Northside Elementary School had a special visitor last Friday, when the Tennessee Commissioner of Education, Dr. Penny Schwinn, took a tour of the school and visited with a few of the students.
Accompanying Dr. Schwinn during her visit was Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, Northside Elementary School Principal Karen Knowles, Assistant NES Principal Beth Pafford, and members of the central office staff including Supervisors of Instruction Dr. Kathy Bryant and Michelle Burklow, and Federal Programs Supervisor Dr. Danielle Collins.
During the tour, Dr. Schwinn visited several classrooms and even took part in music class playing some instruments along with the students.
“I am thrilled to be here," Commissioner Schwinn said. "Its been a wonderful visit. We are here [Northside], and were at Cannon County a little bit earlier, but I want to make sure I am able to see what is actually happening in schools and not just sit in a building in Nashville. To talk to principals, teachers, superintendents and students so we can better serve them.”
Commissioner Schwinn said that the past couple of school years have been a challenge but she likes what she sees in DeKalb. “It's a lot of folks doing really, really hard work this year, overcoming challenge after challenge but keeping the focus on students and that is exactly what you want to see. Our focus has got to be on kids. That’s what we saw in every classroom in this building. That's exactly where we want to be in Tennessee.”
With the Covid-19 pandemic putting a strain on students and educators, Commissioner Schwinn said she can see things getting closer to normal, but there are still challenges from the affects of social distancing and remote learning.
"I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel," Commisioner Schwinn continued. "It's going to be a hard push to the end of the year. We're working towards summer programs, but next year we are working towards getting back to normal. That's where we need to be. That's where our students and their families want to be."
“You've got students who have been in quarantine who maybe have not had internet access who have been in and out of school buildings and all of them are progressing differently. We want to make sure we are providing them with what they need to be able to not just get to where we would always want them to be but to accelerate for next year.”
Commisioner Schwinn said that virtual learning for the most part has not been as effective, and it has many students behind. “At the elementary level its really though. We’ve seen that its been a little more successful on the high school space statewide, but its really hard for little kids to learn on a computer and not have that adult support right there. That’s why we are really focusing on making sure that families and students feel comfortable being in school buildings so that when we are in person fully next year folks are able to really dive in.”
Commisioner Schwinn also addressed concerns that this year's graduation rate may be down due to the pandemic and virtual learning. “We are expecting some challenges with graduation rates especially for those students who are virtual," she said. "A lot of them have looked for jobs or become engaged in other things and its been hard to bring them back so we’re seeing a lot of investment coming into alternative programs. Can we offer more courses at night? Can we do more online courses for catch up? Remediation and support will be in place. It won’t impact the school district’s funding. We will still fund regardless of what their performance is but we really want to make sure that for those students who are not as engaged especially in the high school space there are a lot of options for them to get back on track.”
During Commisioner Schwinn's visit, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps was able to express concerns he and local educators have over virtual learning, testing, and the need for bus drivers.
"One thing about Commisioner Schwinn is she is always willing to listen," Director Cripps said. "We told her what some of our concerns are with what is going on with education and where it is headed. She listened to us and said it's not falling on deaf ears."
"We are facing a teacher shortage, and bus driver shortages," Director Cripps continued. "We also talked about the amount of testing we have to do and how it is compressed at the end of the year, and also all the plans we have to write each year and how much time it takes to write those plans, and how much time it takes away from supervisors being in the buildings and not being able to get out and go throughout the buildings to see what is going on with the kids, and for them to see their face."
"I talked to her about virtual learning, the challenges we have had to face with that. The number of students not completing work or failing classes, and the concerns I have for graduation rate where we have high school students not getting credit. I appreciate the fact that she was willing to listen to what we had to say,” said Director Cripps.
