SUPERINTENDENT SPOTLIGHT: Jennifer Fields (Campbell County)

The Superintendent Spotlight for March is Jennifer Fields from Campbell County Schools. She has been the Director of Schools in her district for one year.

Ms. Fields has had a very busy first year, and she shared some of the exciting things taking place in Campbell County Schools:

• Improving the safety of our schools by adding two additional SROs and three additional nurse positions. Our district now has a full-time SRO at each of our 13 schools as well as 11 schools that have a full-time or part-time nurse.

• Building the capacity of our teachers through high quality professional development in standards aligned instruction in all content areas, portfolio training, and implementation of Unit Starters.

• Empowering and promoting leadership through the district's new Aspiring Leader Academy and our Teacher Leader Network.

• Leadership support opportunities for administrators have been implemented. We proudly have principals and an assistant principal participating in GASL, the Rural Principal Network, and the Turn Around Principal Cohort.

• The Ayers Institute is delivering Instructional Coaching Training to the academic coaches that have been placed in each school in the district.

• Early Post Secondary Opportunities are being increased through the addition of CTE classes being offered and providing transportation to our students who wish to take classes at TCAT.

WOW! Keep up the amazing work, Ms. Fields!

“The favorite part of my job is visiting schools and supporting my students, teachers, and staff. I want each and every one of them to feel valued and encouraged. I am my happiest and most fulfilled when I am helping and building up others.”

“It is difficult to say I have a favorite memory since this is my first year as director and everything is actually in the present, but a very special moment for me was hiring an excellent assistant principal who was also a former student of mine. As a product of the Campbell County School System and 26 year educator in the district serving as a teacher, assistant principal, middle school principal, and now director or schools, I am deeply connected to this community and am honored to serve in this capacity.”

Platinum Partner Spotlight: American Fidelity

American Fidelity specializes in providing services and benefits specially designed to help you and your employees save time, money and manage expenses. They deliver a single source for comprehensive, customized benefit solutions for both employers and employees. American Fidelity can help streamline your employees’ benefit and enrollment experience by offering one source for employee education, group meetings and enrollment. They offer multiple, flexible options when it comes to handling your enrollment to maximize both you and your employees’ time. Their complete benefit enrollment solutions were designed to assist school employers like you with the management of the entire enrollment process.  By partnering with them, you get the full enrollment support you need.

American Fidelity currently services 30% of Tennessee’s school systems, and have been a loyal Platinum Partner to TOSS for many years!

“Houston County has worked with American Fidelity Assurance Company for over ten years. The agents that work in our district are knowledgeable, professional and work hard to make sure our employees understand the benefits we offer. Our employees are appreciative of the time spent with them during enrollment each year. They are willing to sit down with each employee and educate them regarding every benefit that is available.

Our benefits would highly recommend them. They are always just a phone call or email away and will always make sure every issue is resolved. Often times they will just stop by the office or call to check and make sure we aren’t having any problems. The work they are will to put into enrollment each year saves our staff lots of time.”

- Kris McAskill, Director of Schools, Houston County Schools

If you would like to learn more about American Fidelity, you can reach out to their representative Scott Long at 615-224-3082, 800-955-2344, or scott.long@americanfidelity.com.

SUPERINTENDENT SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Donna Wright (Wilson County)

Our first Superintendent Spotlight of 2019 is Dr. Donna Wright of Wilson County Schools. She has served as the superintendent in her district for 5 years.

Wilson County’s "Name, Strength, and Need" focus as a platform to differentiate learning for students has really taken, as teachers have moved to a personalized concept of knowing every student, identifying strengths, and determining their need(s). Dr. Wright’s charge is for every teacher to KNOW each student and identify what they do well before they ever address their needs.

Wilson County is in the second year of bringing Curriculum and Instructional Technology together as a collective partnership. Curriculum leaders work with instructional technology, challenging teachers to share lesson plans and best practices. They now have a robust repository which houses teacher lessons accessible by all educators. During the summer of 2018, their Science Coordinator teamed with master science teachers and instructional technology to build master science courses in their learning management system. Master Science teachers were trained by IT to identify copyright restriction, use a learning management system, and successfully collect and house digital resources enhancing instruction. Currently, Wilson County K-12 teachers use the master courses to guide learning in their classroom. They are now in the midst of creating Master Courses for K-12 Social Studies. Both groups recognize the positive impact of blending technological resources with academic instruction to create a viable tool for teachers. The collaborative effort has supported the creation of a district-wide benchmarking process using Google Classroom. They have also made their instructional resources available to other districts, accessing through their LMS.

FUN FACT: Dr. Wright taught country music star KENNY CHESNEY! Can’t wait to hear stories about that.

Platinum Partner Spotlight: Five Points Benefits Solutions, LLC

Five Points is an employee benefits broker. They are independent and work for their clients, not a particular insurance company. They are specialized to the schools market, where they help you steward resources and “Do More with Less.” Their clients have dedicated, salary-based account managers and on-staff compliance and risk management resources available to them. In addition, they receive free access to solutions such as a proprietary state health plan, plan design, and school budget analysis tools, Affordable Care Act and OPEB liability resources, and benefits related technology through MyBenefitsChannel including online enrollment/benefits administration.

They consider it a privilege to do business with about 100 public sector clients in TN, the vast majority of which are schools including Jackson-Madison, Wilson, Murfreesboro City, Lebanon Special, Cheatham, Loudon, Greene, Clay, Chester, Crockett, Dyersburg, Gibson Special, Hawkins, Bradley, Obion, and Robertson districts.

"With the guidance and support of Five Points Benefits Solutions, we have been successful in maintaining high quality benefits for our employees at competitive prices. Five Points has served our group for over 3 years as an independent benefits broker. The tools they use to serve us, like MyBenefitsChannel, help us “do more with less,” a challenge to public sector employers like us. The dedicated account manager is a helpful extension of our internal staff for all areas of employee benefits.They have shown us they are committed to claims resolution, timely service, and regular communication. We appreciate the role they play in helping us provide employee benefits that attract and retain employees while achieving our budgetary goals. Even though we are on the state health plan, Five Points serves as our broker for dental and vision as well as voluntary benefits through USAble. We are pleased with our decision to purchase dental and vision through the private market, after Five Points competitively shopped, because we have saved money and increased the benefits. It’s a win for everyone."

—Kay Emerson, Lexington City Board of Education, Payroll/Insurance

For more information, reach out to James Smith (Five Points CEO/Founder) at james.smith@fivepb.com.

SUPERINTENDENT SPOTLIGHT: Shawn Kimble (Lauderdale County)

Shawn Kimble has been the Director of Schools in Lauderdale County for 6 years.

Like many other districts, Lauderdale County is offering its students a growing number of Early Post-Secondary Opportunities. Students in the system are piling up dozens of hours of college credits before they graduate high school. Efforts are being made to expand CTE offerings while increasing the number of opportunities for industry credentials and work-ethic certification. New partnerships are being made with the local TCAT to expand dual enrollment offerings to students which have not previously been offered in our county. In addition, middle and high schools in the county have become more engaged in college/career readiness while focusing on initiatives to teach the soft skills needed for success.

Lauderdale County Schools is working strategically to implement quality, aligned curricula which uses complex materials to support instruction. The system has focused on flexible scheduling in early grades that provides extended learning time for whole group, small group, and intervention. Students in K-2 receive up to a total of 240 minutes of reading and intervention time per day. Significant progress has been measured in Pre-K where students also spend up to 2 hours per day with embedded literacy activities.

One of the most exciting initiatives currently underway in Lauderdale County Schools is the mental health and wellness initiative called AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education). Lauderdale County AWARE partners with parents, youth, and community stakeholders, to design and implement a multi-tiered, interconnected framework that guides delivery of universal prevention, targeted intervention, and intensive school-based mental health services. A plan has been developed to implement the following prevention and intervention strategies:

1. Implement evidence-based violence prevention programs

2. Develop mental health awareness and outreach campaigns as well as youth and family engagement strategies

3. Establish early identification and referral processes to connect youth to appropriate services including mental health services by a licensed provider

4. Place mental health clinicians in schools to deliver effective, targeted and intensive interventions and referrals

5. Refine school discipline policies to reduce loss of instructional time and removals from school due to suspension and expulsion

6. Place licensed social workers in schools to address student need as a prevention for crisis intervention

“In the role of superintendent, you can sometimes lose sight of the forest for the trees. Every time I step into a school and engage with students, teachers, and administrators, it re-energizes me and reminds me why I come back each day. I am blessed to work in a great school system and alongside passionate employees who put children first.

I have so many fond memories from my time as superintendent, but the one thing that I enjoy most is signing each graduate's diploma and being on stage to congratulate them. Graduation is such a special time for our students and their families and I am blessed and honored to share just a small piece of it with each of them.”