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2022 School Board Candidates

Rutherford Students First offered RCS school board candidates with competitive races in the August 2022 election (only Zone 3 and Zone 7 have multiple candidates) the opportunity to take a stance on some issues important to our parents. The results are below in shareable graphics. If you don’t know your school board zone, see map and lookup at bottom of page. Zone 3: Caleb Tidwell (R) vs Jason Scales Zone 7:Frances Rosales (R) vs Cynthia Daniels Map of School Board Zones Look up your school… Read More »2022 School Board Candidates

RSF Parents Want…

Two members of the Rutherford Students First (RSF) leadership team served on subcommittees which reviewed the upcoming changes in education funding for the state of Tennessee. As that process kicked off a few months ago, we surveyed RSF parents for their thoughts on what was important in education funding for our state, so we could provide that feedback in the committees. Here are their responses to a few questions from the survey. All of these components are important, but please rank each from most important… Read More »RSF Parents Want…

RCS Re-Zoned High Schools

The new high school zones for the 2022-2023 school year have been announced and can be seen here. Important note: All rising 9th graders who have been rezoned must attend their new zoned school beginning in August. Rising 10th-12th graders have a grandfather option to remain at their existing schools but transportation is not provided. There is not a sibling option. Those who wish to exercise the grandfather option must notify their existing schools. If you’d like to see the last Board discussion before the… Read More »RCS Re-Zoned High Schools

Opposing RCS Proposed Public Engagement Rules, Alternatives Offered

Intro Rutherford Students First opposes the proposed changes to the public engagement rules at Rutherford County Board of Education meetings. The practical reasons are outlined below, along with an explanation for why we oppose the Board’s changes. Beyond our opposition, we have also provided an alternative policy which would address the basic problems the Board is attempting to solve without inhibiting anyone’s rights. Why Do We Oppose the Board’s Proposed Policy? As any school board considers new policies or changes to existing policies, some core… Read More »Opposing RCS Proposed Public Engagement Rules, Alternatives Offered

Changes to Covid Policies in TN Schools

Big 3 items for school related Covid policy in the bill that just passed the Tennessee Legislature on 10.30.21. Summarized from the Tennessee Legislature’s Conference Committee Report on House Bill No. 9077 / Senate Bill No. 9014. Quarantining in schools: The language is clear that only the State Health Commissioner has the “sole authority” to quarantine, and the committee summary of the bill passed says: “A local health entity or official, mayor, governmental entity, or school does not have the authority to quarantine a person… Read More »Changes to Covid Policies in TN Schools

RCS Board Meeting Follow-Up, 10.15.2021

Key notes. 1. Mask policy for RCS staff is changing to optional. – Teachers can now choose to wear masks or not. – Rutherford Students First likes any policy where individuals retain personal choice BUT the proposal for change was first stated at the Thursday meeting with no public notice other than a general topic discussion on an agenda item of Covid policy changes. Before that moment, no one knew about any specific changes (good or bad). Inserting the actual change in policy after the… Read More »RCS Board Meeting Follow-Up, 10.15.2021

The RCS Board Seeks to Reduce Parental Engagement and Intimidate the Public

At last night’s Board discussion (10.11.21), there were 5 sheriffs for the 4 people in the audience. After the session, as people went to speak with Board members or RCS staff, sheriffs closed in around them. To our knowledge, no person has threatened any Board member or threatened to become violent in anyway. We are happy to preemptively condemn any such behavior. At this meeting, there were zero speakers from the public and not a single remotely questionable engagement of any kind. So why are… Read More »The RCS Board Seeks to Reduce Parental Engagement and Intimidate the Public

RCS 2021 TCAP Scores

To look up a full report for any individual school, go to reportcard.tnedu.gov To see a list of proficiency by subject for all RCS Schools, go here. To see RCS high schools broken down by subject proficiency, go here. Note there are tabs in the spreadsheet for each subject. Magnet schools excluded from this list.

Updated Ideas for Handling Covid in RCS

The school board refuses to have a discussion over any ideas for dealing with Covid outside of masks and contact tracing, both of which violate parent’s rights and Tennessee law in how they are currently being handled. With the school district building their Covid policy on a discriminatory foundation of removing healthy, non-symptomatic, and Covid-free students from school only because they aren’t wearing a mask, they are both breaking the law and ignoring a wide variety of other solutions. We have posted these ideas in… Read More »Updated Ideas for Handling Covid in RCS

Student Punished for Not Wearing a Mask in Rutherford County Schools

RSF note: this parent is reaching out to the school to resolve this issue, but we are highlighting this story to point out the ongoing arbitrary and pointless application of Covid-related rules in RCS To be clear, there is no standing RCS policy that allows any student to be treated differently for any reason. We have previously reported stories of an RCS high school segregating students after asking their vaccination status (totally inappropriate). Now students are being treated differently because they are not wearing a… Read More »Student Punished for Not Wearing a Mask in Rutherford County Schools