Mayor David Briley and Metro Council should fully fund Nashville schools | Opinion

Punishments that disproportionately impact African American students will be reassessed through budget priorities.

Linda Robinson and Erick Huth
Guest columnist
  • Linda Robinson is co-chair of the NOAH Criminal Justice Task Force.
  • Erick E. Huth is chair of the NOAH School Discipline Reform Subcommittee.

Suspensions, expulsions and in-school arrests of elementary school children in Metro Nashville Public Schools have disproportionately impacted African American boys and girls, causing them to fall further behind in school and ultimately increasing their chances of encountering the adult criminal justice system. 

Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, or NOAH, is an interdenominational, faith-led coalition of congregations, community organizations and labor unions giving voice to traditionally marginalized people.

The School Discipline Reform Subcommittee of NOAH’s Criminal Justice Task Force has been working to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by challenging the formal and informal structures within MNPS marginalizing our black and brown youth.

The Nashville school board has developed a budget for 2019-2020 that includes several priorities: Increased funding for employee compensation, funds to move toward supplying every child a textbook in science and social studies, funds to create 12 “care centers,” and funds to increase the effectiveness of the Human Resources Department. 

Social and emotional needs strategies can be very effective for children

Teacher Traci Basley Students doing a morning huddle that helps kids talk about any issues they might be having at home or in the classroom. The huddle is something that was installed this year as part of many other social and emotional components for students. The goal is by meeting the kids' needs, like Tuesday morning at Jere Baxter Middle School, there will be less discipline issues. The district also revised its discipline handbook this year to cut down on suspensions and help keep kids in the classroom
 Tuesday Oct. 13, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, “Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.” 

Strategies aimed at addressing the social and emotional needs of children can often be very effective at preventing disruptive student behavior.  CASEL asserts that effective SEL programs can produce immediate and long-term improvements in “mental health, social skills, and academic achievement.” 

NOAH successfully pushed the school board to include care centers in its budget for the 12 highest-need elementary schools.  These centers will give teachers a much-needed resource to help defuse problem student behaviors by removing disruptive children from the classroom temporarily and dealing with their social and emotional needs rather than suspending or expelling them. Care center coordinators will also intervene on the front end to reduce the chances of social and emotional problems becoming disruptive behaviors. 

Data compiled by MNPS shows our schools rank 18th in terms of funding among 20 comparable school districts.  For the past decade, MNPS funding has been a declining share of the overall Metro budget while tax revenues continue to be diverted to economic development, tourism and debt service. 

Proposed Nashville schools budget could reform disciplinary practices

MNPS has attempted to use its resources to fund SEL and implicit bias training in the past but simply has not had enough money. Also, the escalating cost of living in Nashville has created a revolving door of teachers and other employees, which, in turn, increases the number of teachers needing training.

NOAH's School Discipline Reform Subcommittee is continuing to push for additional resources to support a movement away from exclusionary discipline practices at the elementary level. 

We call on Mayor David Briley and the Metro Council to fully fund the MNPS budget request just as they will no doubt fund the next corporate welfare scheme designed to attract companies and jobs to the "it city.” 

The care center proposal, SEL training and implicit bias training are all efforts that can and will make a difference for Nashville’s school children. New funding for textbooks, SEL initiatives including the 12 care centers and employee compensation are critical to achieving the MNPS goal of becoming the fastest improving urban school district in the country.

Linda Robinson is co-chair of the NOAH Criminal Justice Task Force. Erick E. Huth is chair of the NOAH School Discipline Reform Subcommittee.