I am John Hall and I am running for the Kingsport Board of Education. I believe that a member of the Board of Education should have two major qualifications. First, he or she should have a background in academics. I have been in academics for over 25 years, am currently a full Professor of Surgery at ETSU and have served on both University and Medical School admissions and curriculum committees at various schools. I am listed in Who’s Who in Education, Medicine, and Science. I was proclaimed a Tennessee “Colonel” by the Governor for my work here in Kingsport.
Second, the Candidate must also be a parent of a student in the Kingsport School System while serving on the board; this puts a direct responsibility of the Board Member that is not present otherwise. I have a daughter in the 7th grade at Robinson and a daughter in the 10th grade at DB. An example of this direct responsibility is the recent debate of whether honors and AP classes should be weighted. It is an interesting intellectual question; but there is, however, no question if your child is involved. When they are competing not only for scholarships, but also admission, against kids across the nation – the majority of which have weighted grades – you realize that it is a must. Furthermore, only a parent would know that last year in the Advanced Biology class at DB, there were no books for the first several weeks due to budget issues. Only a parent knows that some teachers take several weeks to more than a month to return papers. All graded work should be returned within several days so that kids can learn from the test.
In the same vein, I would push for both a student and a teacher to be non-voting members of the Board of Education. They should have more of a say in the education process. One of the senior principles in Kingsport was previously in a system where this occurred and he feels that it added a tremendous amount to the board. Both teachers and students MUST have the ability to sit at the table and ask questions without “making an advance appointment:” In addition, it will be a great benefit to the student by getting him/her involved in government.
No Child Left Behind is an important concept, but we should not pull other kids back to meet this, but push all children higher. Kingsport has a good school system, but it could be much better. It was ranked only #1289 of the top 1300 schools by Newsweek and not at all in the top high schools by US News and World Report. Yet, Volunteer High School in Church Hill is
listed as one of these top schools. We should honor the students who excel in studies as well as those in athletics. For example, at one of the junior high schools, the posting of the honor roll was discontinued, perhaps to keep kids from feeling bad that they did not make it? It took multiple discussions with the principle to get this corrected.
More trials of same sex classes should be done. More trials of “learning centers” instead of grade specific classes such as that done by Mrs. Cookie Greer at Washington Elementary should be done. Good review of the outcome of these trials must be done to see whether this helps here in Kingsport. We are good at teaching math and science thanks to Eastman, but need to improve our social study courses. World and ancient history is really ignored at the lower levels. We need to explore means of teaching other than the large class traditional method. Perhaps Senior, AP and Honors English and history classes should try smaller classes and the usage of the Harkness circular table to encourage discussions. In order to try smaller class sizes, we need to look at more “split day” classes such as is already being done at DB.
The last month of the year, textbooks are put away and classes study for the TCAPS and other standardized tests. Lessons should be taught the entire school year and not just part of it. We may “lose” on the test for the first year and perhaps lose moneys – but is it not more important that our kids really learn? If we find they have deficits in certain areas, this can then be directly addressed the following year. At the junior year, if a child is not in band or orchestra, he or she must go to study hall. Why can they not have an academic class such as perhaps a language? The Spanish that is being taught now is only a tickling. My kids can sing a couple of songs and count after several years of Spanish in elementary and junior high. In most countries of the world, kids are fluent with another language at this point.
We need to look at offering the International Baccalaureate. The AP program is structured around an introductory college course and allows students to enroll only in those courses in which they exhibit both ability and interest. The IB program, in contrast, combines advanced content knowledge with a focus on the development of critical thinking and an appreciation of global issues.
Earning an IB diploma requires a multiyear commitment across many disciplines. While both AP and IB courses challenge the gifted student, the content of AP science and math courses often does not enable the student to achieve an in-depth understanding of the discipline, and once again, the kids are studying for the test. Studies show that the IB program provides a greater opportunity for in-depth pursuit of a topic and greater emphasis on deep understanding than on simply the acquisition of information. More and more colleges prefer the IB to the AP.
The most important course I will push for is a “how to study” course at the freshman level. The skills of studying are not innate. Multiple colleges, such as Duke, have incorporated this class with a dramatic increase in all measures of student learning ability.
We need to explore options with Sullivan County with both buildings and teachers. We should discuss sharing classes such as auto shop, home economics or languages such as Russian or Chinese at the high school level. We should discuss sharing language teachers at the elementary level – this would enable students to actually speak a second language. The current budget proposal is to eliminate this position.
As a former Kingsport trauma surgeon, I have pronounced dead many DB students. When I pick up my daughter at DB, I see the majority of kids who are driving, leaving the school without their seat belts fastened. We need to authorize the Kingsport Police Dept to do spot checks and enforce the seat belt and bike helmet laws.
I would appreciate your vote and your input ([email protected])
John
Mayor Dennis Phillips is running unopposed. Just because his name is listed on the ballot does not mean you have to vote for him. You can send a message by not voting for Dennis Phillips or doing a write-in.
