TOSS April Feature on Reecha Black

“A true ‘teacher’ loves children and feels the responsibility of giving students instruction, both academically and emotionally, as a teacher would do for his/her own child. Teaching is about relationships and trust. Students will not learn or relate to any adult who they perceive doesn’t care for them.”

— Reecha Black

It is always an extra blessing when you can work and have fun in a professional position that you enjoy. When I asked Ms. Reecha Black, director of Alamo City Schools, what the most fun thing was about her job she stated, "The children's faces. No Matter what is going on in your life," she continued, "just go visit the kids. My office is on campus, so I have the pleasure of seeing children every day." Not surprisingly, these wonderful students are soaring just like the main character in Ms. Black’s favorite book to read to them, Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss . Exciting things are happening in Alamo City. “Alamo City District does not use textbooks,” states Ms. Black. “Teachers are required to teach each standard three ways and a textbook may be used as one of those tools. We have a 1:1 ratio of student to computers and many online resources are provided for teachers to us in instruction.” Also, the district “is working on full implementation of RTI² for 2014-15 and we are excited about the challenges and opportunities these services will bring to teachers and students.” Ms. Black shares, “Student achievement is high, even though we are almost 70% free/reduced lunch. This is a direct reflection of administrators and teachers constantly striving for excellence, not because of a test score but because of student growth and achievement.”

Reecha Black has been in education thirty plus years, having taught or substituted in every grade. “I have always loved teaching and if asked what I do, I will answer proudly that I am a teacher. I don’t believe that individuals can be taught to teach, it is a gift.” Some of the other gifts stemming from Ms. Black’s involvement in education are the opportunities that come with having a small district. I have my hands on all the data and curriculum. I’m a data freak and I might not know every face, but I know what level they are functioning on and I am in constant communication with administrators and teachers in providing new opportunities for change. Because of the small numbers and rural area, we can provide many different non-educational services for students and their families. We have three different funds established to pay for indigent student/family needs. We work with churches and civic groups to assure that all students have holiday gifts. We purchase glasses, clothing, etc. We attempt to meet all needs of individual students and this would not be possible in larger districts. I meet students I taught or have been through Alamo City District and I can see the difference we have made in their lives.

Not only has Ms. Black been contributing to the Alamo City District as an educator for more than thirty years, she is also director in the town she grew up in. When asked if she believes this is an advantage or a disadvantage, she states, “Yes and no.” She goes on to explain, I love that I have taught many of the students’ parents and know them personally. I know where they live and I can visit them at home or find churches or organizations to help them with many of their needs. The parents and former students know they can ask me for anything. The superintendency is a lonely job and it can be hard when you must make decisions concerning your friends and family. You are with these people in all sorts of circumstances. I have lost friends due to decisions I have made in this position. When putting children first, you consistently have to make decisions especially about hiring/firing that are not popular.

It seems that Ms. Black has learned healthy ways to integrate the positive and the more challenging aspects of being a superintendent. When asked about any advice or tips she may have for new directors she states, when you walk out the door, to the best of your ability, leave it there. Let it go. You cannot physically or emotionally survive if you take the problems and situations with you. The responsibility of students, parents, and teachers is overwhelming and will control your existence in every way, if you allow it to do so. At the beginning of my role as superintendent, my Dad told me to remember that if I didn’t return to tomorrow, school will still go on, the district is bigger than one person. The role of superintendent is a lonely place. You need to form relationships with other superintendents. There will be times when they are the ones to whom you will turn for support and advice. Don’t be afraid to ‘borrow’ great ideas and bounce things off of others. There will always be something happening that you could have never anticipated. Never think you have ‘seen it all,’ because you cannot imagine the issues that will come your way. Learn to laugh.

One of the ways Ms. Black finds time for enjoyment outside of her position as Alamo’s superintendent is by spending time with her family. I have three daughters, with whom I am very close. We love to spend time together. When you put three girls together, it is like a reality show on television. There is never a dull moment. I have four grandchildren who are very active and I love to spend time with them. I just can’t keep all of them at one time. She also loves to read and does so every morning.

Other than books, Ms. Black names her parents as the biggest personal motivators in her life. I am your first generation college graduate, so not attending college was never an option. My parents taught me that success is possible through hard work and sacrifice. [Also] Our teachers inspire me. I watch them diligently strive to improve and change, even though so many aspects of a child’s education are beyond their control. I have so much respect for teachers and I am amazed at what I see happening in the classroom. Anyone visiting our school will notice the hard work and dedication of the staff. I am blessed to have the best, even though it is hard to work in the Alamo City District because the expectations are high. It doesn’t matter what is asked of teachers, they are continually striving to meet the needs of students, even if it means changing what they are doing midstream. They embrace change and trust us to make decisions on their behalf, which are in the best interest of the children. Teachers work daily to stay afloat during these turbulent times, never stopping or making excuses. I am inspired by other Tennessee superintendents, overcoming obstacles daily and yet continuing to put students first, in providing the best education possible. These superintendents are some of my closest friends. I value their experience and the camaraderie we all share.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! By Dr. Seuss

TOSS March Feature on Cindy Blevins

 

“I learned from her that a smile costs you nothing but effort and you receive something money can never buy in return.” – Cindy Blevins

Cindy Blevins, Richard City Schools Director, began her career in education as a special education aide. She has been in the education field for ten years and superintendent at Richard City Schools for the past two years. Richard City K-12 is housed in the historical Richard Hardy Memorial School building. When asked about some of the advantages/challenges to having this age range of students in the same building Ms. Blevins answered, “Being a K-12 school you get to watch each student grow from kindergarten to graduation. RHMS faculty, staff, and students are like family. Our class sizes are small [and] everyone chips in to make things work.” Some of the challenges Ms. Blevins described were those of making schedules work with small faculty/staff. “We all wear multiple hats.” Also, “As always, making our money stretch as far as possible is a constant challenge.”

Ms. Blevins favorite children's book is The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.

Some of the exciting things happening in the Richard City school system right now have to do with technology. “Our school system was very fortunate to be able to purchase 100 much needed computers this year. This will free up enough computers to complete our Elementary computer lab! Also, Richard Hardy Memorial School will “start an early college expansion with our juniors next year.” As the students continue to grow through the use of technology and a valuable connection to their futures by experiencing learning in the college classroom for the first time, I wanted to ask Ms. Blevins about a past experience where she watched a student grow that had impacted her life.  She shared with me about a student she’s never forgotten. “I worked with a student that had a physical disability that kept her wheelchair bound. Each day she came to school with a smile and greeted each person with a big ‘Good Morning.’ No matter how your morning started out, you’d always catch yourself giving a smile back and returning her morning greeting. I learned from her that a smile costs you nothing but effort and you receive something money can never buy in return.”

When asked some advice she would give new directors, Ms. Blevins relates, “There is never a ‘dumb question.’ The job is always changing and challenging. Rely on your peers for help and get advice from veteran directors.” Ms. Blevins shared that it was her favorite teacher that taught her growing up who was the first to congratulate her upon her appointment as director. “My favorite teacher taught me that with a good education you can achieve what you want in life.” Seeing that Ms. Blevins was encouraged by good leaders in her life, I asked her how she keeps her own staff encouraged and uplifted, “I never ask any more of them than I’m not willing to do myself.”

When Ms. Blevins has time to relax outside of work she does so through farming. “I enjoy helping on our small cattle farm.” She states that South Pittsburg, TN “has a small, hometown feel, but [is] close enough to a big city if anything is needed. Our city has the National Cornbread Festival that everyone helps with.” Ms. Blevins would someday like to visit Germany because of her ancestry connections there and is looking forward to spring – “spring brings a revitalization of nature and the human spirit.”

Richard Hardy Memorial School -- A Piece of History

Richard Hardy Memorial School opened in 1926 as the Dixie Portland Memorial School, bearing the original name of the company, at a cost of approximately three hundred thousand dollars. Considered a memorial to the community's soldiers who served in World War I, the company spared no expense to ensure a modern and progressive building that would serve as a model school promoting the highest standards of education. To meet these high standards, Penn-Dixie employed nationally respected education specialist Fletcher B. Dresslar of the George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville in an advisory capacity. Chattanooga architect Charles Bearden designed the building in Classical Revival style. Richard Hardy used personal funds to purchase books for the library and an art collection, as well as other educational tools. By providing progressive education, Hardy hoped that the entire community would benefit. When it opened in 1926 and for many years after, the school was hailed as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the country and was used as a "model school" by teachers, administrators, school builders, and communities.Upon Hardy's death in 1927, the name of the school changed to the Richard Hardy Memorial School.  In 1995 the school expanded by adding an additional freestanding building as well as the addition of grades nine through twelve. This distinctive building has retained much of its original character and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tenn. Schools Chief Digs Deep for STEM Learning

Tenn. Schools Chief Digs Deep for STEM Learning

By Liana Heitin

Last summer, about 100 public school teachers of all grade levels were scattered throughout the city of Clarksville, Tenn.—at the fire department, the mayor's office, an architecture firm, a metal-processing plant—shadowing business and government employees for a week at a time. The teachers spent their days learning practical, real-world skills, like how to fortify a cement structure or detect moisture in a high-vaulted ceiling, and brainstorming ways to incorporate what they were learning into their next year's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics lessons.

The externship program is the brainchild of B.J. Worthington, a 28-year veteran in the 31,000-student Clarksville-Montgomery County school system. Two years ago, by a unanimous school board vote and what some have described as popular demand from the community, Mr. Worthington, 53, became the director of schools (the district's title for superintendent) for the district, located about 50 miles northwest of Nashville. A former high school science teacher and principal, Mr. Worthington bolstered the district's STEM focus, spurred by a federal Race to the Top grant that he had helped win, and piloted the externship program with a small cohort of high school teachers that same summer.

Since he took over the district, it has received an additional $10 million in competitive grants from groups including the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity, which oversees the education of the children of members of the military. (About a quarter of the district's students have parents working at Fort Campbell, across the border in Kentucky.)

Jon Clark, a local architect, hosted several rounds of externs last summer. "We take them out to construction sites, show them how things are being put together, talk about what we do as architects," he said. "There were a lot of those moments where we're there sitting around the conference room, and you'd see the lightbulb go [on] and [a teacher] would say, 'Wow, I'm going to talk to my class about that.' "

Periodically, Mr. Clark said, Mr. Worthington would appear on site to visit with both the teachers and their new mentors. "He's a very hands-on superintendent of schools. He shows up, he's interested, he's game on, he's wanting to further his own education."

The externships are part of a larger math-science-integration initiative that began four years ago, when the district won $5 million in Race to the Top money for STEM innovation. Mr. Worthington, the chief academic officer at the time, led that initiative and devised a plan that, as he explains it, "would sustain us after the Race to the Top money was gone." The district piloted combination science and math classes at some grade levels, with an emphasis on project-based learning, or learning "challenges," in which students learn the science and math standards by identifying and resolving real-world problems that require the use of those skills. For instance, elementary students might have to build a flotation device to get a gingerbread man across water safely, or middle school students must find a way to remix concrete to make a weak beam stronger.

Now, the majority of teachers integrate their math and science lessons using such challenges, said Dale Rudolph, the district's STEM coordinator.

Solving Real Problems

For example, last summer, Donna Cooper, a 5th grade teacher at Sango Elementary School, externed with a project manager for the city of Clarksville. Since then, she's had her students work on finding creative ways to address bank erosion at a local marina—which she learned about through her job shadowing—using "the concepts of gravity, friction, mass, and potential and kinetic energy," she wrote in an email.

Lori Smith, the vice president of the Clarksville-Montgomery PTO and the mother of a 2nd and a 4th grader, said she's "a huge fan" of the integration initiative.

"What I see in the kids is it changes the way they think," she added. For example, she said, about a year ago, her son asked her what causes earthquakes. "I told him that the plates shift, and it causes the ground to move. And he said, 'Well, Mom, I don't understand that because the Earth is always moving because it's spinning and moving around the sun. So how is it that that movement is different than the plates in the Earth?' " she recalled. "He was 7."

According to Becky Jackman, the president of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Association, "Everybody knows STEM is [Mr. Worthington's] passion." In devising the subject-integration initiative, she said, he and other district leaders "looked at several other models, but they didn't just do anybody else's model, they tried to do what was best for our students and teachers."

With the Race to the Top grant, the district also began a high school STEM Academy—a school-within-a-school that has one teacher in each core subject and an engineer on staff. Students in the district who demonstrate aptitude in math and science can apply to attend the prestigious program.

The teachers there frame lessons around an essential question or theme. One year, students studied how food goes from "conception to consumption." They dissected a cow uterus, discussed cloning and artificial insemination, and read Temple Grandin's work on designs for handling livestock.

According to the district's accountability and assessment supervisor, Kimi Sucharski, Mr. Worthington's efforts have led to "greater than expected academic growth" in math and science for the district. From 2011-12 to 2012-13, the percentage of 8th grade students achieving grade-level mastery in science moved from 68 percent to 75 percent, and in math, it moved from 42 percent to 52 percent. Value-added scores, which measure growth in student achievement over the previous year, showed better than anticipated gains for grades 3 through 8 in both subjects.

To meet another one of Mr. Worthington's goals, of "100 percent graduation," the district has held symbolic graduation ceremonies, had students sign pledge cards, and worked to engage parents and business leaders to make a diploma a priority for students. The graduation rate climbed for several years before 2011-12 and has hovered around 95 percent on Mr. Worthington's watch. Ms. Smith said the schools' chief is still looking to improve it.

The 100 percent graduation initiative has received some pushback for being lofty, according to Elise Shelton, a district spokeswoman. However, she noted that it was a goal created "in conjunction with business leaders in the community. We all kept saying, 'If it is not all, then who do we exclude?'"

One thing stakeholders in the district seem to agree on is that Mr. Worthington has bridged the gap with the community in ways that are overall mutually beneficial. For instance, a requirement of teacher externs "is that they establish a relationship with the business and maintain it throughout the year," said Ms. Rudolph, the STEM coordinator. The business and community leaders "come into our schools and actually help our students with these science and math problems."

As Ms. Rudolph sees it, that's a win-win. The business leaders bring real-world expertise to classrooms, she said, "and we're building those 21st-century skills our business community has told us they want in our graduates."

Coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

Photo of BJ Worthington By Josh Anderson for Education Week

2014 Legislative and Learning Conference

TOSS February Feature on Dr. Buddy Bibb

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great  enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt

“I cannot remember any [teacher] who did not try to teach me valuable life lessons that have served me well over the years. I was blessed to have so many good teachers who challenged me and held me accountable.”

Find ways to keep a balance and reduce stress. Read the Bible and pray daily. Exercise daily. Get plenty of rest. Practice good nutrition. Read biographies/books on leadership. Spend time with family. Listen to your employees. This is a great list that resulted when I recently asked Dr. Buddy Bibb, superintendent of Tipton County Schools if he had any good advice or tips for new directors. Dr. Bibb has been in the education field for 35 years as a certified employee. He was first employed as a 7th and 8th grade Math teacher and girls' basketball coach in 1979. However, his service to education began even before when he was a student at Munford High School. "During the school year ... another student and I cleaned the cafeteria each day ... I also worked for the school system during the summer painting buildings." Dr. Bibb shared that his "first job in education was the summer prior to integration (1970)," when he was "hired, along with some other teenagers, to haul books from to school to school. I was paid one dollar an hour."

His relationship with education is one that is important to him, a loyal connection that continues today. When asked about some things that he was especially excited to have going on in his school system at this time Dr. Bibb shared that Tipton County students "are performing better every year." Examples of the students’ achievement can be found in their ACT scores which "are above state average (20.1 percent) and Tipton County's graduation rate which is above the state average as well at 97.7 percent." We have focused professional development specific to the needs of our system. Our new teachers are participating in COMP and the New Teacher Cohort. Tipton County is focusing on literacy by using the TN CORE reading professional development. Our goal is to have a great teacher in front of every classroom. We continue to have above average performance at below average cost (per pupil expenditure in $1, 087 below the state average).

Dr. Bibb continues to lead his students in reaching their goals and performing well in the classroom seeming to adhere to an ideal that was palpable when he was in school -- focusing on creating well rounded students. Dr. Bibb shared about the differences in student life between the hallways that students today walk and the ones he did back then. "Technology was not part of my educational experience as a student with the exception of an occasional film strip or microscope [and] there was not a great emphasis on test scores ... the focus was to create well-rounded students." In his quest to produce an education for his students that focuses on their well-being, I asked Dr. Bibb about a time when a student achieved or overcame something that stayed with him in an important way. "In my second year teaching, I taught 7th grade Tennessee History. I required my students to make/keep a Tennessee History notebook. Many of these former students who I have seen over the years have told me that they still have that notebook. They seem to be proud of what they made years ago."

When I asked Dr. Bibb what profession he would like to attempt if he were not a superintendent today, he shared that he would've liked to have tried law, politics, or real estate. He also shared an interesting answer about the oddest job he'd ever had that was balanced in both professionalism and in relationship to his family. "Appointing members of the School Board while I was employed by the School Board (Prior to the Education Improvement Act of 1992, school board members in Tipton county were appointed by the County Commission, of which I was a member (1982-2011) and performing the wedding ceremony of my daughter in June 2010.

Some things about Dr. Bibb that people might not readily know -- At the age of 25, I was elected as a Tipton County Commissioner and re-elected 7 more times (1986, 1990,1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010). For 25 years fellow commissioners elected me as the Chairman Pro Tem of the County Commission ... During these 29 years I voted for and we passed tax increases five times. Twice we doubled the wheel tax and three times we raised the property tax. The majority of this new revenue went to the school system.

When I asked Dr. Bibb about what a "perfect day" would look like for him, the first thing he mentioned is something that many, if not all, of us in TN would have in our "perfect days." "Plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures," he shared as it was 20 degrees at the time in Tipton County. He added, "Students achieving at high levels, learning new and relevant things from effective and enthusiastic teachers.” Dr. Bibb went on to say, “Parents very interested and engaged in what their children are doing in every aspect of their lives.” His perfect day would also include, “… playing and reading to my grandchildren – watching everything that is being absorbed in their young minds, spending time with my two children (his son, Eric, lives and works in Charlotte, NC and his daughter, Rachel, lives and works in Tipton County), and having a pleasant, uninterrupted, dinner date with my wife Sally.”

It is my hope that “perfect days” for Dr. Bibb do bloom out of this long winter. We here at TOSS are excited to see the continued positive affects as Dr. Bibb continues to sow into the students of Tipton County and the lasting legacy he will leave in Tennessee education.