Meacham To Talk About His Biography of George H. W. Bush

University of the South Vice-Chancellor John McCardell will talk with Jon Meacham about Meacham’s new book, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, in Convocation Hall. It will be followed by a question-and-answer period with the audience, then a reception and book signing.

Meacham, a 1991 Sewanee graduate, is executive editor and executive vice president at Random House. He is a former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, a contributing editor to Time Magazine and a commentator on politics, history and religion. He won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for his biography “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.”

Meacham has participated in two lively and engaging public “conversations” at Sewanee since 2013, one with former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and one with New York Times columnist David Brooks.

The event is free and open to the public.

State Report Card on Education :: A Look at Franklin County Students’ Performance

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Each year the Tennessee Department of Education issues a statewide report card with data on achievement, graduation rate, academic growth and other criteria, which makes it possible to compare state averages, districts and individual schools. How did Tennessee students do in the 2014–15 school year compared to the 2013–14 school year? 

How did Franklin County students do compared to state averages? And how did Sewanee Elementary School students do compared to other schools in the district and state?

Statewide, math, reading and science scores at the elementary school and high school levels showed little change with the exception ofchemistry. Students lacking basic mastery of the material decreased six percentage points to 26.6 percent; advanced level students increased four percentage points to almost 20 percent. Locally, the improvements were even more dramatic, with the students lacking basic mastery in chemistry decreasing by 11 percentage points and those demonstrating advanced knowledge increasing to almost nine percent. While still below statewide averages, the gain is significant.

Looking at high school graduation rates, both Franklin County High School (FCHS) and Huntland High School (HHS) surpassed the state average of 87.2 percent and showed a rise in the number of students graduating compared to the 2013–14 school year. FCHS reported a graduation rate of 89.2 percent, and HHS reported an impressive 100 percent of enrolled seniors earning diplomas.

The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) provides a tool for comparing academic achievement in the 2014–15 school year with academic achievement in the 2013–14 school year. TVAAS scores rank academic growth on a scale of one to five. FCHS received a score of four in both literacy and numeracy, indicating academic growth above expected levels, and Broadview Elementary received an improvement score of five in both categories.

Sewanee Elementary School (SES) received a TVAAS numeracy literacy score of three, indicating student gains matched expected levels, and a numeracy score of two, indicating students test scores didn’t improve as indicators suggested they might.

SES literacy and numeracy scores remain above statewide and Franklin County elementary school averages, with 10 percent or fewer students lacking basic skills in math and reading. Looked at as a group, almost 20 percent of Franklin County elementary school students lack basic skills in math, with 14 percent lacking basic reading skills. 

SES had a higher percentage of students with advanced level skills than any other school in the district. Nearly one-third of SES students demonstrated advanced level subject matter mastery in math, and 23.6 percent demonstrated advanced level reading proficiency.

Per pupil spending in Franklin County decreased by $515 to $8,610 in the 2014–15 school year. This ranks Franklin County $736 below the state average for 2013–14 and $2,000 below the national average. (Full financial information for 2014–15 is not available).

The Tennessee State Report Card also includes data on ACT scores, student enrollment, and ethnicity. To learn more go to <http://tn.gov/education/topic/report-card>.

Board Okays Identification Pilot Project in Schools

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Nov. 9 meeting, the Franklin County Board of Education approved installation of Raptor sexual predator detection software at Franklin County High School and Clark Memorial Elementary School on a pilot basis.

Visitors to the schools will be required to scan their photo ID at a kiosk located immediately inside the entrance. The Raptor software then searches more than 700 websites for sexual predator information. In the case of an alert, the system summons a school resource officer.

Sewanee school board representative Adam Tucker stressed installation of the software at the two schools was a trial. Before the school system considers wider implementation, “the pilot program needs to be rigorously evaluated to assess the system’s cost effectiveness and effectiveness in enhancing student safety,” Tucker said. The pilot installation will cost $3,970.

Tucker also expressed concern about parents without a photo ID being denied access to their children. Tucker cited the example of children of undocumented immigrants. Director of Schools Amie Lonas said procedures would be in place to enable parents without a photo ID to engage with their children and school officials.

For Lonas, an important feature of the system is the ability to reference inputted data about which adults have permission to pick children up, preventing errors when child custody and restraining order circumstances prevail.

In other business, Lonas said the Capital Building Planning Committee has expressed a need for guidance from architectural and engineering firms in making decisions. The board approved Lonas’ request to solicit proposals from firms detailing their qualifications for the committee to review. The school system will not incur any financial commitment in the review process. Need for renovation at the school system’s two 40-year-old middle schools is top on the committees agenda, Lonas said.

Reviewing personnel needs, Assistant Superintendant Linda Foster said the school system would post a position for a fourth-grade teacher at Sewanee Elementary School. At present, one fourth-grade class has 27 students and is expected to reach the limit of 28 students next semester.

The board approved a motion by chair Kevin Caroland to make it “standard practice” to require only one reading before a vote is taken on policy issues. When necessary, the board can request a second reading before voting, Caroland said.

The board also approved two policy revisions.

A key change in the Student Transportation Management policy bars bus drivers involved in an accident from driving until drug screening results are received in the cases where policy criteria prescribe drug screening. Bus drivers not required to undergo drug screening following an accident may request drug screening, but are not barred from driving. Foster said bus contractors would be notified of the changes.

The Emergency and Legal Leave policy was revised to afford witnesses the same allowances made for school system employees summoned for jury duty.

The board held its meeting in the Huntland School Cafeteria. Recently awarded a Focus Grant of nearly $100,000, Huntland used the funds to buy Kindle Fire e-readers for all second- and third-grade students. Huntland qualified for the grant due to the achievement gap demonstrated by subgroups, such as racial and ethnic groups, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and students with disabilities. 

Huntland Principal William Bishop stressed the importance in “getting kids to read for pleasure.” With the e-readers he now sees children reading on the bus and when waiting for school to begin. “It’s like you’ve given them a new video game,” Bishop said.

The school board next meets on Dec. 14.

McClurg & Chef Rick Introduce Locally Sourced Sunday Lunch :: Area Farms Will Provide Chicken, Fruits & Vegetables Each Week

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Most people have never eaten locally raised fried chicken, a culinary delight about as readily available as mushrooms from the moon. But that is about to change.

Beginning on Sunday, Nov. 8, Sewanee Dining located in McClurg Hall will offer farm-fresh locally raised fried chicken at the noon meal on Sunday, the crown jewel in the all-local menu Executive Chef Rick Wright plans for one meal each week.

In keeping with a commitment to promote sustainability and support the local food shed, the University charged Wright with dedicating 30 percent of his $300,000 budget to purchasing locally raised products. That translates into $100,000 a year infused into the local economy.

Three years into the program, Wright has reached the 20 percent mark. He buys all his milk locally, as well as all his eggs, most coming from a Tracy City farmer. He also buys nearly 500 pounds of ground beef each week from local farmers, as well as fruit and vegetables, purchasing from the Sewanee-based South Cumberland Farmers’ Market Food Hub, other farmers’ markets and individual farms.

Wright needs 500 pieces of chicken for each Sunday dinner; that’s more than 60 birds. Two local farms have upped production and on-farm processing to fill the quota, Fountain Springs in Morrison, Tenn., and Nature’s Wealth in Skymont, Tenn.

Both farms raise antibiotic-free, grass-fed poultry, supplementing the birds’ diet with locally grown non-GMO corn and soy meal.

A relatively new product, pastured poultry from family farms is becoming available as a result of a USDA ruling allowing farms who raised fewer than 20,000 chickens to apply for an exemption to process birds on the farm without an inspector present.

“It took over a year to get licensed,” said Fountain Springs farmer Eric Earle. He and his family began on-farm processing of the chickens they raise just five years ago. Fountain Springs also sells farm-raised turkeys and hogs.

In addition to chicken, Nature’s Wealth farm sells eggs, popcorn, potatoes and tomatoes, along with extras from the family vegetable garden.

Both farms are family-run operations. Both the Earle (Fountain Springs) and Diller (Nature’s Wealth) families come from a farming background and found a niche that let them keep farming by tapping into the market for local food.

Chef Wright needs “more local product,” and he’s seeing farmers increase production and extending the season with hoop houses to meet the demand. Locally raised food “is not cheap,” Wright said, “but the payback is spiritual, in part.” Instead of supporting the corporate poultry industry and its negative impact on the community and contributing to a model based on wretched working conditions and low pay for farm workers, the University program is building local agriculture and helping boost the local economy.”

The University farm supplies Wright with lettuces and some eggs. He praised new farm manager Carolyn Hoagland, who has developed an innovative composting program and has plans for extending the season with greenhouses and hoop houses. In 1960, the University farm supplied all the school’s needs. Today the demand is much greater. Wright stressed the need for local farms to help the University reach the goal of “a community that can feed itself.”

Preparing fresh food “from scratch” has its challenges. Wright cited the example of the kitchen staff not knowing how to cut up a whole chicken. But the new skills employees learn increase their pay, Wright said, and they often transition from minimum wage to a living wage.

Among those benefitting the most from the program are students, according to Chef Wright. “We serve students the freshest, best tasting product, while helping them understand the importance of purchasing local, how it benefits them personally, benefits the environment and benefits the community.”

Join in the local fried chicken Sunday feast ($10.38 per person) and celebration on Nov. 8. 

Nov. 21 New Date for Elliott Park Opening

The date for the community work day to install the required surface material to complete the new playground at Elliott Park has been changed to Saturday, Nov. 21. 

Ongoing delays due to weather resulted in the need to move the date for the installation of playground equipment, which will take place during the week of Nov. 9. A variety of physical plant items will then be taken care of during the days prior to the final steps of spreading the fiber mulch. 

The work will begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 21. Festivities to celebrate the completion and opening of the playground will begin at 3 p.m., with live music and the Shenanigans truck.

Please sign up ahead of time at <http://www.signupgenius.com>; search for the event by using the email address <eduncan@sasweb.org>. 

The Sewanee Civic Association, in partnership with the University of the South, has brought to completion the second project in the Sewanee community parks system. The community, along with the South Cumberland Community Fund, the Sewanee Community Council Funding Project, the Kaj Krogstad Memorial Fund, the Joel and Trudy Cunningham Charitable Fund, the Monteagle Sewanee Rotary and donations through a designated fund with the Sewanee Community Chest, donated more than $56,000 to purchase and install the new playground equipment, which is located in Elliott Park on University Avenue adjacent to the bookstore.

Sewanee & UGa Conduct Water Issue Survey

Faculty and students from the University of the South and the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology will be conducting a short survey to learn about the Sewanee community’s knowledge of, and attitudes toward, local and global water issues. This project is part of the ongoing collaboration between the two schools.

The surveys will be conducted in person at several locations around the community, including duPont Library, Sewanee Elementary School and downtown, on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 12–13. An electronic version will be available later this month for people who want to participate online. For more information contact Deborah McGrath by email, <dmcgrath@sewanee.edu>.

School Board Considers Technology to Detect Sexual Predators

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Nov. 2 working session, the Franklin County Board of Education considered installing Raptor visitor management software designed to detect sexual predators at two county schools on a pilot basis.

Director of Schools Amie Lonas and Brian Norwood recently met with Raptor representatives. Norwood is assisting Transportation and Safety Director Ellis Counts, who will retire Jan. 1.

“The school resource officers (SROs) brought the technology to our attention,” Norwood said. He provided the board with an overview of the program.

At all county schools presently, to-be visitors must request admittance via an electronic notification device before the office will unlock the doors. With the Raptor technology, visitors would be required to scan their photo ID at a kiosk located immediately inside the entrance. The software then searches more than 700 websites for sexual predator information. If the software shows no matches, the system prints a visitor’s badge with a photo ID and information on the visitor’s intended destination within the school.

In the case of an alert, the system summons an SRO and informs the visitor an error code registered, requiring the visitor to go to the office. The SRO will then take action as necessary.

The software can generate detailed reports and databases on visitor activity; automatically notify other schools in the system of suspicious activity, such as a vehicle cruising the parking lot; send a call for police with a single emergency button; and be input with checkout data for children indicating which adults have permission to pick them up. Add-ons to the basic system allow for background checks and volunteer tracking. The basic system costs $1,600 for each school and an additional $480 annually per school after the first year.

Lonas asked the board to consider installing the basic software on a pilot basis at Franklin County High School (FCHS) and Clark Memorial 

Elementary, the largest high school and largest elementary school in the district. FCHS has two entrances, making the total cost for the pilot installations at both schools $3,970.

Lonas stressed the school system was “not interested in policing” or gathering other information about visitors beyond the sexual predator criterion.

Norwood said many other schools in the region use the software, including Lawrence, Maury, Rutherford and Williamson counties. In the first two weeks of use, Maury County identified a to-be visitor as a sexual predator.

The board expressed strong interest in the program and asked for more feedback from area schools using the software.

In other business Lonas summarized data from the Tennessee State Report Card, which provides academic performance and progress indicators comparing Franklin County schools to other schools in the state. She said it would be difficult to measure the effectiveness of any instructional changes made in response to this year’s report card, because next year’s report card would use a different assessment mechanism based on the Common Core curriculum.

In response to a request from Lonas, Sewanee school board representative Adam Tucker proposed revisions to the Student Transportation Management policy. If adopted, the revised policy would establish criteria requiring a bus driver involved in an accident to be tested for drug and alcohol use and to refrain from driving until test results were received. If test results are negative, the driver would be paid for the days off work. In addition, bus drivers not requiring testing under the criteria could request to be tested. The board will vote on the revised policy at the Nov. 9 meeting.

Lonas announced negotiations had resumed with the buyer who earlier expressed interest in purchasing the Oak Grove School property. The buyer made a $5,000 earnest payment.

The board will meet again on Nov. 9 at the Huntland School cafeteria.