Tag: Andy Spears

Over 1,400 Metro Nashville Teachers, Staff Scoff at Proposed Three Percent Raise, Call Out Sick Friday

Jason M. Reynolds

More than 1,400 Metro Nashville Public Schools teachers and school staff scoffed at receiving a 3 percent pay raise and called out sick Friday, WKRN said. A total of 1,093 teachers and over 400 staff members from at least 18 schools called out. McGavock High School was one of the hardest hit, with 125 of 141 teachers staying home, WKRN said. Metro Nashville Public Schools denied all the absences were due to the strike. Mayor David Briley proposed a 3 percent raise during his State of Metro speech Tuesday, WKRN said. Teachers had demanded a 10 percent increase. The proposed city budget is $2.33 billion, a 4.55 percent increase over the current year, Nashville Public Radio said. Briley is calling for $101.5 million in new spending, with most going to Metro Schools ($28.2 million), salaries ($23.3 million) and debt service ($44.1 million). Mayoral candidate Carol Swain said in a press release she stands with the 1,400-plus teachers. “MNPS’s sickout is another glaring symptom of a broken system,” Swain said. “As Nashville’s next mayor, I would work with teachers, parents, school board members and other stakeholders to identify and creatively address the broken system where teachers and low-wage employees have become afterthoughts.…

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Trump Resister Encouraging Illegal Teacher Strikes in Tennessee Has Links to a Left-Wing Organization That Received Funding from George Soros

Laura Baigert

An activist group, Tennessee Education Report, has ramped up its efforts in encouraging teachers in the state to strike through a series of three posts in as many weeks on its blog, as The Tennessee Star reported. Andy Spears is the head of the Tennessee Education Report. “Teachers in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Los Angeles have experienced some level of success in recent strikes. Teachers in Virginia were on strike today. These strikes have earned the support of parents and community members and have yielded tangible results both in terms of new investments in schools and increased political power for teachers,” Spears wrote in a January article titled, “When are teacher strikes coming to Tennessee?” “Here in Tennessee, however, teachers have yet to strike. In fact, it’s difficult to find serious discussion of a strike. Sure, our investment in schools is less now than when Bill Haslam took over ($67 less per student in inflation-adjusted dollars). And yes, our teachers earn among the lowest salaries in the region with no significant improvement in recent years. Oh, and our own Comptroller says we’re at least $500 million short of what we need to adequately fund schools. A closer look…

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Is a Teacher Strike Looming in Tennessee?

Admin

Teachers’ strikes in Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia last year, as well as a walkout in Denver last month, have raised questions about whether Tennessee teachers might pursue a similar course. Now, a new activist group seeking to encourage teachers to engage in a work stoppage in Tennessee, has some policy makers wondering whether a teacher strike could happen sooner rather than later. In fact, the Tennessee Education Report, run by liberal Democrat activist Andy Spears, appears to be encouraging a teacher strike in the state with four recent “calls for action.” Teacher strikes have been illegal in Tennessee since 1978, but they are also unlawful in other states where teachers walked off their jobs. Teachers in Tennessee who participated in a strike would be subject to discipline, up to and including the loss of their jobs. Last year, when the prospects of a teachers’ strike in Tennessee arose, Tennessee Education Association (TEA) lobbyist Jim Wrye dismissed the threat posed by Tennessee law saying that if a large number of teachers walk off the job “you can’t fire everybody.” One of the activists promoting the strike agenda is also not dissuaded by the letter of the law. “They aren’t…

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Tennessee Department of Education Runs Into Another Glitch In Delivering Standardized Test Results

Wendy Wilson

  The Tennessee Department of Education has hit yet another snag in getting spring standardized test results to school districts. Questar, the vendor for TNReady tests, is having problems with its scanning software used to grade paper exams. The state was already having problems with delivering raw scores, partly because some districts missed the deadline to turn in completed tests. As a result, some districts are not using test scores to calculate final grades for report cards. This is the fourth year that the state has had some type of issue with standardized testing. Last year, there were so many problems with the testing itself that the state terminated its contract with Measurement, Inc. and signed a contract with Questar. “We understand the importance of having the raw scores to communicate information to educators, students, and families, and we apologize for the inconvenience our delays have caused TDOE and our district partners in getting this information on the timeline we committed to months ago,” Brad Baumgartner, chief partner officer for Questar, said in a statement. Education commissioner Candice McQueen said in an email to school superintendents on Thursday that nearly all scores for high school EOC exams were available, but that…

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