by J.C. Bowman

Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET), a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, comments on pay policy that requires each district to create a merit pay system by the 2014-15 school year. The state board is taking this action to fulfill the requirements of Public Chapter 376 (2007), Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-3-306(h), the State Board of Education has developed guidelines for the establishment of differentiated pay plans by local education agencies (LEAs).

J.C. Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee

Our experience with differentiated pay/merit pay is that it is never funded appropriately. If the state is the source of funding it will eventually go away.  We have watched programs implemented in our state and other states simply be discontinued.  The state needs to reassure educators this will not happen.  It can be argued that this is more of a political issue and not an education issue. If this is the case, it may serve politicians more than educators.  It is imperative that PET works with policymakers and local systems to come up with a system that is fair for teachers.  It is our job to make sure that teachers have a seat at the table in working toward an effective and just policy. Therefore, we want to clearly articulate our position as outlined below, and look forward to the discussion.

Professional Educators of Tennessee believes the common ground can be found by financially rewarding educators for their expertise and their excellence.  This will attract and retain the best and brightest to the teaching profession.  However, Professional Educators of Tennessee opposes the use of student test scores as the primary measure of a teacher’s effectiveness, as the determining factor for a teacher’s compensation or as the primary rationale for an adverse employment action.  Rewarding teachers for their performance has been discussed in education for decades but has been a particularly heated issue of late.

This may well work at the campus level as a campus score as long as the local teachers are involved with development. However, the critical question is can we create a fair system that works at the individual teacher level? There is no valid instrument or value added model that reflects all the outside factors affecting a student’s education that a teacher controls.  We understand that whoever controls the test literally controls the entire system.  There is no stronger tool to defeat the freedom to teach, than by boiling it all down to a test.

PET believes that teachers should be rewarded for a variety of reasons, including rewarding teachers experience and advanced degrees.  PET opposes incentive or performance pay programs, unless they are designed in an equitable and fair manner.   PET supports a career compensation and benefits package for all certified, licensed and contracted public school employees that mandates competitive salaries that are equal to or greater than the national average and competitive with private industry.  The state should still include a minimum salary schedule that provides for step increases to recognize longevity in the profession.  PET supports the creation of a statewide set of evaluation standards for campus administrators that includes a survey of classroom educators and staff regarding the professional performance of the campus administrators.

In addition to experience and degrees, we expect to see salary increases targeted at performance (merit), market, equity, or retention.  General financial parameters and guidelines should be established each year as part of the budget development process at the state and local level.   In addition, below are a few additional talking points on the subject:

• Merit salary increases may be composed of many  differing components, but two components – a base salary percentage increase (specified in budget) and a percentage increase in recognition of above satisfactory (or exceptional) performance.  This will be mostly tied to increases in student achievement/performance.
• Adjustments to salaries may also be made when there is an issue resulting from market or other equity factors
• Equity factors exist from internal pay disparities and are not related to individual performance
• Retention bonus should occur in hard to fill positions like foreign language, special education and higher level math and science.

J. C. Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Franklin, TN.

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After threatening to bury Governor Bill Haslam’s bill that would bring vouchers to Tennessee earlier this week, its Republican sponsor Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris made good on his promise and said that the measure won’t be brought to a vote this session. Norris gave “political gamesmanship” as the reason for his action.

In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee chairwoman, Norris placed a hold on the bill and said that he did not want to see it advance out of the committee. The bill would have limited the number of vouchers available in the state to 5,000 until the year 2016, and would have increased the limit to 20,000 thereafter.

Although vouchers enjoy broad support in the state, the measure drew controversy after attempts were made by other lawmakers to amend it in order to eliminate the voucher limit entirely. Haslam along with Norris have said all along that they will resist any attempt to meddle with the proposal as written.

“There’s no more time for any more gamesmanship,” the Collierville Republican said. “The governor has said from the beginning that he isn’t about that. He designed what he thought fit with his education reforms very specifically and wanted to proceed accordingly, and not to play games with it, not to see it become a political football.”

Norris said he received several amendments to Haslam’s bill on Wednesday, but he said most of them were “more about the adults than the kids.”

“In other words, it was more about … politics than education,” he said.

According to spokeswoman for the Tennessee Federation of Children Kimberly Kump, one of the rejected amendments sought to forge a compromise by limiting the voucher program to schools in Memphis and Shelby counties. This was done in response to expert testimony that limiting voucher programs only to low-performing schools would render them ineffective.

Kemp expressed disappointment that even such minor alteration in the measure was considered a step too far and resulted in short-circuiting the bill in its entirety.

A separate bill for a more expansive voucher program was withdrawn earlier this session, though supporters have said they wanted to amend the governor’s proposal to cover more students.

Before it was withdrawn, the rival measure would have increased the income limit for eligibility from about $43,000 to $75,000 for a family of four, and would have set no limit on growth.

One of the sponsors of that bill, Sen. Dolores Gresham, told reporters after announcing Norris’ decision to the committee that she was just “fighting for children to have better educational opportunities.”

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Michele Molnar reports on a new measure introduced by Tennessee state senator Stacey Campfield that would see welfare recipients losing up to 30% of their benefits if their child isn’t promoted to the next grade in school on time. According to the description posted on the Senate website, if the student fails enough classes to jeopardize their promotion, their parents could lose some of the money they receive under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program administered by the state on behalf of the federal government.

Molnar writes that the bill was placed on the House Health Committee calendar on April 3rd.

The measure gives the parents a number of options to avoid cuts including enrolling their kids in a tutoring program in an effort to catch them up. In addition, they can take advantage of parenting classes offered gratis “in several places,” or work closely with the child’s teacher by attending a number of parent-teacher conferences.

Tennessee parents who are on public assistance already face a 25 percent reduction in some benefits based on a student’s truancy rate. However, truancy continues to be a pervasive problem, and the University of Tennessee law faculty and students who have been studying the issue are calling for reformed rules, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
As Campfield told the Tennessean about his legislative initiative, “It’s really just something to try to get parents involved with their kids. We have to do something.”

Parental involvement has long been considered key to child success in school, with a recent survey cited by Education Week showing that lack of support from parents or guardians was the chief reason for dropping out of school as listed by more than 23% of those surveyed.

The data comes from the 2012 High School Dropouts in America survey which was released last November by Harris/Dacima.

In the survey, conducted online in October, 55 percent of the dropouts looked into, but had not started the process of getting their high school equivalency or GED. The likelihood of doing so is higher for those who are married (67 percent). The reasons for not getting a GED: “not having enough time” (34 percent) and “it costs too much” (26 percent). One-third of high school dropouts say they are employed either full time, part time, or are self‐employed. Another 38 percent of the men and 26 percent of the women were unemployed.

Seeking a way to get those who dropped out of school to go back to get their high school diploma is considered a key to minimizing the negative impact that leaving before graduation has on the students’ economic future. Those who never get a high school diploma not only are more likely to remain in poverty but also are more likely suffer a lack of medical care and die younger than their high school graduate peers.

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Although vouchers enjoy broad support among lawmakers in Tennessee, a dispute between legislators and Governor Bill Haslam could result in the proposal to launch the program dying before passage. At issue are the types of schools that would qualify to accept vouchers both under Haslam’s original proposal and the expansion amendment introduced by Senator Dolores Gresham and Brian Kelsey.

Under the original measure, only one Muslim school in the Memphis area would qualify to accept voucher students. If the amendment is adopted, that number would be expanded somewhat — something that concerns some of the bill’s supporters and Haslam himself. So much so, that the Governor has indicated that he will pull the proposal from consideration if Gresham and Kelsey are successful in amending it, thereby killing any chance of a voucher program in Tennessee for this legislative session.

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, sponsor of the Haslam’s bill in the Senate, said the governor has been more explicit in discussions with lawmakers on withdrawing the measure.

There have been alternative bills filed, but the governor’s bill is funded in the governor’s budget proposal for next year. That means the alternative would face a more difficult time in making it through the Finance Committees of the House and Senate.

Haslam’s bill limits “opportunity scholarships,” as the vouchers are known in the state, only to students who are enrolled in the bottom 5% of the state’s schools and qualify for the federal reduced price and free lunch program. The measure would also place a cap of 5,000 on the total number of outstanding vouchers for the first year of the program, raising the limit to 20,000 in 2016.

Kelsey’s amendment calls for a much more ambitious program that allows students attending all public schools in Tennessee to apply for a voucher to enroll in a school elsewhere. It would likewise nearly double the maximum income requirement to $75,000 for a family of four and would do away with all annual voucher caps.

The Murfreesboro Post, meanwhile, reported that Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro, and Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, are concerned that Muslim schools could qualify for scholarships. The article listed several in Nashville and Memphis as potentially eligible to accept vouchers and one in Knoxville, Anoor Academy. But Tracy said Monday that, after research by his staff, it appears only one Muslim-oriented school — Pleasant View School in Memphis — would be eligible under Haslam’s bill. The bill says vouchers can be accepted by schools in three categories as classified by the Department of Education. Schools would also have to be accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Only Pleasant View apparently meets the criteria, Tracy said, and most other Muslim schools are in a fourth category under the classification system.

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by J.C. Bowman

The Tennessee General Assembly is considering legislation relative to teachers acting as representatives of a professional employees’ organization (Senate Bill 867/House Bill 847). In my role as Executive Director of a professional employees’ organization, we welcome the debate and the chance to reallocate tax dollars to the classroom for instruction or into teacher salaries.  We applaud Senator Delores Gresham, Representative John Ragan and others for their willingness to discuss an issue that has sparked national debate.

J.C. Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee

Recently, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) calculated the time and costs of “release time” or “official time” by the federal government and the numbers were astounding: 3,395,187 total hours and an estimated cost of $155,573,739.25. OPM says that the cost comes to about one-tenth of one percent of the total payroll.

According to Ben DeGrow, senior policy analyst of the Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center in Denver, Colorado, the practice of paid time for these activities “is very common in every unionized school district.” DeGrow points out that districts provide paid union leave either through specified employee salaries or through a pool of hours made available to the union to assign and use as it chooses. The school district then must pay a substitute teacher to fill the opening caused by a unionized teacher being absent from work to do union business. DeGrow stated his organization documented teachers on paid leave lobbying the legislature. This practice undoubtedly occurs in Tennessee.

Many school districts give an allotment of general release days for professional employees’ organization activities. The number of days tends to vary with the size of the district and the number of teachers. Local professional employees’ organization officials and representatives may use these days to attend business meetings or workshops, which may include political advocacy.

While our organization does engage in advocacy on behalf of our members, we do not endorse or contribute to political parties or candidates with our member dues.  In regards to political contributions, the Tennessee Education Association was the second largest donor to political campaigns in 2012, according to the Follow the Money website. In fact, they spent $262,500 in reported political contributions in 2012.

In 2012, the Tennessee Education Association gave $234,000 to Democratic Candidates and $20,500 to Republican Candidates, as well as $8,000 to Independent Candidates.  To further illustrate, these political contributions meant that 89.14% went to Democrats, 7.81% to Republicans and 3.05% went to Independents.  They only won 56.2% of the political races they funded, but lost 43.2% of the races.   It is hard to make a convincing case that these political donations benefit Tennessee educators or improve student achievement.  The question legislators must ask themselves, “were any of the individuals who were granted release time conducting political activities on the taxpayer dime?”

Our organization clearly understands that we must operate in a transparent manner when using taxpayer dollars.  We would have no problem with legislation that requires a professional employees’ organization to pay the full cost of teachers who use release time to conduct organization business, or to require the teacher using release time to deduct it from their personal leave.

However, we do disagree with school districts that permit release time to representatives and then turn right around and grant them teaching experience for their time in service to the professional employees’ organization. These individuals then continue advancing on the salary schedule as though they have accrued actual classroom teaching experience. This is not fair to the hardworking classroom teachers who are engaged in the actual teaching of students across Tennessee.  Why should a professional employees’ organization representative advance on the salary schedule for conducting organization business?   We know of several cases where the professional employees’ organization representatives have not been in the classroom for years.

There are still several school districts that have provisions in collective bargaining agreements, giving a certain number of paid leave days to a teacher who has been elected to serve as a national, state or local director for the teachers’ professional employees’ organization.  Legislation should not impact these districts until these contracts expire in 2014.  Our organization also supports the concept that time spent during normal working hours by a teacher representative of a professional employees’ organization participating in a grievance procedural meeting, or a disciplinary or employment rights meeting at the request of another teacher be considered as engaging in school duties.

In an era that demands accountability, our organization is committed to work with legislators to ensure taxpayer money is wisely spent in Tennessee. We welcome a civil discussion on this subject by policymakers and taxpayers.

J. C. Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee.

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by Tim Brinegar

School safety issues remain on the forefront of our agenda for Tennessee’s 108^th General Assembly.    We are addressing the safety issue on multiple fronts.  One bill we have fully supported is the “Student-Self Defense Bill” (Senate Bill 113-Sen. Tate/House Bill 860-Rep. Weaver).  This bill allows a principal to use their discretion in determining what disciplinary action to take, if any, when it can be proven that a student had been truly defending themselves or another when a fight occurred.  This bill has garnered much support across the state.  Suspending or expelling a child for defending themselves does not make sense in every case.

In addition, we are supporting two other pieces of legislation that will help create a better learning environment for students and a better teaching environment for teachers.  Senate Bill 264-Sen. Gresham/HB966-Rep. D. White, known as the “Assault on Teachers Bill”, takes current Tennessee Code and makes student suspension “mandatory” when they assault a teacher versus being “permissive” and up to the discretion of the principal.  Teachers need to know they are safe whether they are performing their jobs or enjoying life on their own time.

Senate Bill 883-Sen. Hensley/House Bill 911-Rep. D. White, known as the “Student Discipline Bill”, which passed the Senate last year, but failed in the House, provides teachers assistance when dealing with students who are sent to the principal’s office and are then returned back to their classroom.  Representative White, a former teacher has taken a strong stand on behalf of teachers in the legislature.

Finally, we are supporting the legislation of Representative Eric Watson and Senator Frank Nicely.   Senate Bill 742-Sen. Niceley/House Bill 504-Rep. Watson details how a district-wide school safety plan would include having School Resource Officers (SRO’s) present in each school along with other safety and security measures. We are looking forward to this debate, and resolving this issue.

All of these are steps in a positive direction for public education that should have been commonsense reforms years ago. Also, we have suggested an increase in guidance counselors in our schools.  Today, across the nation, too many trained guidance counselors have responsibilities that do not include actual interaction with children, and instead, are being burdened with paperwork that probably could be better handled by an administrative clerk.  This is a problem across the nation, not specific to Tennessee.

In addition, nobody is discussing that while many prevention programs have proven effective for students, these programs are rarely available in a manner that meets the unique needs of students with disabilities.   This serious discrepancy in educational programming and curriculum spills over into the prevention arena.  Research has shown that adolescents with mild disabilities are at an equal and greater risk for drug and alcohol use, school problems, emotional problems, and legal problems.  The lack of specific and well-documented statistics for this population makes it extremely difficult to gauge the exact need and design of prevention programs. Most of the programs created for students with disabilities are designed by the classroom teachers themselves.  Classroom teachers do not get recognized enough for their innovation in the classroom, or their commitment to individualization of the needs of students.  The weakness of this approach is that programs are inconsistent and there is little research to evaluate their effectiveness.

Policies at the district, state and federal levels must be designed and implemented, with the successful policies and procedures replicated to address the serious lack of targeted prevention programming.   We encourage you to keep informed on education issues.  By speaking up we build a stronger public school system to meet the needs of children, teachers and society.

These bills, along with other initiatives undertaken by Professional Educators of Tennessee and interested legislative leaders will surely lead to the improvement of school safety and security. We can never do enough to protect those who work and study behind the walls of any school in Tennessee.

Tim Brinegar is the Director of Government Relations for Professional Educators of Tennessee.

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The Presbyterian Day School in Memphis, Tennessee has adopted a new method of learning in their classrooms. Gone are the desks facing the blackboard with the teachers in front of it, teaching the same concept to all the students regardless of their individual skills. Instead, the room – which now resembles an employee lounge in a new tech start-up more than anything else – is filled with boys of different ages moving along at their own pace through their math curriculum using modern technology.

What makes it possible is the rigorous regiment of data collection by the school which allows the learning platform to adapt to the skills of every student from the gifted to the struggling. According to headmaster Lee Burns, even in the small classroom the range of ability is wide. Burns says at any time students could be learning material from grades 2 through 9.

Although it was considered a risky experiment, it appears to be working if the math assessment exams are any indication.

Eight days are allotted for each math unit. Boys who think they understand the concepts may take the unit test on Day 4. If they score 90 percent or higher, they’re off to “guided challenge,” a range of math activities that allow them to work on more sophisticated problems, either virtually or with a teacher. Or they might look at the real-life ways math comes into play in people’s lives.

Those who don’t master the materials in the time allotted go to a different space in the building where more intensive help could be provided. There they will work with a tutor over the internet – using messaging tools like Skype – and use adaptive software to test their knowledge so they won’t progress too rapidly or too slowly. They will rejoin their classmates when they’ve caught up and taken the exam again on Day 8.

“Our scores are stronger than before,” Burns said. “And anecdotally, students are much more engaged. So many boys now say their favorite subject is math. They love the approach. They own the learning, so there is great engagement in it.”
PDS is in its second year of smart math, a concept it adapted from things happening in charter schools and other public schools.

One of the schools that served as a model for PDS is the Rocketship Academy in California. Rocketship Schools, a chain of charters around the country, have been experimenting with technology in learning to an unprecedented degree.

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ChoiceMediaTV’s Education Reform Minute reports that the parent trigger law in Tennessee could become easier for parents to put into effect if the changes proposed by Representative John DeBerry, who represents Memphis, become law. DeBerry, who serves on the state Legislature’s education committee, seeks to lower the number of signatures required before a petition to take over a failing school and turn it over to a charter operator can be acted upon.

Currently, 60% of the parents or guardians of the school’s students need to give their consent for the trigger to be pulled. DeBerry proposes to drop that number down to 51%, or a simple majority of parents. The proposal would also put more power into the hands of the school’s teachers. If 51% of them sign off on a similar petition, the school could be converted into a charter as well.

DeBerry explained that his motivation is to put more power into the hands of the parents, whose efforts at change could be severely hamstrung not only by the high signature barrier but also by the efforts of a recalcitrant local school board. The current law, which, according to Choice Media, is considered “weak,” also requires the assent of the board members to any and all changes proposed by parents for the school.

Well, I went out and filed a bill because it is necessary it’s most certainly an idea “whose time has come” — to use a cliché. I think that considering all that we’ve talked about in education reform all over the country I think of all those who are talking and all those who have input the parent company have the least input of anyone. Regardless whether its good or bad, too often it is often crammed down their throats.

Under the new version of the bill, the board would no longer have the power to block the reforms something that will finally give parents the power that they have been looking for to effect real changes in the public school system.

DeBerry, who is a Democrat, represents a new wing of the party which has turned its back on its traditional union supporters and embraced the education reform movement, of which school choice and parent trigger laws are cornerstone ideas.

DeBerry shares these views not only with the noted Democratic reformer and former head of the Washington D.C. school district Michelle Rhee – and her pro-reform organization Students First – but also the current U.S. Secretary of Education under the President Barack Obama, Arne Duncan.

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by J.C. Bowman

Organizations continue to transform and change.  Part of the reason for the decline of unions has been their reluctance to change and willingness to cling to an outdated system built on an industrial model.  Creating and sustaining a culture of high performance while leading organizational effectiveness is one of most complex challenges facing non-profit and organizational leaders.  An imperative question that any organization should ask is: Do your members trust you?

J.C. Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee

A vibrant, energized organization is one that interacts with its members across every potential outlet of communication. Members want to know what you can do for them and they will engage your organization in ways you might not have imagined even six-months ago.  You have to work to keep ahead of your membership.

Organizational leaders must understand the processes necessary to incorporate performance improvement, membership focus, professional learning, and necessary change to achieve a highly effective organization. Organizational members have a world of data at their disposal, but what they truly desire is to be a member of an organization that knows their needs and gives them maximum value for their investment. Organizations that are recognized as exceptional providers of customer service are the ones that have incorporated member-focused behaviors into their daily operations.

Even with and a dynamic plan and an unambiguous vision for implementing high-performance and effective systems, the foremost question members and prospective members may ask is, “Why should we look to you instead of your competitor?”  It’s simple.  As a professional you need to remain informed as to what is happening in your chosen field. Educationally, you need to keep current with all developments in the scope of your work.  Learning new models and methods does not stop in college or graduate school. You need benefits that school districts are not providing.  And you may need legal assistance which we provide.  Politically, you need to know what laws affect you and your profession without the partisanship.  You need to know what legislative initiatives are being considered that have an impact on your field, and what you can do to effectively influence legislation to promote the profession.

We have discovered that our most devoted members want to have a relationship with us. Just like you want to know who they are, they want you to know who they are as well. They want to identify how your organization can help them. And once they comprehend that your organization understands and has viable solutions to their particular set of problems, as well as your vision for making them successful in their chosen field, you will gain loyalty.

But how do you build that loyalty? By building a relationship with your members based on openness, effective communication and trust.

We strive try to engage our members constantly.  Nearly half of our members now utilize our website on a regular basis.  We believe in being interconnected and actively engaged by keeping membership simple and uncomplicated, focused on an approach that is “bottom up,” not “top down,” and on our core business mission of education.  If you want to be recognized as an outstanding provider of member service, you have to consistently exceed the expectations of your members.  Once you adopt this approach, you will find a growing commitment by members.  But once you connect, how do you build loyalty?  You build this loyalty by building trust.

Organizations must strive to embrace openness and transparency in how they interact with their members.  For us, this includes how we build our legal services and member services and benefits.  It also includes vibrant professional learning and development for our members, based upon needs identified by educators, state and local district.

Consider this simple formula for creating a loyal membership base: Openness drives accountability. Accountability builds trust. Trust is the foundation of a relationship. Every organization must have a relationship with its members if it wants to be sustainable.

J. C. Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee.

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Educators must exercise a higher duty of care than most professionals. They face exposure to liability much greater than does the average citizen.  Nearly every day, teachers must deal with assorted laws related to issues such as school safety, child abuse, student discipline, negligence, defamation, student records and copyright infringement.  And still they must teach, in an era where school safety has taken on added importance.

Any examination of why educators choose teaching reveals a variety of purposes. Making a difference in our society, as well as in the lives of children, are two most frequently cited reasons for working in public education.  I know from my own experience that one of the loneliest feelings in the world is that of being a new teacher. First year teachers are not the only people with this experience; this also includes teachers transitioning into a new school. In a world where seemingly all knowledge is found on the internet, there is still some wisdom that can only be gained through experience. A school-based mentor can provide that experience.

J.C. Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee

Research shows that employees in any field who have mentors report higher salaries, more frequent promotions, higher job satisfaction, stronger commitment to their organization and are less likely to want to leave their jobs than those without mentors. Peer relationships are often overlooked but can frequently be more beneficial to both the mentor and the mentee.

That is why it important that we develop mentor relationships in education. We encourage our members to mentor “new” teachers, and be that colleague that others can trust. Seek to be that “go to” person with whom colleagues can ask questions, vent, and learn about the school culture. Encourage teachers that no matter how embarrassed they are about a matter, you are someone they can ask.  Be that colleague in your school and district others can go to for accountability and encouragement without being judged.

If one teacher decides to mentor another, practical guidelines should be determined before beginning.  We suggest having regularly scheduled meetings.  Each conversation should be somewhat planned, but there should be no fear of flexibility. A mentor should keep in mind the best mentor relationships are when both the mentor and mentee benefit by that relationship.  Finally, avoiding gossip is imperative. There is enough gossip in schools by teachers, parents and staff. Unfortunately, there are those who enjoy keeping the most rascally reports active. A gossiper should always remember that, sooner or later, he or she may fall victim to someone else’s gossip.

Educational mentors should also remember is that “relationships require cultivation and cultivation takes time.” Participants must make an investment in order to receive the benefit that mentoring relationships can provide. No investment, no return. Mentoring relationships will require your time, energy and commitment but they can be mutually advantageous as well.

J. C. Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee.

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