PARENTS should be in control by giving them the ultimate choice of which schools their children attend. ONLY THEN will we get consistent improvement.
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State takes a hand
Still, documents obtained by The Tennessean show the state's presence is being felt in some troubled schools and at the district office.
State officials removed Maplewood High's principal and installed Julie Williams, a veteran educator with a reputation for helping troubled schools.
They also asked Glencliff High to create a child-care center for teenage parents and Brick Church Middle to buy 20 new computers so an entire class could use the lab at once.
Earlier this year, at Garcia's urging, the board voted in restrictions on school clothing and a new "big picture high school" that emphasizes learning through jobs. But last month, members quashed Garcia's district-wide rezoning plan and his idea to create single-gender, flexible-schedule and back-to-basics schools called "fundamental academies."
