Customization is one way to create a close-knit culture in a larger, rapidly-growing district, Superintendent Jean Luna-Vedder says. In Tennessee’s Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, that personalization comes in the form of extensive school choice that spans Spanish immersion in elementary school to middle school CTE exploration to nine high school academies and dozens of pathways
“Being such a large entity, it’s the balance of giving the personal attention to every student and employee to make sure it feels very small town, and everyone gets all the choices they need,” Luna-Vedder tells District Administration.
“It’s also making sure we’re always working on the continuous improvement cycle as far as where our gaps are or potential areas that students and parents would like to push in to have more options.”
Clarksville-Montgomery serves just under 40,000 students, including a large military population connected to nearby Fort Campbell in Kentucky. School choice is a perfect fit to meet the wide-ranging needs of such transient groups, notes Luna-Vedder, who was a military spouse.
The district’s programs include an early college high school at Austin Peay State University, an early technical college and a K12 virtual school. Students start the exploration in middle school, rotating through CTE labs to discover the subjects they may pursue more intensively in high school.
Luna-Vedder and her team are now expanding the early college high school facility to include an entrepreneurial center where students, working with local business representatives, can pitch ideas and launch their own companies.
‘Teaching was revered’
Lena-Vedder’s career has taken her from the classroom to the principalship to central office and the state department of education. During that time, the public’s perception of educators, particularly teachers, has changed—for the worse, she contends.
“We’ve tried to focus on the elevation of teaching as a profession,” she notes. “When you think back a decade or two ago, teaching was always revered as a profession you wanted your children to go into. It was considered very admirable, and it earned a good income to support a family with a flexible schedule.”
The district’s retention efforts include regular anonymous surveys about what’s making teachers happy or dissatisfied. Luna-Vedder also recently revived “school roadshows” that bring central office teams to each building to hold pep rally-style events for teachers and staff.
Because education has also become more politicized, Luna-Vedder’s leadership staff are in regular contact with state lawmakers to inform them of how various issues are impacting K12.
“I think it’s important as superintendents and districts, especially large districts, not to sit back and have people make decisions for you,” she adds. “It’s important that you’re providing the information to help them make decisions.”
She also tries to keep politics away from her school buildings. “With principals, the conversation is, ‘You control what’s going on in your building and let us worry about the politics,'” she concludes. “Let’s just focus on what we need to in the classrooms to get teachers focused.”
