VOL. 8 NO. 5
www.ShopperNewsNow.com |
IN THIS ISSUE
Valentine Specials
February 3, 2014
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Through the camera’s eye
on pages A-8 and A-9
Who’s in charge? Mayor Madeline Rogero’s trip to Turkey set Victor Ashe to wondering about the city charter provision for managing the city in the absence of the mayor.
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Read Victor Ashe on A-4
Musical Harrisons In any gathering of local professional musicians, the talk often turns to medical concerns. And when the subject of doctors comes up, there’s one name you’ll hear over and over. “Dr. John Harrison,” says a KSO violist, “gets musicians.”
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Read Carol Zinavage on B-2
Rating recruits Here’s what you will hear on Wednesday, after the fax machine clicks off and the celebration fund-raiser begins: Typical Tennessee football fan: “Great recruiting class.” Blind optimist: “Best ever!” Shopper reader: “Looks good to me, but Marvin says The General reserved evaluation of young players until after the Alabama game of their sophomore year.
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Landscape photographer Jason Becker knew just where he wanted to go with his camera as the snow started falling in Hardin Valley. “As a landscape photographer, I scout out areas before something happens, checking out the terrain and looking for places that will make great photos,” says Becker. “I came across this bridge on Rustic Bridge Lane, off Hardin Valley Road, a few weeks ago and was eager to see it on a snowy day.” Becker, whose photos can be seen on his blog and website WhatAboutKnox, has won national recognition from The Weather Channel for his photographs, including some from Concord Park. He and his wife, Missi, live in Hardin Valley. Photo by Jason Becker
Career fair fun …
at Cedar Bluff Middle
Shopper-News staff members Sandra Clark and Ruth White attended the career fair at Cedar Bluff Middle School to talk about jobs in print and electronic media ... and put a few students on the front page of the paper.
Read Marvin West on A-5
WHERE the
JOBS ARE 81 new jobs in Clinton
Aisin Automotive Casting Tennessee Inc. is expanding its plant in Clinton. The $53.8 million investment will create 81 new jobs over the next two years in Anderson County, said Bill Hagerty, the state’s commissioner of Economic and Community Development. It’s the company’s second major expansion since locating in Tennessee in 2004. According to its website, the Clinton plant has 580 full-time employees.
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Read Sandra Clark on A-12
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A teacher’s story: letters of concern By Betty Bean The letter teachers dread ends like this: “In the 2012-13 school year, your summative results rating was x, or below expectations. Should your summative results continue to be below or significantly below expectations in the 2013-14 school Mark Taylor year and beyond, you may face negative employment consequences up to and including termination from your position.
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“To avoid any negative consequences, you are expected to comply with all administrator directives, collaborate with colleagues and improve your overall performance in the upcoming school year.” Farragut Middle School science teacher Mark Taylor has received two such letters. He was one of the teachers who accepted Tony Norman’s invitation to speak to County Commission last week, and he told the commissioners he fears for his job, despite having a reputation for turning out the highestachieving 8th-grade science students in the county. He racks up consistently high
scores in teaching observations but is considered an “outlier” because he scores more than two points higher on evaluations than his students’ Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) scores. Theoretically, these scores should be the same, and principals can lose their jobs if they don’t reconcile the gap. “My TVAAS was a 1. Can you imagine what my observation scores are going to be this year? If they give me anything higher than a 3, they’re going to have repercussions,” Taylor said. His primary problem is that he teaches high-school level physical science to 8th-graders whose
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progress is difficult to measure because they are not taught the standard curriculum. His secondary problem is that his students are so advanced that there’s not much room to “grow” their scores, as measured by TVAAS, which tracks student “gains.” The first year of evaluations, only one of Taylor’s four classes was tested – a standard 8thgrade science class that included several ESL (English as a second language) speakers. His 130 highschool level students were left out of the equation, thereby lowering his (and his school’s) overall test To page 3
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