by design | Dec 15, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher By Sally Absher sallyabsher@knoxfocus.com It is said that as California goes, so goes the nation. What is it with the migration of bad policies from west to east? In Tennessee, one might say as Memphis goes, so goes the state. Regarding education, that...
by design | Dec 15, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher Two weeks ago, The Focus wrote about KCS superintendent Jim McIntyre ending the very successful Reading Recovery® program in Knox County in 2011. We highlighted Mayor Burchett’s literacy grant funds, used primarily to hire coaches, many of whom have no...
by design | Dec 8, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher Last Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting was, for the most part, a somber and subdued affair, but things got lively quickly immediately following Public Forum. Former board Chair Lynne Fugate took the floor to address some of the things said in...
by design | Dec 8, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher sallyabsher@knoxfocus.com There was a somber overtone at last Wednesday’s regular Board of Education meeting. It was just one day after the tragic collision between school buses from Chilhowee Intermediate School and Sunnyview Primary School on...
by design | Dec 1, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher Back in September, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett made the news by saying that he wanted information connected to a school system reading program he helped establish several years ago, and that school leaders were resisting his request. Frustrated by...
by design | Nov 24, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
The main item on the agenda for the Board’s November mid-month meeting last week was a preliminary discussion of the school system moving to a year-round schedule, which is now referred to as a “balanced calendar.” The idea of year-round school is not new in Knox...
