Dear Dr. Register,
In regard to your proposal to improve East Nashville schools, let me first say I cannot imagine the job placed before you. It is a huge job, made more complex by the diversity of our metro area. There is obviously no right answer. But there is a right course of action. And that is to involve the schools, administration, teachers, families, parents and leaders of the East Nashville community in the development of a plan to improve our schools.
Nine years ago, my husband and I moved to East Nashville despite friends’ and families’ objections. They thought it was too rough around the edges. But the thing is we liked that about it. We wanted a neighborhood for our children filled with families who don’t all look, live and pray alike. Back then, we all knew families that moved to the suburbs as soon as their kids started school. That’s just what happened. But ... there were those few families who stayed, banded together and committed themselves to digging in and changing the schools.
Nine years ago we chose East Nashville, and three years ago we chose Dan Mills, our zoned school. I am proud of the teachers who keep our children safe, happy and excited to learn; I am proud of the administration and its leadership. And I am so grateful to the pioneers who made it a place I choose to send my kids. I love looking around and seeing a beautiful snapshot of my neighborhood, because that’s who goes there. My neighbors.
And it’s not just about Dan Mills anymore. Amazing things are happening all over East Nashville. Community PTO, Give Me 10 and, most recently, East Nashville United are actively partnering with our schools to see how we can strengthen all of them. The work has just begun, and change does not come quickly. Because how can we even begin to touch the low test scores you speak of if we first don’t address the poverty that exists in our community?
There’s an 80-year-old woman at my church who brings food to families at Kirkpatrick Elementary at the end of each month, Christmas gifts to every child and reads to them each week. This week, she’s teaching them how to pickle cucumbers! She’s been doing this for 17 years, and she is just one person. Imagine if our schools superintendent and community leaders could follow in her footsteps, sit down with these communities and simply ask, “How can we help your school succeed?” My guess is the answer will not be to shut it down.
Cultivating relationships throughout the neighborhood and community is something only a neighborhood school can do, and shutting down some of our beloved schools will put at risk much of the work being done. Because here’s something only an East Nashvillian can know:
Nine years later, and the trend has reversed. Families are now moving from the suburbs into the neighborhood. They’ve heard what’s going on in East Nashville and want to be a part of it. They’ve heard there’s just something about this neighborhood that’s worth digging into. And we need our schools to be there for them.
So, I ask of you, Dr. Register, give us time. Gather the community together and let’s work on this problem as a united front. You see, we do have choice in East Nashville. We have neighborhood schools and charters and magnets. The solution to the problem is not to shut what’s not working down, but to build it up.
As someone who has benefited from the work my neighbors did at Dan Mills, I will gladly dedicate time and energy to our fellow East Nashville schools. And I’m not the only one. Given true collaboration, resources, and patience, I believe East Nashville and its schools will rise.
Sincerely,
Betsy Pufahl
Betsy Pufahl lives in Inglewood and is a proud Dan Mills parent.
