| Marilyn Mathis retires from city schools post |
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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
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Posted: Sunday, July 12, 2009 8:02 am
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Murfreesboro City Schools Director Marilyn Mathis will retire Oct. 1 from the post she’s held for 12 years. The school board meets at 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 15 to hash out a plan to replace her. TMP/Michelle Willard
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The face of Murfreesboro leadership is changing.
Several city department heads, county leaders and now Murfreesboro City Schools Director Marilyn Mathis have announced their retirements.
“In spite of the fact that I have two years left on my contract, I am choosing to retire effective Oct. 1 because of several factors including … the opportunity I have to fill a vacancy for the executive director's position with the AIMS (Association for Independent and Municipal Schools) organization,” Mathis said.
In her new job, Mathis will lobby the General Assembly to advance the cause of city and special school districts across the state and help similar districts with leadership and growth opportunities.
“The city and special school districts are considered ‘lighthouse’ districts for educational innovation,” she said.
With the move to AIMS, Mathis ends a 26-year career with Murfreesboro City Schools with 12 years as director of schools. Murfreesboro Board of Education will meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 15 at the central office on Church Street to discuss a plan for finding a new director.
Over the years, Murfreesboro City Schools has had a distinctive history of innovative and progressive practices that continued under Mathis’ leadership.
School Board Member Susan Andrews said Mathis’ leadership skills, integrity and support for employees has made Murfreesboro City Schools a better system today than it was 12 years ago.
“My experience has been that she has been an excellent Director of Schools …” Andrews said. “It’s always been about what’s best for the children.”
Those practices have placed MCS students at the top of TCAP testing scores in reading and math, but not all students have benefited.
“If we all remember, Murfreesboro City Schools was known as an innovative, progressive, cutting-edge schools system across the state,” Butrum said, adding MCS’s “target status” under No Child Left Behind is the administration’s fault.
In 2008, the school system was given “target status” under No Child Left Behind for low testing scores from Hispanic and other limited English proficient students in reading and math.
These scores fell below NCLB benchmarks that require 86 percent of students test proficient or above in math and 89 percent in reading, including students in special education and students with limited English skills.
School Board Member Nancy Duggin said at the time, these students showed gains over previous years, but it wasn’t enough to get the system off the target list.
In 2007, MCS also was assigned “target status” because of low scores in students with disabilities in math and limited English proficient students in language arts.
Even though the system met benchmarks overall for students with disabilities in 2008, it was still assigned “high priority” status because it missed benchmarks in the same subgroups.
“These subgroups represent real children – children with abilities and the potential to be productive citizens. Schools and parents must continue to come alongside these students to encourage and increase expectations for academic achievement,” Duggin said.
The system must meet or exceed benchmarks in these subgroups two years in a row before removal from “high priority” status.
Andrews explained the NCLB standards are set high and with some groups it can take years to improve their scores, which MCS may have done this year, she said. TCAP test scores are not released until August, so the system won’t know for sure if it is off the “target” list until then.
Even with these recent setbacks, Mathis sees her years with MCS as productive and successful.
“When considering my … achievements as director, it's always easy to look at the physical accomplishments,” Mathis said, listing opening four new schools; creating a NASA Explorer School at Hobgood Elementary, an Arts Integrated School at Bradley Elementary and the City Schools Foundation, among others achievements.
“But all of these achievements are for one purpose: Improving the quality of education for children,” she said.
Mathis has tried to improve education to more and more students with the student population doubling in her career.
“She’s shepherded us through many changes and done a remarkable job,” Andrews said.
But Mathis credits the city council for its support of the school system.
“Our city has always dealt with growth in a proactive way,” she said. “Because of the support of the mayor and the city council in assuring that new schools would be supported and financed, we have seldom had the need to install portable classrooms.”
Mathis also noted among her achievements the Literacy Collaborative initiative, which trains teachers to develop reading skills and improve classroom achievement.
“I am so proud of the balance our educators bring to the lives of children as they teach the academic and personal skills necessary for success,” she said.
The next step in her career at MCS will be handing over the reins to the next director of schools.
“I extend my best wishes to all of the (school) board as they work together to make their selection of the person they believe will put children first in all decisions,” Mathis said.
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com. |
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