Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed JC Bowman of Professional Educators of Tennessee in studio to comment on Tennessee’s new commissioner of education.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Professional Educators of Tennessee’s head, JC Bowman to review the recent NAEP scores revealing little progress since 1970 inception.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Dad Gone Wild blogger TC Weber in studio to talk about Governor Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn’s record on Tennessee education.
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Tennessee’s new public school funding program, the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, continues to move forward and soon rulemaking for the program will begin a review by Tennessee’s Attorney General before publication for 90 days on the Secretary of State’s website.
While many details of TISA were spelled out in legislation passed in April and signed into law in May by Gov. Bill Lee, rulemaking is required to give more detailed specifics on how the funding formula will operate. Those rules passed the Tennessee State Board of Education’s review before moving on to the Attorney General review.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Proclaiming Justice to the Nation’s Laurie Cardoza-Moore in the studio to enunciate their continuing mission against critical race theory and anti-semitic K5 curriculum.
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Live from Music Row, Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – guest host Cunningham welcomed Robin Steenman of Moms for Liberty-Williamson County to the newsmaker line. Leahy: I am joined on our newsmaker line now by our good friend Robin Steenman, head of Moms for Liberty, also head of Williamson Family PAC. Our lead story at The Tennessee Star this morning. Moms for Liberty Critical Race Theory Complaint Against Williamson County Schools Rejected by Tennessee Department of Education. Robin, what’s your reaction to that? Steenman: Disappointment, Michael. It’s a dodge. Leahy: Well, it’s exactly my thought as well Robin. Steenman: Right. If you read the letter itself from Commissioner Penny Schwinn it says, please note that in declining to investigate these claims, the department has not made a determination regarding the merits of these allegations. It’s a dodge and kids are involved. Kids are in the balance and they chose to not even look at the merits. Leahy: The law prohibiting the teaching of basically 14 tenants of Critical Race Theory and K-12 public schools in Tennessee was passed…
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton to the newsmakers line to reiterate Monday’s press conference as Tennessee stands united on COVID and education.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Mayor Andy Ogles to the studio to reexamine his successful stifling of the well-being initiative that was instigated by Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn.
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Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn promised to publish educator guidance on the state’s critical race theory ban by August 1. The ban was first proposed in the Tennessee General Assembly by State Representative John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge). The law itself doesn’t mention critical race theory by name, but it does address the theory’s tenets and practices at length.
Schwinn revealed the plan to issue guidance in an exclusive interview with Chalkbeat on Wednesday. The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) guidance will also address the question of how the commissioner would uphold the ban, including a complaint evaluation process and financial penalty system. Ragan’s amendment noted that the commissioner would determine how much state funding to withhold for violations.
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Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn’s husband works for the company that benefited from an $8.06 million reading initiative contract.
Apparently, Commissioner Schwinn keeps it all in the family. As The Tennessee Star reported last fall, sources claimed that Schwinn imported former colleagues from Texas when she assumed her role within TDOE. They also claimed that they were subjected to hiring freezes and pressure to slash budgets, though Schwinn had no problem with maintaining the six-figure salaries for her imports.
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 The Tennessee Department of Education has withdrawn a $1 million initiative to conduct well-being checks for all children in Tennessee from birth to age 18 after the program sparked uproar this week, with critics calling it a big-brother government overreach.
Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Dr. Penny Schwinn released the Child Wellbeing Check Toolkit during a news conference Tuesday. As originally published, the initiative recommended well-being checks for all children in the state to verify well-being as school closures have left gaps for nutrition, health, and abuse reporting services amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles to the show to discuss the Tennessee Department of Education’s new “wellness liaisons” that can check up on children at schools and at their homes.
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Tennessee’s Department of Education has announced $15 million in matching grants to help school districts provide MiFi devices and data coverage for 100,000 student households without internet access. MiFi devices access the internet over the cellular network using a procedure commonly referred to as “tethering.”
Funds will go to school districts as a matching grant to provide an estimated 100,000 households with internet access for distance learning amid the coronavirus pandemic. Priority will be given to households most in need.
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