VOL. 10 NO. 15
www.ShopperNewsNow.com |
April 13, 2016
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West High principal goes global
BUZZ Pond Gap memories Do you have fond memories of shopping at any of the dozen or so old-time neighborhood grocery stores that used to populate Sutherland Avenue from the 1930s to the ’60s in the Pond Gap and Marble City communities? In their day, stores like Noble Brook’s, Stansberry’s Market, J C Knott, Clyde King, Eula’s Cash Store, and others served their customers well. Contact David Williams, president of the Pond Gap Neighborhood Association, at 588-2268 or email dawill64@ yahoo.com
Marco Madness The Marco Madness Medieval Faire at Bearden High School looked like 14thcentury fun and games. But the event, hosted by the school, UT’s Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the Tennessee Medieval Faire, was also designed to “push back against the loud talk about STEM,� said Marco Institute director Tom Burman.
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West High School principal Katherine Banner. Photo by Wendy Smith
By Wendy Smith West High School principal Katherine Banner has always emphasized to students that they’re competing globally. Next fall, she’ll serve as an example when she becomes secondary school principal for the GEMS (Global Education Management System) American Academy of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. “What better way put my money where my mouth is,� she says. Banner, who has worked for Knox County Schools for 10 years, will retire at the end of the school year. She landed the new post after deciding to pursue international job opportunities. Her husband, Joe Smallman, has lived overseas, but she never has, and she thought the time was right. She nearly changed her mind when she learned that one of her daughters, Katie Johnson, is ex-
Read Wendy Smith on page A-3
The other guard Read the story of the other guard, Ed Molinski, Tennessee 1938-40, two-time All-American, College Football Hall of Fame. Robert Lee Suffridge was a bit more famous, a three-time All-American, recipient of the 1940 Knute Rockne Award as the most valuable lineman in the country.
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Read Marvin West on page A-4
pecting twins. But her daughters, who both live in Knoxville, encouraged her to accept the twoyear position. Being able to come home for winter holidays and summers helped Banner make the decision. She describes Abu Dhabi as being like Los Angeles without the pollution and the traffic. GEMS is a private American K-12 school with 2,000 students. Like West, it’s an International Baccalaureate (IB) school. Banner hopes to establish a partnership between the two schools. She’s been involved with IB education for 20 years. She was an IB teacher, administrator and parent in South Florida before coming to West five years ago during the first year of the school’s IB Diploma Program. She strongly believes that an IB education gives students a distinct advantage.
In addition to the implementation of the IB program, West has transitioned from being a traditional, compartmentalized high school to a Small Learning Community (SLC) high school. The change facilitated the creation of the Freshman Academy, which is designed to provide both rigor and support for new students. Pairing communities of students with communities of teachers keeps students from falling through the cracks, she says. This is the first year of West partnering with Bearden Middle School on the IB Middle Years Program (MYP), which spans grades 6 to 10. Unlike the IB Diploma Program for grades 11 and 12, which is elective, the MYP is for all students. Banner hopes MYP will result in greater participation in the diploma program.
“It builds confidence in being able to do more rigorous work. My great hope, when we got set to do MYP, was that it would level the playing field.� During her time at West, there have been continuous improvements in ACT scores, and IB scores are higher than the state average, she says. She’s also proud of renovations to the school’s lecture hall and the Doc Simpson weight training center and the new football field house. “It was a difficult decision to leave West because I love this school. It’s like turning your baby over to a babysitter.� At the same time, she feels that the school is in a good place because of the dedicated staff and parental support. “I feel like I am leaving West at a time when it is stable and on the path of continuous improvement.�
South schools: Turmoil spreads as Rountree seeks answers By Betty Bean With major problems at three South Knoxville schools, board member Amber Rountree wants answers. She also wants equity. Rountree has asked Superintendent James McIntyre for a side-byside comparison of class offerings at South Doyle Middle School and Bearden Middle School. “Our kids in South Knoxville deserve equal curriculum opportuRountree nities,� she said. A brave sixth-grader spoke on behalf of students and teachers at last week’s school board meeting in response to proposed class cuts at South-Doyle Middle School for the upcoming school year “All these classes that have been cut are classes that children look forward to during the school day,� she said. “What does this mean for the teachers who taught these classes? These beloved teachers
S.O.R. Losers Catch week two of our 14-week serial story, “S.O.R. Losers,� the story of a misfit sports team written by Newbery Award Winner Avi and illustrated by Timothy Bush. Sit with your child as he or she reads about the antics of Ed and Saltz. Or read the story to them, so you all can enjoy it!
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have lost their job. Why? Because of the budget, or test scores? Have other middle schools lost their Spanish, keyboarding, music, PE, AVID, focus block, jazz band and singing groups?� She said that students “were crying or screaming from anger and surprise� when they heard the news. Meanwhile, at Mt. Olive Elementary School, parents are repeating last year’s complaints about principal Paula Brown. This year, 113 parents and relatives have signed a petition demanding Brown’s removal. The petition says that the school has lost “a number of great teachers� because of Brown’s actions, and that parents are tired of having their complaints ignored. “How many great teachers do we have to lose before someone steps up and makes a leadership change? Our parents are unhappy, and our children are suffering while our teachers are being bullied. We stand together as parents and as a community in asking for the im-
mediate removal of the principal at Mount Olive Elementary School.� South-Doyle High School has been under interim leadership since principal Tim Berry and assistant principal/head football coach/athletic director Clark Duncan were placed on administrative leave Feb. 8. They are suspended with pay pending an investigation by the Knox County District Attorney General. Rountree says these high-profile problems are overshadowing the good things happening in South Knox schools. She can’t comment on the high school situation, and expressed sympathy for the Mt. Olive parents “who are frustrated by a lack of communication� with the principal and Knox County Schools administration. “These parents came to a board meeting this time last year (with the same complaints). As a board member, I don’t make staffing decisions, but I do pass on what folks share with me.� Rountree has had plenty to say about the impending changes at
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the middle school, though, and in an email she sent to McIntyre the day after the board meeting, she makes it clear that she is not happy with SDMS principal Taiwo Sutton’s decisions nor with how he is communicating with parents. In an April 6 email to parents, Sutton downplayed the changes, which he described as adjustments in class sizes and “minor staffing and programmatic changes� that won’t impact student schedules or related arts classes. Rountree told McIntyre she is “appalled at the administration willfully painting an inaccurate and incomplete picture of the ‘minor staffing and programmatic changes’ at SDMS to students and parents. Furthermore, I find these curriculum changes unacceptable. These changes will not benefit the students. “As you heard yesterday, students are passionate about these classes and without them many of them will lose interest in school. To page A- 2
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