Dean, board work to take steps forward together

Board of Education members have commented publicly that they would like to see communication with the office of Mayor Karl Dean improve. But that issue was not discussed at a meeting between Dean and the board Tuesday afternoon.

A wide range of other matters — including a possible consolidation of Metro and school libraries, changes to the board’s governance strategy, and community college credit for more Metro students — were on the agenda.

School board Chair David Fox said Dean and the board have worked to get “more serious” about making their meetings more productive, which Fox said is a means of improving open communication.

“I think we’ll increasingly see these meetings be more relevant,” Fox said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Dean had the members of his growing education staff provide updates on various mayor’s office initiatives.

New mayor’s office staff member Candy Markman, who is working to coordinate a network of structured after-school programming for middle school students, said she has found that about 10 percent of Metro kids in grades five through eight participate in structured after-school programming at least three days each week. While some of the remaining 90 percent may be spending their time in productive ways that encourage study, Markman is working with others in the community to create programming that targets the rest.

Another relatively new addition to the mayor’s office, Sydney Rogers, discussed efforts to help more Metro students take community college classes while attending high schools. Rogers is director of Alignment Nashville, an organization supporting public education that was folded under the umbrella of the mayor’s office last year.

Dean also referred to confusion caused earlier this winter, following a letter he penned to former Interim Director of Schools Chris Henson about the possible library consolidation. At this point, Dean said, discussions about procurement and other logistics are still taking place, and the project may have to begin with a pilot program.

“It’s really a very positive thing,” Dean said. “I just encourage everybody to keep working on it together.”

Last week, Metro and school library workers met to discuss more of the details. New Director of Schools Jesse Register said publicly Tuesday that the meeting was productive, and that he looks forward to investigating the details of the possibility.

Board members, for their part, updated Dean on the Metro Nashville Public Schools budget cuts and revisions to charter school policy, and brought Dean into the loop on changes being made to improve the board’s monitoring of school district progress.