The Kingsport BOE voted 4-0 last night to stand in the way of Republican and conservative public education policy. In short, they voted as a block of Democrats.
Terribly unwise. Those are about the only words I have for what the Kingsport BOE passed last night. I couldn’t disagree more with that vote. Taking our system and placing it in direct opposition to the Republican governor’s and Republican Presidential-elect’s agendas is likely going to have negative downstream affects which we cannot account for. Do you think that the President-elect and Governor know that Kingsport is trying to torpedo their plan? I don’t know if they know now, but they will at some point find out. When they do, good luck finding additional funding or favors on anything else. This was a fool’s errand.
We are a Republican district – deeply red. In bouncing this off of some Republican folks last night, I didn’t find anyone who thought this maneuver was wise. There was little support for this vote. In fact, one person (who had voted for every person on that board) said they wouldn’t be voting again for anyone who was a part of this. They BOE has misread the room – badly. Those were four, blue state votes.
As for SpEd, I am a long time SpEd parent and have been a teacher of many, many SpEd students. Using students who are in Special Education as your shield is especially egregious. Get a grip. Don’t use our most at-risk students as a prop in order to scare families. Shame on the board for using that card. That is beyond disgusting. Our students in Special Education are being over-assessed. Without fighting tooth and nail, our students in Kingsport don’t have the same access to regular classrooms as found in other districts. The default has often been a self-contained SpEd classroom for many. Kingsport is waaaaaay behind other districts in terms of inclusion and mainstreaming in many of our buildings. And those are facts! How do I know that? Our family consistently has to challenge preconceived norms. Thankfully, we have had many SpEd teachers and some admin who have worked on our behalf. But folks, it has been bad enough that we actually had to seek legal counsel at one point. How about talking about SpEd policy in some of our meetings instead of conveniently using those families to make a poorly constructed point?
As for whether we have school choices in Kingsport? No, we don’t. We do not have a K-12 option in Kingsport for private education. We have to drive to Blountville or Johnson City or Whitesburg. I have thoroughly laid out community concerns in previous posts which have been promised to be addressed, and simply have not. Right now, our families are having to deal with educrats at ASC who simply have lost connection with the community. Students are losing gobs of valuable instruction time as we are now preparing for the test that prepares for the test, i.e. we are preparing for quarterly benchmarks which prepare us for TCAP. The delivery of these assessments alone is gobbling up valuable time. Our school were closed against the direct will of the people during COVID – we had no choice in that matter.
I couldn’t disagree more with the Kingsport Board of Education’s stance and their political maneuvering. This isn’t what we voted for. We will certainly remember that when the next two election cycles are held. I urge you to contact your BOE and express your displeasure with making Kingsport an impediment to Republican policy.
This was not a conservative vote last night, but a vote for the liberal policies of the past two Democrat Presidencies. This country resoundingly spoke this past November. It rejected liberal policy. Last night, the Kingsport BOE embraced some of the very policies that we voted against in November.
Lastly, less than five years ago the Kingsport BOE locked our students out of KCS buildings for nearly a year and a half, and now they are concerned that families might want other school options and alternatives? That’s rich.
ProTip: Our family has a history of promoting the well being of the people in our Special Education TRI communities. We have met with district attorneys, state senators, Tennessee School Board presidents, more administrators than I can count, teachers, families, social workers, liaisons, mayors, school boards, and BMA members. We have even received timely and very much appreciated help from Governor Lee’s office during COVID in order to get schools open here – which provided families and students with choices. Students in SpEd suffered mightily during those closures, and our governor and his administration worked specifically on their behalf to get them back into school. Please do not use families with children (in Special Education) to make a point. Be their advocates and champions. Be there for them every day, every meeting, every decision. SpEd families desperately want more choices. Let’s talk about that for a change.
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