News Channel 5 sat down and spoke with Dr. Shawn Joseph, the new director of schools for Metro Nashville Public Schools, in his first one-on-one TV interview since taking the job in May.
In his new role, Joseph will oversee more than 150 schools and 80,000 students in the Nashville area, and he already has plans to improve the system in place.
“Short-term, I want Nashville to be the fastest growing urban school district in the country,” Joseph explained. “Long-term, I want us to be the best. You know, you’re in this thing to be the best, period. Urban, suburban, rural. The best.”
Since getting the job, Joseph has been in touch with city leaders, teachers, and community members to get a feel for what needs to be addressed from the get-go.
“We have lots of different needs and lots of different demands competing at once,” Joseph said. “That’s where I need input from the community and input from staff to really process that and really have a plan that we can stick to that people believe in.”
Joseph comes to Nashville from Maryland, and he has also worked in Delaware. He said his experience in those cities dealing with vast groups of people has been great preparation for this job in Nashville.
“We have vastly different communities in Nashville. All beautiful, but very different,” Joseph said.
Many students in Nashville Metropolitan Public Schools do not speak English as their first language, and Joseph said while that may have been looked at as a negative in the past, he sees it as a positive.
“What they bring to our schools is a richness and a diversity that we can benefit from,” Joseph said. “Whereas some may look at it as a deficit, I want to start talking about the opportunity that we have to have some of the best language programs in the country here because of our diversity.”
Joseph said that he hopes to change the culture in the school systems, encouraging all students no matter what their circumstances and focusing on the teachers as well, working to have competitive wages regionally and even on a national level.
“I think we’ve got to make sure we can recruit and retain the best talent in America right here in Music City,” Joseph said, adding that to do that, wages will have to be increased.
While teachers have been an integral part of a students' success, Joseph said success when it comes to education starts with a student's first teacher in life, their parents, or guardians.
“All families have hopes and dreams for their children. It’s our job to help them execute those hopes and dreams,” Joseph explained, adding that parents should be involved with their children’s schooling and help the students as much as they can. “We have a motivation gap in American education, and that is children just aren’t inspired, motivated to do that work. I think parents are the great motivators, and they can help us help their kids stay engaged and stay focused.”
To get input from community members and parents, and to hear their hopes and dreams for their children, Joseph and Metro Nashville Public Schools have planned to hold "Listen and Learn" sessions.
During those sessions, people have been invited to speak with Joseph and share any concerns or hopes with him and other school officials. Joseph hopes this can help get more people involved in children's education in the Nashville area.
“The only way to really turn around schools is going to be the people within communities checking in, signing in, and being engaged and saying, ‘We’re going to take control of our own destiny. We need support, but we got this.’”
To learn more about Dr. Shawn Joseph and the "Listen and Learn" sessions, visit their website by clicking here.
