Meaningful school reform has come to Nashville.

At Tuesday evening’s regular meeting of the

MNPS Board of Education, Schools Director, Dr. Jesse Register unveiled the first of several
major restructuring efforts aimed to attack the challenges in our schools at their root.

Students, teachers, and families will be excited to learn that this round of restructuring represents
a fundamental shift in the way that urban districts do business. Calling the new organizational
chart a move to “servant leadership,” Dr. Register made plain that the role of central office is to
support instructional excellence at the school level. Instead of organizing everything from
Bransford Avenue, Nashville’s new central office will oversee the development of school
improvement plans at each individual school where the voices and experience of teachers,
parents, students and principals will guide improvement. Based on these plans, each school will
be able to order unique instructional support, based in the school from a new budget for
instructional support funded through a combination of federal stimulus money and money saved
by reducing central office staff.

This plan represents a dramatic shift of $15 million into our schools and classrooms. Thanks to
Dr. Register’s planning, innovation, and organization, we are able to achieve that incredible
increase in instructional support that is directly tied to our classrooms in a budget year that will
see the district reduce overall budget expenditures by a similar $15 million. That’s a significant
headline.

Central office restructuring is just the first step in a sustained reform effort now underway in
Nashville. In the weeks and months to come, you should expect to see many more practical and
pragmatic adjustments in the District all aimed at a relentless focus on improving instructional
quality. In the process, responsibility will be distributed and accountability improved. More an
more opportunities to be involved in your schools will emerge, and in the process, many more
people will have to learn to be involved in ways that benefit our students.

The process will be long, but if we remain focused on the needs of our students, we will certainly
achieve our goal of an excellent education for every child in Nashville.