In a continued effort to evaluate, support and advance educational opportunities for children in Tennessee, gubernatorial candidate Van Hilleary announced today that he has formed an Education Advisory Committee. The committee is composed of educators from diverse backgrounds who will pool their expertise to create blueprints for education reform in Tennessee.
Joel Giffin, Maryville Middle School's principal, will lead the committee along with Dedrick Briggs, a proponent of charter schools in Memphis and the committee's vice chair. Other members include: Deana Bishop, J.C. Bowman, Mickey Dunn, Joe Fox, William Gemmill, Ravan Krickbaum, Dana Miller, Jeanne Ray, Theta Rone, Joanne Smith and Donna Trevathan.
Officials said the committee will tackle some of the tough issues facing our state:
1. How can we best enact accountability-standards and consequences for failure-in order to insure our children's educational opportunities move forward, not backward?
2. How can we best set goals that allow schools to measure and reach a high level of performance?
3. What role will charter schools play in our educational system?
4. What resources and strategies can the state implement to improve literacy rates and reading scores in the state?
5. How can the state best utilize technology to prepare our children for the opportunities facing them in the 21st Century?
6. What are the best practices regarding the mainstreaming/inclusion of children and curriculum so we can close the achievement gap and prevent children from falling through the cracks?
7. How can we establish a culture of achievement that will encourage the islands of excellence in our state to spread throughout Tennessee?
Joel Giffin is the current principal of Maryville Middle School in Blount County.
Giffin is well-known for his innovative practices and his record of success at Maryville Middle School, which consistently scores among the top middle schools in the state in all subjects. Giffin has been named the Tennessee Association of Middle School's East Tennessee Principal of the Year and was named Educator of the Year by the Milken Family Foundation in 1999.
Under his leadership Maryville Middle School has been recognized as a United States Blue Ribbon School twice, won the "Tennessee School Board Association Awards for Excellence" eight times, and was recognized by the Southeast Islands Regional Technology for "Best Practices in Educational Technology."
Dedrick Briggs currently serves as the Executive Director of the Charter School Resource Center, where he has been one of the strongest advocates for education reform and charter schools in the state.
Briggs has been active in a number of educational causes in Memphis. He was the founding member of the Memphis chapter for the Black Alliance for Educational Options, and he serves on the National Education Policy Committee for 100 Black Men of America.
A graduate of Henderson State with major in Management and minor in marketing, Briggs brings an educational, organizational and business background to the education debate.
Deana Bishop graduated with a bachelors of science from the University of Tennessee in 1992 and received a masters in curriculum and instruction from the University of Tennessee one year later.
Presently, Bishop is a 4th grade teacher and technology coordinator for Sam Houston Elementary in Maryville City Schools. She serves as the system-wide Title 1 analyst and has taught for 10 years in several different elementary grades.
At Sam Houston Elementary, Bishop is committee chairman, grade level team leader, and Math Awareness Week sponsor. On several occasions, she has co-presented technology workshops and has presented instructional forums for principals and teachers regarding testing and the use of test data.
Dr. John "J.C." Bowman is the former Director of Education Policy for the Tennessee Institute for Public Policy (TIPP) in Nashville. He now serves as a top education policy advisor for Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. Prior to his position at the TIPP, Bowman served as President of Children First/CEO Chattanooga, which provided educational opportunities for low-income students.
A marine and special education public school teacher, Bowman was elected to three terms as vice-president of the National Association of Professional Educators (NAPE). He also served as vice-president for the Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET) and was Director of Government Relations for PET from 1993-1998.
Bowman has been named an Honorary Member of the 100th Tennessee General Assembly and was appointed to the National Performance Review by Vice President Al Gore. In addition, Bowman contributes regularly to Tennessee Politics and is a nationally recognized speaker on radio and television.
Bowman received a bachelors of science in Education from Lee University, a Master of Education from Trevecca Nazarene University and his doctorate of Philosophy from Emanuel Baptist University.
William Michael "Mickey" Dunn has served as principal of Lawrence County High School for ten years. Prior to becoming principal, he served as athletic director and assistant principal. During his tenure at Lawrence County High School, Dunn has developed an honors program and created a new attendance policy.
Dunn also serves as a TSSAA Board Control Representative. He was a Geography and History instructor at E.O. Coffman Middle School from 1974 to 1980, and he became principal of the school until 1982. There, Dunn developed Coffman Middle School's 8th Grade American History Curriculum.
Joe K. Fox was Chairman of the five member Maryville City School Board from 1993-1998. In that position, he helped institute many of the changes that pushed Maryville to national recognition, including having the middle school twice named a Blue Ribbon school.
Fox led the development of a system-wide strategic plan, which implemented benchmark and mentoring programs for teachers as well as a student-focused approach to decision-making. As a result, the United States Department of Education selected Fox to serve as a National Review Panel Member for the Blue Ribbon Schools in 1997 and again in 1998.
Fox is a member of the Maryville Chamber of Commerce. He graduated cum laude from East Tennessee State University with a bachelors in science and undertook continuing education courses in statistical analysis, program planning and program monitoring and evaluation from Florida State.
William B. Gemmill, III received his bachelors degree from Trevecca Nazarene University in management of human relations. He currently serves as a teacher, assistant soccer coach, and principal designee for John Overton Comprehensive High School.
Gemmill's perspective as a chief instructor in vocational educational will contribute to the committee's evaluation and recommendations for the current public vocational educational system. Gemmill has also served on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Professional Educators.
Ravan Krickbaum is the Director of Schools for the successful Rogersville City School District. Before taking on that post, Krickbaum served as the Director of Special Education, a school counselor, the Director of Achievement, and she taught both elementary and middle school classes. All told, Krickbaum has contributed to educating Tennessee's children for thirty years.
Krickbaum obtained a bachelor of arts from Carson-Newman College and an master of science from East Tennessee State University.
Dana E. Miller began her professional career teaching foreign languages at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee. Currently, she lives in Cleveland, Tennessee and teaches at a public school in Dalton, Georgia. Miller's experience teaching in two different states (Tennessee and Georgia) as well as in both public and private schools will add depth and breadth to the committee's perspective on different approaches to education.
Miller received her bachelors degree from the University of Georgia, a graduate degree from the University of Memphis, and is currently a candidate for her doctoral degree from the University of Tennessee. Miller also went to Italy as a Fulbright Scholar in 1999.
Jeanne Ray is recognized as a Career Level III language arts teacher and serves as chairperson of the Maryville Middle School reading department.
Ray trains other teachers to implement successful classroom strategies designed to increase student achievement. She has also utilized these skills as a state trained peer evaluator, presenting workshops and sharing successful educational practices through data verification.
Ray is an accomplished grant writer, responsible for the development and implementation of grant proposals totaling over $400,000 in grant awards. In addition, she serves as a grant reader-evaluator for the Tennessee Department of Education.
Theta K. Rone-a second-generation teacher-retired from teaching algebra and mathematics at Covington Middle School in Covington, Tennessee in 1999. During her 38-year teaching career, she was an active member of the NEA/TEA/CCEA. She currently serves as vice president of the Tipton County Retired Teachers Association.
Rone earned her bachelors of science in mathematics from Memphis State University and a masters degree in education from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Rone also ran a formidable campaign for State Representative (House District 81) in 1996.
Joanne Smith was a founding teacher of Chattanooga's first magnet school, which is widely considered one of the most successful magnet schools in the southeast. During her career, Smith has served as a teacher, trainer, school district administrator, assistant principal and principal. She currently serves as the Director of Magnet Schools in Hamilton County.
Smith received both her bachelors and masters degrees from Georgia Southwestern University, and she began her career as an educator in Albany, Georgia.
Donna Trevathan presently serves as the principal of Warren County Middle School where she won Tennessee's Middle School Principal of the Year by the Supervisor's State Study Council in 1999. Before attaining this post, she served as the Director of instruction for Warren County schools and Supervisor of Title II budgets. She also has an extensive background working with the Talented and Gifted program and founded Warren County School System's first teacher center.
Trevathan attained her B.S. from Middle Tennessee State University and went on to attain an M.A. and M.A. +45 at Tennessee Tech. She also participated in doctoral studies at the Peabody College of Vanderbilt.