Carving out roles: New members on Board of Education waste little time

It’s been just over three weeks since new school board members Alan Coverstone and Sharon Gentry were sworn in.

Arguably, that’s not enough time for the two to have fully gained their stride as members of the Board of Education. However, with all the changes currently in motion at Metro Nashville Public Schools, the two already have taken actions that have gotten Nashvillians talking — and will both be watched carefully in the coming weeks.

Board member Ed Kindall has said publicly that he intends to make a motion next week asking the board to revisit a controversial, recently passed rezoning decision. The actions of both Gentry and Coverstone will be carefully scrutinized here since the two were not board members when that decision was made this summer.

And with MNPS still without a director of schools, the board is working to determine its next best steps. Decisions relating to the type of search to be conducted will be made in the very near future, and the goals of each and every board member will matter.

Coverstone, for his part, says that while he feels knowledgeable enough to be comfortable making decisions related to the district, he’s still getting familiar with MNPS.

“Like any new organization that you’re in, you do spend some time figuring out exactly how it works, and I think we’re both in that stage,” Coverstone said Thursday. “As long as I stay focused on improving the classroom experience, building the capacity of the teaching force … I think I’ll be all right.”

The board has, in the past, participated in a retreat facilitated by the Tennessee School Boards Association, primarily designed to orient new board members as to the details of the district’s governance structure. That retreat has not been scheduled.

Board chair David Fox said the board might participate in a retreat facilitated by consultant Bill Attea, of the district’s hired director search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates Ltd. (HYA). But scheduling these educational events has not been among the highest priorities in recent weeks.

Learning quickly

Marc Hill, chief education officer of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, is one who expects Coverstone and Gentry to learn the basics fast.

"Understandably, they are still getting oriented, but I believe we'll see Sharon and Alan develop expertise on the issues facing the board fairly quickly,” Hill said in an e-mail. “They both represent a fresh, thoughtful perspective, and an interest in the board staying focused on results.”

Many watchers of the board were interested by the votes cast by Gentry and Coverstone in selecting the next chair and vice chair of the board. Fox was selected chair by the same set of districts that voted into effect the much-debated rezoning plan over the summer — former Bellevue-area board representative Marsha Warden, who stepped down in August, was replaced by Coverstone, who voted for Fox.

Gentry was among the board members supporting board member Gracie Porter for chair. Gentry represents north Nashville, and took the place of former board member George Thompson — a strong opponent to the rezoning plan.

The vote was divided along racial lines, many have observed. With the exception of Karen Johnson, black members of the board supported Porter, and white members supported Fox.

But in the vice chair race, Coverstone voted for Porter, who ultimately was elected over Johnson, who garnered Gentry’s vote. That left an impression with Erick Huth, president of teachers’ union the Metro Nashville Education Association, who said he believes both Gentry and Coverstone displayed “independence” in their votes.

“Both school board members have shown that they can be independent, and not just vote with the pack,” Huth said.

Huth added that he feels assured that Gentry, in particular, will provide long-term leadership for the board, based on her remarks at a board meeting focused on the director search. The MNEA endorsed Gentry in her campaign.

But Francie Hunt, of Nashville’s Stand for Children chapter, believes there’s still much to be observed of both Gentry and Coverstone.

“I'd say it's too early to say,” Hunt said in an email interview. “I have high hopes for both of them.”

Director search decisions

No discussion of the school director search is planned for the board’s upcoming meeting, on Tuesday of next week, according to Fox.

However, board members will need to make choices on this matter in the very near future.

As of press time, board members had not settled on a firm timeline for a search, or even whether a short- or long-term hire would be sought — though Connie Smith, accountability chief for the Department of Education, appears to have encouraged the board to stick with current interim director Chris Henson until a more permanent hire is located.

Gentry made an impression on some education-watchers at a recent board meeting with search consultant Attea.

During the meeting, she asked Attea to provide a written chart detailing board options, as well as sample timelines. She also spoke up strongly about the board not allowing the big changes recently made by the state Department of Education to slow down decisions.

“We cannot allow that to let us take a backseat to what our responsibility is,” Gentry told board members.

Some members of the audience – including Huth – were impressed.

“I was really impressed with Sharon’s ability to cut through the clutter and try to focus the board to come to a decision. … She clearly went to the table wanting to resolve some issues that were very muddy,” said Huth. “I was just really impressed with her doing that, being a new school board member.”

Rezoning’s return

Rezoning will be returning to the board table sooner rather than later. At the board’s next meeting, on Tuesday of next week, Kindall plans to move that part of the plan be rescinded. He told The City Paper he has a series of four motions he plans to make, all pertaining to rezoning, and three contingent upon previous motions failing.

Transportation issues are part of what Kindall plans to bring up at the board’s next meeting. He plans to ask the board rescind the part of the plan dealing with the Pearl-Cohn and Hillwood clusters, and to firmly define the transportation options of students who choose to attend schools in clusters outside of their neighborhoods.

With Gentry and Coverstone new to the board, their votes will be watched.

“Sharon and Alan have a great opportunity to show their objectiveness. They can really bring the Nashville community together,” said Jerry Maynard, a Metro Council member who has very vocally opposed the rezoning. “If they want to go the way it’s been going, then it’s going to continue to divide the city. … I don’t think people appreciate how incensed many people in this community are.”

Gentry’s opinions on the plan changed, publicly, during her candidacy, and she could not be reached for comment.

Coverstone said Thursday – as he has told The City Paper since July – that he is not in favor of immediately revisiting the plan. Instead, he said, he wants to immediately implement some of the school improvements promised by the plan as it was passed.

“I just get incredibly uncomfortable with the ‘revisiting’ word, because for too many people, ‘revisit’ means, ‘Throw out the rezoning lines,’” Coverstone said. “I think that if we start discussing and debating lines right away that that will guarantee that we will not follow through on the commitments to improve schools this year. I will not accept not following through on the commitments to improve the schools this year.”

According to Maynard, Coverstone’s stance is a surprise.

“Alan never once told me that he would be against revisiting the rezoning plan,” Maynord said Thursday.

But both Maynord and Coverstone — who say they’re friends — expressed the belief that they’ll find ways to work together in the coming years.

The school board meets tomorrow at 5 p.m., at the district’s central offices, 2601 Bransford Ave.