new director, including the specific role that the mayor’s office and community stakeholders will play.

Dean — who has said repeatedly since his August election that he plans to be “very involved” in public schools — has been a part of the search firm selection from the beginning. Dean was one member of a team of three who narrowed down the list of applying firms to a group of three finalists. He has also offered to raise money through private sources to pay for a search firm, once chosen, and board members have indicated their interest in taking him up on it.

The specifics of Dean’s interviews of search firm candidates were not publicly discussed by the school board as a whole, and several board members indicated to The City Paper, when asked, that they hadn’t been aware of Dean’s individual meetings with candidates. No board member, however, has expressed to The City Paper sentiments other than support for Dean’s involvement.

“I have no problem with the mayor interviewing [the firms],” said school board member George Thompson on Wednesday.

Board member David Fox said Thursday, “If the mayor’s meeting with them, that’s fine. … I’m glad he cares enough to do it. That’s probably a good thing.”

Fox added that he expects the board to deliberate, publicly, on the role that Dean — as well as local stakeholders in public education — will play in the unfolding search before a firm is hired, either today or tomorrow.

But whatever the proposals of the search firm candidates, statements from the mayor’s office indicate that Dean plans to be a part of the search.

“The mayor’s going to continue to be a part of the process and continue to be a part of the conversation,” Lacy said.

Two Metro Council members — Jerry Maynord and Jim Gotto — said at MNPS’s budget hearing with the Council that Board of Education members should take care to make their own decision about choosing a director of schools, as board members are elected by the public for that purpose.

Dean has said he respects the school board and its legal role, and comments that Lacy said Thursday are still accurate. Mezera will present the mayor’s thoughts about search firms and Dean will leave it up to the board to decide how to weigh those thoughts.

The three search firms to be considered are Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, Ltd. of Illinois, ProAct Search of Wisconsin and Ray & Associates of Iowa. School board interviews of the firms are open to the general public, and begin this morning at 8:30 a.m. at the MNPS central office, 2601 Bransford Ave. The board is slated to discuss and make a decision about which firm to hire at 8 a.m. Saturday, also at MNPS central offices.

Gang activity in suburbs acknowledged

Nashville crackdown has forced migration into nearby countiesBy CHRISTINA E. SANCHEZ • and MARIA GIORDANO (Tennessean) • April 28, 2008 Two weeks before the fatal shooting of a Franklin teenager in what appears to be a gang-related fight, Nashville police gave gang awareness training to Williamson County school faculty. The school officials' request in March for the training suggests a willingness to acknowledge, although not yet publicly, what they and local law enforcement had long been reluctant to admit: Gangs exist in suburbia. "Gangs have always been here, probably much longer than the Police Department was aware or recognized," said Sgt. Charles Warner, a detective with the Franklin Police Department. "We've started to see a slow increase. By no means is there an epidemic." Several smaller communities outside of Nashville have seen an increase over the past few years in gang presence and gang-related crime. Local police departments attribute gangs' migration to growth — and to Metro's aggressive police crackdown on street gangs in Nashville, which pushes criminal activity to outlying cities. But experts say that the gangs building bases near newer, pristine subdivisions lack the organization, hierarchy of power and carnage that are hallmarks of notorious gangs in Chicago or Los Angeles. "You have suburban communities surrounding a metro area, and gang activity does spill over sometimes," said John Moore, director of the National Youth Gang Center in Florida. "The gangs in the Nashville area are much more typical as a whole to the rest of the United States, but unlike places such as Chicago." They rarely deal drugs; petty thefts and gang-on-gang violence are traits of the suburban gang. Middle Tennessee's gang members are youths and adults, of different races and ethnicities. They wear signature colors, flash gang signs, have nicknames and mark their territory with graffiti. They join for reasons that range from false promises of the get-rich-quick gangster to the desire to have a "family." Tackling gang activity is necessary to keep it from escalating. Already about 10 percent to 15 percent of youth violence in Tennessee has gang ties, Moore said. "No city wants to admit that they have a gang problem, but you can't deal with it until you acknowledge it," he said. "These communities that are saying they have a gang problem are taking the first of 12 steps to deal with the problem. Conflicts can turn deadly Sometimes, the interaction of rival gangs turns violent and even deadly. Authorities believe an argument between members of different gangs on April 13 in Columbia, Tenn., had fatal consequences for Juan Castro, 16, of Franklin, and Patricia Garcia, 24, of Spring Hill. A group of men in a car pulled alongside the sport utility vehicle carrying Castro, Garcia and nine other people, and opened fire. No details have been released on what gangs were involved or what the argument was about. "We have enormous intelligence that this particular incident was gang related and that there are gangs in Maury and Williamson counties," said Kristin Helm, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. "We can't say how many gang members there are or that this gang is this. It's hard to know." Not all cities or law enforcement agencies track gang members or gangs. The Metro Police Department started a database in 2004, said Metro police Sgt. Gary Kemper. Metro logs all suspected gang members who get arrested in Davidson County into a database. Officers have recorded 4,700 gang members with 15 major gang names such as Bloods, Crips, SUR-13, MS-13 and dozens more subsets within those categories, Kemper said. Some of the gang members arrested in Davidson are from other counties, and in a recently prosecuted gang case — one of the largest in Middle Tennessee history — half the members of a gang known as MS-13 were from Wilson, Rutherford and Williamson counties, Kemper said. He sees more Hispanic gangs in Williamson such as SUR-13, a Mexican gang also known as surenos. In Rutherford, more Asian gang presence is felt with groups such as Asian Pride. "Just because a community has families that make a little more money doesn't make them exempt," Kemper said. Educators get training Awareness and training can teach communities and parents the signs to look for to know if their kids are involved in gang activity, Kemper said. In a rare meeting of two school boards in Williamson County last week, directors Becky Sharber of Williamson County Schools and David Snowden of the Franklin Special School District said that gang activity was a possibility and that they were taking steps to raise awareness. Administrators and staff are undergoing training to identify the signs and colors of gang members. Teachers are expected to get training later. Both leaders told board members that there was no significant activity now but that they were committed to dealing with the issue openly. Capt. Alan Laney of the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, who oversees resource officers in Williamson County schools, said they had not seen gang activity in schools until this past year. So far, the presence has been little more than fights between boys, he said. Nevertheless, Laney said officers have heard that Juan Castro was affiliated with a gang. "We have identified the student that was the victim and other students as being involved in gangs," he said. Some parents of students at Centennial High say the school was unfairly and unjustly targeted as having a "gang presence" simply because Castro went to school there. Franklin resident Darlene Johnson has two children at Centennial High School, one a senior and the other a sophomore. "Before they run scared and fear the worst, look at what the school is doing positively, like Challenge Day," Johnson said referring to an anti-conflict program that brings students closer together. "What people seem to be clinging to are the negativities," she said. School presence not seen Laney said there's little to suggest these gangs of young men are doing anything more than emulating the gang-member lifestyle. There's no evidence of illegal activity in the schools, Laney said. "We don't know what goes on outside of school," Laney said. "I can't say they have weapons." In the April 13 shooting that lead to the death of Castro and Garcia, police said, an AK-47 automatic assault rifle was used to fire at the sport utility vehicle in which Castro and Garcia were riding, Columbia police reports show. The firefight stemmed from a dispute at a birthday party in Columbia, though officials have declined to release what the fight was about. A 22-year-old Columbia man, Javoris Deray Sparkman, who was one of four people arrested in the shooting, claims to be a member of the Vikings, an offspring of a predominantly black gang known as Folk Nation. The Vikings have a presence in Maury, Davidson and Rutherford counties that sometimes spills into Williamson, authorities said. Pictures of Castro found on the Internet and circulated among his friends show him and others flashing hand signs associated with the Hispanic gang known as SUR-13. According to Insideprison.com, an independent research site on criminal justice issues, SUR-13 is a street gang that exists in all major cities. It's widely believed that such gangs originate in prisons, where membership affords protection from other inmate populations. In Franklin's Cadet neighborhood off Liberty Pike, where Juan Castro lived, few neighbors would comment publicly about any gang activity in the area because of fear. Many neighbors said they were well aware of an increase in police surveillance. A bright blue 13 on a stop sign in the neighborhood and more gothic-style writing on a drainage culvert in the Franklin neighborhood identify SUR-13. In Lebanon in Wilson County, police have seen similar signs of gang activity in federal housing. Two of the city's three murders last year are believed to be gang related, said Lebanon Police Chief Scott Bowen. While police have seen an increase in robberies and shootings that have gang connections, they have not heard of a real gang presence in the school system. Most of the gang members who commit crimes in Lebanon are not from there, he said. "It seems like when Metro cracks down, it pushes them to us," Bowen said. "We're seeing more and more people come up to our projects from Nashville to deal their drugs and do their business." Staff writer Mitchell Kline contributed to this report. Contact Christina E. Sanchez at cesanchez@tennessean.com or 726-5961. Contact Maria Giordano at mgiordano@tennessean.com or 771-5425.

3 candidates quit race for Metro school board

Incumbent Thompson cites career needs By JAIME SARRIO • Staff Writer (tennessean) • April 11, 2008 A veteran incumbent and two other candidates dropped out of the Metro Nashville school board race Thursday. Board member George Thompson, who represents District 1, would have faced Sharon Gentry, a health-care executive and wife of former Vice Mayor Howard Gentry, and other opponents. District 9 candidates Sonny Farmer and former Metro Councilman John Summers also withdrew Thursday. Thompson, initially elected in 1996, cited "personal and professional reasons" for pulling out of the Aug. 7 election. He represents the Bordeaux and North Nashville area. "We're in a new environment, and personally I see the load of the board members getting heavier," he said. "I feel I am up to the challenge, but it's become more and more time, and I need to focus on my law practice." The election comes at a pivotal time for the 75,000-student school district. The new board will have to pick a new director of schools, and the district is in poor standing and faces sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind education law. Open mind praised Longtime educator and Nashville School of the Arts Principal Bob Wilson knew Thompson as a board member and a parent. Thompson's daughter was an accomplished dancer at NSA. Wilson said the representative was always approachable and willing to listen, and he hopes future leaders approach the job with an open mind and a willingness to try new things. "I'd like to see someone who comes in with ideas that are not too traditional, because a lot of the traditional stuff isn't working," Wilson said. Barry Barlow and William D. Mason Jr. also are running in Thompson's district. Summers said he decided not to run in District 9 because he did not want to take time away from his wife and 5-year-old child.