NASHVILLE, TN — The Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education voted today to buy out the contract of Metro Nashville Public Schools Director, Dr. Shawn Joseph, in a 5-3 vote. Joseph’s last day will be Friday, April 12, 2019. Joseph entered the position in July 2016 and is ending his tenure after slightly less than three years in a district serving more than 85,000 students and 11,000 employees. Dr. Adrienne Battle has been selected as interim director. “It has been my honor to serve as Director of Schools in Nashville. I believe much has been accomplished despite the pervasive challenges I…
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NASHVILLE, TN — In a 5-3 vote, the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education decided Tuesday to buy out the contract of Metro Nashville Public Schools Director, Dr. Shawn Joseph. Dr. Adrienne Battle will serve as interim director. In a statement Joseph said it was his life’s mission to ensure equity and excellence for all children and the he would continue to do so. “I believe much has been accomplished despite the pervasive challenges I encountered when arriving, and I am so proud of the tremendous work of the thousands of teachers and staff members who have helped to move the…
By Taylor Gentry Political Actions Committee Community Liaison Urban Studies and Public Policy Major Dillard University ‘22 As a Nashville native, I make it a point to keep myself aware of what goes on in my city. Currently, I am focused on the controversy involving the Metro Nashville Board of Education and Superintendent of schools, Dr. Shawn Joseph. I would like to start by saying that I am extremely disappointed at the blatant racism and selfishness of the board and the city of Nashville. As a student in the Metro Nashville Public School system when Dr. Joseph began serving as…
NASHVILLE, TN — Rhiannon Giddens, co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning string band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, is passing her distinctive banjo skills to eleven-year-old musician, Uma Peters through a one-on-one apprenticeship supported by the Tennessee Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, an initiative of the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Folklife Program. Under Giddens guidance, Peters is learning techniques and tunes specific to the gourd banjo—an older, fretless version of the instrument predating those more commonly played in old-time and bluegrass music. “There are very few people who play this music because of its association with minstrelsy,” said Giddens. “But I believe it is…
By Peter White NASHVILLE, TN — Metro’s Department of Finance can’t seem to get anything right when it comes to Fort Negley. The procurement office called for bids to demolish Greer Stadium November 9, 2018 and closed the solicitation five days later on November 14, 2018. It is unclear how many firms applied or if any were minority-owned but eight companies made it into the final competition. On March 13, 2018 Mayor David Briley announced that Greer Stadium would be torn down and re-integrated into Fort Negley park. “We’re going to make sure there is a full opportunity for our…
By Nancy McLaughlin GREENSBORO, NC — After Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Bennett College in 1958, a 28-year-old N.C. A&T professor challenged the civil rights icon about his notion of nonviolence. “I said to him, ‘You are going to wind up getting a lot of people killed because you are counting on the white man having a conscience,’” John Marshall Kilimanjaro, also the secretary of the local NAACP at the time, told King. “You are absolutely right,” King replied. “We must so appeal to that conscience, no matter how hard it may be … so we will not…
NASHVILLE, TN — The Nashville ATHENA Leadership Awards Program announced its 2019 award recipients recently at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Mendy Mazzo was honored with the 2019 ATHENA Award. Brenda Gadd received the Young Professional Leadership Award. Mazzo is among 26 ATHENA nominees selected this year by middle Tennessee organizations and associations, and Gadd represents a class of 25 Young Professional Award nominees. “Tonight is a celebration for and of our nominees. Our nominees are leaders who display excellence in all that they do and are intentional about mentoring others, especially young women. All of these women embody…
KNOXVILLE, TN — The Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law (LMU Law) and the East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) have joined forces to bring world-renowned historian and biographer Ron Chernow to Knoxville on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, as a part of The Sherri and Baxter Lee Distinguished Speaker Series. Chernow, a Pulitzer Prize winning and New York Times-bestselling historian, has authored some of the most renowned and acclaimed biographies ever published. While nearly all of his seven books have earned praise, honors and awards, his 2004 portrait of founding father Alexander Hamilton inspired a worldwide phenomenon in the Broadway…
NASHVILLE,TN – Mayor David Briley accepted two checks last week worth $2.8 million to buy more recycling trucks for Nashville. Household curbside pick-ups will increase from once a month to every other week in early 2020. The money comes from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and an NGO, The Recycling Partnership. The NGO is supported by big companies like Waste Management, Inc including a Unilever brand of beauty products, Love Beauty and Planet. “The fun part of my job is giving out money,” said Greg Young, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Environment for the Tennessee Department of Environment…
By Herbert G McCann and Sara Burnett/AP CHICAGO, IL — Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot defeated a longtime political insider Tuesday to become Chicago’s next mayor, the first black woman and openly gay person to lead the nation’s third-largest city. Lightfoot, who had never been elected to public office, easily defeated Toni Preckwinkle, who served in the City Council for 19 years before becoming Cook County Board president. Preckwinkle also is chairwoman of the county Democratic Party. Lightfoot promised to rid City Hall of corruption and help low-income and working-class people she said had been “left behind and ignored” by Chicago’s…