Nashville Public School Teachers and Amazon Partner to Generate Ideas for Schooling Changes

The Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF), a Vanderbilt University-based schooling-policy nonprofit, this week announced the creation of its first twelve-member “Teacherpreneur cohort” to consider solutions to what the organization sees as major challenges in education. 

NPEF—which aligns itself with progressive causes like “culturally relevant curricula,” higher teacher pay and increased public-school funding—is creating its new program with financial support from the ubiquitous online merchant Amazon, which also owns the information-technology-platform company Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh Told Metro Nashville School Board ‘No Mask Mandates’ Last Week

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh of The Walsh Show confronted the Metro Nashville Public School Board last Tuesday night in Williamson County regarding the newly decided reimplementation of mask mandates for elementary students. Walsh in turn schooled the board with his speech of facts and referenced mask-wearing as a form of child abuse which gained cheers from other parents.

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Nashville Schools Mum on Security Director Under Investigation

Jimmy Wheeler

Metro Nashville Public Schools’ Director of School Security Jimmy Wheeler is on administrative leave, according to two news stations, and no one cares to say why. School system officials sent Wheeler a letter last week informing him he may not return to his workplace. He may not contact employees. He also may not attend work-related events while on leave, according to Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV. WSMV is thus far unable to find out why, exactly, this happened. Nashville’s CBS affiliate News Channel 5 doesn’t know the answer either, other than to cite “inappropriate conduct.” Nashville Metro School System spokeswoman Dawn Rutledge did not return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment on the matter Monday. The school board’s policies, meanwhile, do not seem to address under what circumstances a school district employee gets put on administrative leave. According to News Channel 5, school system officials made Wheeler their director of security in 2013. Before that, he was an officer with the Metro Nashville Police Department for 11 years. According to a 2013 school system newsletter, Wheeler brought more than 25 years of law enforcement experience to the job. He also had 14 years of supervisory experience before coming to the…

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Makes $285,000 Per Year, Has Outside Consulting Business, Taxpayer Provided Car, and Much More

Shawn Joseph

Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Shawn Joseph has a pretty sweet arrangement with his employer, according to his four-year contract, which began in 2016. He makes $285,000 a year. That salary, all courtesy of taxpayers, will never decrease — but it could increase. Joseph’s contract clearly states he must devote all his full working time to the school district and can have no other gainful employment — except for later in the contract when it says otherwise. Joseph, as the contract goes on, owns an LLC named Joseph and Associates. “The board agrees that the director is entitled to engage in outside professional activities, including writing, consulting, and lecturing, with or without honorarium, as long as such activities do not interfere with the performance of his duties as the director,” according to the contract. The school district did not return a request for comment Wednesday. Among the other luxuries in Joseph’s contract: • The school system pays for the medical, vision, and dental benefits for Joseph and his family — using the program of their choice. • Joseph gets a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, an answering machine, a printer, and a computer installed at his house. Taxpayers are billed…

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