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Education Leaders Receive Highest State Recognition for Dedication to Excellence

NASHVILLE, TN— Today, the Tennessee Department of Education announced the nine finalists for the 2022-23 Tennessee Principal of the Year and nine finalists for Supervisor of the Year awards. The finalists represent each Center of Regional Excellence (CORE) region in the state, with three finalists in each Grand Division: West, Middle, and East.

“Principals and supervisors play a foundational role in the success of their teachers and students, and we are fortunate to have so many incredible principals and supervisors in the state of Tennessee,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “I am inspired by these outstanding leaders that continually work to support students and school communities across Tennessee.”

The Tennessee Principal of the Year award is awarded annually to a school leader for outstanding service in education and exceptional leadership that drives overall improvements in his or her school. To qualify, candidates must have a minimum of one year of experience as a principal and a minimum of three years of experience in public schools. In addition, all nominees must have a proven track record of exceptional gains in student learning.

The nine finalists for 2022-23 Principal of the Year are:

West Tennessee

Middle Tennessee

East Tennessee

“Congratulations to all of the Tennessee Principal of the Year finalists,” said Tyler Salyer, 2021-22 Tennessee Principal of the Year. “A principal’s work is a work of the heart. You all know that the work of the principalship can be tiresome and stressful, but what drives us is knowing that our impact is eternal. The sacrifices that are made are worth it and you make them selflessly every day. Through your commitment, dedication, and support, you are making a difference in the lives of students and families across our great state. Press on, and again congratulations on your accomplishment.”

Each year an outstanding public school supervisor earns distinction as the Tennessee Supervisor of the Year. To qualify, candidates must demonstrate a record of implementing innovative programs and managing and motivating students and faculties. Additionally, the nominees must have a minimum of three years' experience as an administrator and a minimum of five years' experience in Tennessee public schools.

The nine finalists for 2022-23 Supervisor of the Year are:

West Tennessee

Middle Tennessee

East Tennessee

“Congratulations to all finalists for Supervisor of the Year,” said Rory Hinson, 2021-22 Tennessee Supervisor of the Year. “You work tirelessly each day to ensure school administrators, teachers, and students are successful. I know you are excited to be able to showcase the great things that are being done in your district."

Principal and Supervisor of the Year finalists will proceed to an in-person interview that will be held in the coming weeks where each will meet with a panel of interviewers made up of department staff and other education leaders.

Winners for each Grand Division and the Tennessee Principal and Supervisor of the Year will be selected from this group and announced at the Tennessee Principal and Supervisor of the Year Celebration held later this fall.

To learn more about the Tennessee Principal of the Year and Supervisor of the Year Awards, click here.

For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact [email protected].

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· Boat manufacturer expects to create more than 130 new manufacturing jobs in White Bluff, Tennessee

· Project represents an expected $23 million investment over the next five years

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced today that Ebbtide Holdings, LLC doing business as TN Composites will invest $23.1 million to expand its manufacturing operations in Dickson County over the next five years. Through this investment, TN Composites expects to create up to 132 jobs at its existing White Bluff facility over this same period.

By expanding its Jones Creek Road location, TN Composites anticipates increasing its manufacturing capabilities through the reconfiguration of its facilities, integration of additional technology, expansion of its research and development capabilities and alignment of its process flow. The company expects the result of these changes will drive substantial improvement in efficiency and manufacturing of its quality products and significantly increase the company’s boat production to an estimated 14 boats a week by early 2025.

Founded in 2018 and acquired by Ontario, Canada-based Limestone Boat Company Limited in 2021, TN Composites manufactures under the brands of Aquasport, Limestone and Boca Bay Boats. With the expected 132 additional new jobs, TN Composites would more than double its employee headcount at its sole location in White Bluff.

Since 2018, TNECD has supported nearly 145 economic development projects in the Northern Middle Tennessee region, resulting in approximately 42,000 job commitments and more than $7 billion in capital investment.

QUOTES “Our strong business climate and skilled workforce make Tennessee the ideal location for TN Composites to thrive. I commend this company’s decision to create more than 130 new manufacturing jobs in Dickson County and look forward to their continued success.” – Gov. Bill Lee

“When a company like TN Composites expands in our state, it is not only a testament to the workforce or business climate but also to the community that company calls home. We are proud to be the home of TN Composites and thank this company for its continued investment in Tennessee.” – TNECD Commissioner Stuart McWhorter

“Dickson County is excited about the TN Composites’ expansion and the new jobs the company will create. This business growth arises from strong relationships cultivated with our existing industries and relies on our skilled workforce to meet the challenges of evolving technology and innovation." – Dickson County Mayor Bob Rial

“I am thrilled with TN Composites’ expansion plans in White Bluff and Dickson County. TN Composites, formally Ebbtide Boats, has been a large, local employer for generations. Today’s announcement of a significant investment in infrastructure, coupled with the creation of 130 new jobs, is great news for our local economy and workforce. I wish TN Composites much success in the coming years.” – White Bluff Mayor Linda Hayes

“Congratulations to TN Composites for expanding their successful operations in Dickson County. This is not only a tribute to the employees of TN Composites for the quality of their workmanship but also Dickson County for the industry leading workforce it produces.” – Sen. Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield)

“The expansion of TN Composites adds to the long history of quality boat manufacturing in White Bluff. This major investment will strengthen our local economy while also providing additional employment opportunities for residents. I want to congratulate TN Composites on this exciting announcement, and I look forward to the company’s continued success in Dickson County.” – Rep. Mary Littleton (R-Dickson)

About the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to develop strategies that help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. To grow and strengthen Tennessee, the department seeks to attract new corporate investment to the state and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. Find us on the web: tnecd.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Like us on Facebook. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

TNECD Media Contact Lindsey Tipton Public Information Officer (615) 339-6608 [email protected]

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Nashville, TN – Throughout the month of September, the Tennessee Department of Education will be celebrating and spotlighting TN ALL Corps, the state’s high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring program to boost student outcomes and accelerate academic achievement.

High-dosage, low-ratio tutoring can significantly increase student achievement, and consists of intensive tutoring that occurs in small groups (1:3 in grades 1-5 / 1:4 ratios in grades 6-8) two to three times per week. This model helps students accelerate their learning in an individualized manner and focuses on scaffolding academic content so students can access new learning, while building upon their knowledge and skills base.

Throughout Tennessee, 87 districts are participating in TN ALL Corps to provide free tutoring for over 200,000 students over the course of three years. Districts that signed up for TN ALL Corps as early adopters provided tutoring supports to students beginning in the 2021-22 school year, and as year two of TN ALL Corps programming begins, participating districts and schools have flexibility on how to implement and create a schedule that works best for their teachers, tutors and students.

“As Tennessee continues its work to help students recover from the pandemic and accelerate their learning, the TN ALL Corps program continues to show promise and commitment from educators, districts, and communities across Tennessee to work together to improve student outcomes through high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “We are focused on helping all our students achieve their highest potential, and thanks to the commitment of over a third of our school districts, our students have access to intentional tutoring and supports to set them up for success inside and outside the classroom.”

Students across the state had varying access to instruction in spring 2020 and throughout the 2020-21 school year. In January 2021, Governor Bill Lee convened the Tennessee General Assembly for a special legislative session to pass policies to help mitigate COVID-19 disruptions and support Tennessee students, including the Tennessee Accelerating Literacy and Learning Corps which codified TN ALL Corps into state law.

"TN All Corps makes a positive difference in the lives of our students. Students are teamed with our outstanding educators in small groups to dive deeper into the learning that takes place daily in our classrooms,” said Dr. Russell Dyer, Cleveland City Schools Director of Schools. “I am proud of our teachers for standing in the gap for our students and I'm equally proud of our students and families for committing their time to this effort. It truly takes a village to raise a child and I'm thankful to the State of Tennessee for identifying this need and funding it for the long-term benefit of our students."

To support implementation of the law and to aid districts in administering their TN ALL Corps programming, the department has put in place a few essential supports.

Through the department’s partnership with Zearn, students and families in the TN ALL Corps program now have access to a platform that can provide digital lessons and student progress updates in mathematics as well as a teacher-tutor-family communications tool that helps connect content to classroom instruction by easily sharing student progress reports with families and facilitating collaboration opportunities for teachers and tutors to work together to support student learning.

“Coming out of the pandemic, our district recognized the learning gaps incurred by our students. The high-dosage, low-ratio model from TN All Corps was the perfect fit for our district and students,” said Jonathan Criswell, Director of Schools, Milan Special School District. “The teachers have been able to concentrate on providing intense grade-level instructional support to students while having individualized time to ensure that students grasp previous grade-level skills which may be missing or incomplete. We are confident our targeted students will show tremendous growth over the next year.”

The department has also created a TN ALL Corps Advisory Council comprised of district leaders and early adopters of the TN ALL Corps program to help ensure that participating districts have a strong partnership with the department. The council will offer guidance on how to meet program requirements and model for what high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring can look like that includes more learning opportunities for students.

TN ALL Corps Advisory Council Members:

“We have never had a program like this. It identifies kids who are almost there. It quickly gives them the boost to be on grade level. Often, students spend forever intervention with nominal gains,” said Katie Arnold, TN ALL Coordinator, Cheatham County Schools. “I wish we could have all of our students participate in TN ALL Corps.”

Finally, in June, the department announced the expansion of TN ALL Corps to five community partners around the state including: the Niswonger Foundation, Literacy Mid-South, and United Way of Greater Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. These partners will follow the state’s high-dosage, low-ratio model for tutoring within their local program and added an additional 20,000 seats for at-risk students.

"Through our work with eighteen school districts and 5,500 students over the past 15 months, we know high-dosage tutoring works to accelerate student learning recovery. It is not physically possible for teachers, alone, to provide high-dosage tutoring to the number of students who need it,” said Debra R. Bentley, Director of Project On-Track, Niswonger Foundation. “Because of Project On-Track's design, community college and college students, parents, caregivers, and retirees are stepping up to extend the reach of teachers and support students as tutors. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime.”

For more information on the department's TN ALL Corps program, click here.

For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact [email protected].

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Nashville's tourism scene has received plenty of attention in recent years for bike bars and party buses on Broadway.

The question for families with children who are not celebrating a bachelor or bachelorette party or a milestone birthday is: "Where do we take the kids?"

There are options, but there is also a lot of nostalgia for Opryland, the theme park that closed in 1997. Native Nashvillian Daniel Strobel feels that too, but he now works at a place that provides an alternative.

As head of marketing and public relations for Nashville Shores, Strobel gets to talk about the water park, zip line, lodging and boat rentals that attract families to Hermitage in eastern Davidson County.

On this episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast, we talked about filling the void created by Opryland's closure and creating family-friendly spaces away from so-called "NashVegas."

He has a very interesting back story too. Strobel's father Jerry was the general manager of the Grand Ole Opry for 30 years, but Daniel said he did not appreciate the magnitude of that venue until he went away to college in New Orleans.

His eyes were opened to how "neat" Nashville is.

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About Tennessee Voices

The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.

Please email your ideas for future guests to me at [email protected]. Thank you for watching.

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David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Tweet to him at @davidplazas.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Carla Tarkington has been styling hair for decades.

“I get to minister to my clients, I get to be their big sister, I get to be their little sister, I get to be the mom,” she said. “I get to be the best friend, I get to be everything they can’t tell their husband.”

Up until this year, it was technically legal for Tennessee businesses to discriminate based on natural hair.

“Long overdue. I really don’t understand why it was even a thing,” Tarkington said. “I never understood why someone’s hair affects their ability to perform what they went to school to learn to do.”

Tarkington, who runs 2MuchHair, likened the time before the law to having to put on a mask before going into work.

“It’s like waking up every day and putting on makeup you don’t want to wear,” she said. “You don’t want to do that to make someone else comfortable to be in their presence.”

The new law is called the CROWN Act, which also serves as an acronym – Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair. The bill, sponsored by Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis) in the House, makes it illegal to discriminate based on someone’s natural hair.

“We actually started hearing from people about feeling as if they lost their job because of the way they were wearing their hair,” Camper said. “We didn’t feel like that was fair.”

It was a bill that passed by a hair in the Tennessee House. It needed 50 votes, and it got 50 votes. When the vote happened back in April, you could see the relief on Camper’s face.

“I had to really have some real, open, honest conversations with members about why this is important,” she said. “Some of them felt like it was a burden on businesses and for multiple reasons, people felt like we should not be doing this.”

Regardless, the act became law on July 1st, and the effects are already apparent.

“Clients have come in and they’ve cried, they have shed emotion. They’re so happy that they can go to work like they want to go to work,” Tarkington said. “They’re cutting time out in the morning. They don’t have to spend as much time presenting a look that is ‘accepted.’”