Linda Edwards, kindergarten teacher at Julia Green Elementary, is this week’s News 2 Educator of the Week! Edwards has been teaching within MNPS for nearly 40 years. Aside from regular classroom duties, she mentors kindergarten teachers and works daily to make sure they feel like they are part of the teaching team. Edwards also takes it upon herself to make sure the kindergartners feel welcome and secure as they begin their educational journeys!

Help us congratulate Mrs. Edwards, and watch her tonight on News 2 at 10! The segment will re-air Friday, Dec. 14 during the 6am newscast.

Haywood Elementary is focused on families! Check out the article and photos sent in by Carolyn Price, 1st grade teacher at Haywood:



Haywood Elementary students and their families enjoyed a school wide potluck dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 27. The initiative was to bring families together with school faculty to embrace diversity, and fellowship together. Students and parents were encouraged to wear ethnic clothing and bring a dish from their country. Nearly 250 students and families attended the event which was divided into two separate dinners for different grade levels.

Principal Melanie Schiff thanked students and their families for attending over the morning announcements Wednesday morning. Haywood is planning to have another potluck after the first of the year to encourage fellowship within the school community.

A special thanks to Caroline Price for writing and submitting the following:

Math is easy, math is fun! This was the central focus at Haywood Elementary’s Annual Family Math Night. The school-wide initiative was held on Thursday, Nov. 15. Teachers and administrators worked together to develop family friendly math activities for the school’s pre-kindergarten through 4th grade students.

“We have math night to get parents into our buildings to show them different strategies and games that they can use at home to help their children build math skills that they are using in their grade level this year,” said Assistant Principal Carl Febles.

Haywood teachers have been working hard to raise math test scores and help promote high student achievement. This was a central focus for Family Math Night. “Math night can help parents learn what we are doing at school so they can help their children at home. A lot of times parents don’t know what to do to help their children, this (math night) gives them the resources and knowledge they can use at home,” said Febles. Nearly 175 students attended the Haywood event.

Here's a fun way to end the week:  Christopher Blackmon, Jr. isn't afraid to show his love for his Metro School!

Kirkpatrick Enhanced Option Elementary School is ending fall break on a very high note - the school won the NFL Play 60 DonorsChoose.org Showdown! Pre-K teacher Katie Elam applied for the showdown. She will now receive $1,000 with which she will purchase books, puzzles, posters and stickers that can be used to teach lessons about citizenship and character. Check out the release issued by the Tennessee Titans.

Kirkpatrick Enhanced Option Elementary needs your help! Katie Elam's blended preschool class is in the running for the NFL PLAY 60 DonorsChoose.org Showdown. The class will be matched up against a school around Pittsburg, the Titans Week Six Thursday Night Football opponent.

Click here for a video of Elam and her adorable class.

Efforts to close the achievement gap at four Metro schools will soon get a financial boost from the Tennessee Department of Education. Amqui, Carter-Lawrence Magnet and Ruby Major elementary schools, as well as Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School will receive anywhere from $100,000 - $300,000 to support efforts to improve student learning across the board.

Julia Green Elementary school parents, neighbors and faculty filled the school’s auditorium Thursday, July 26 for a community discussion about the school’s future. Leaders from Metro Schools, Metro Codes, Metro Planning, and Metro Public Works answered questions for nearly three hours.



Metro Council Members convened the meeting, which was prompted by a planned purchase of two parcels of land adjacent to Julia Green. The proposed purchase contract requires Metro Council approval.



School buses, traffic flow, student enrollment, land use, portable classrooms, classroom additions, the school zone and school size were among the issues discussed. The district shared drawings that showed how the additional land could be used with or without additional classrooms. There is no funding for additional classrooms.

VIEW Drawings of Possible Uses for Additional Land

Board Member & Sports Fan Mark North

Tennis anyone? …Or … Does love mean nothing to you?

Alumni Alert – It’s the Principal

Fall Sports …Get the Party Started

NIL Reunion Picnic

The Future of the North Sports Report

MNPS: The First Choice for Legendary Athletes, Coaches and Fans

High honors came for two of the district's principals this summer. Dr. Nancy Meador, principal of Madison Middle School, was elected President of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). Not long after, Ruby Major Elementary principal Teresa Dennis was chosen to serve on the NAESP Board of Directors!



These are high national honors for Ms. Dennis and Dr. Meador, so a big, hearty congratulations to them both! They will serve NAESP and represent our district well.

We say it often: it is very important for schools to have your correct address and phone number.



How important? This important:



When report cards were mailed home after school ended a few weeks back, nearly all of them arrived on time and at the right house. But more than 2,700 were sent back because of incorrect addresses.

How to Pick Up Your Report Card

Metro Schools will mail elementary students’ report cards to their home address this year. To ensure everyone receives a report card, it is very important for families who may have moved to check with their child’s school to make sure their home address is listed correctly.



The report cards are not available at schools today due to an unexpected problem with grade calculations by the grading software. Metro Schools’ Information Technology staff worked through the night with the Gradespeed software vendor to identify and resolve the problem. Those efforts will continue today.



Online grades available to parents do not appear to be affected.



While the district has used Gradespeed effectively for a number of years to generate report cards for middle and high school, this is the first time to use the product to generate elementary report cards.



The middle and high school report cards are not affected and will be mailed as usual.

The first day of school is always special, but for Cane Ridge Elementary School students, August 1, 2012, will be particularly memorable. It is not only the first day of class for Metro Nashville Public Schools, but also the first day of operations for Cane Ridge Elementary. Veteran educator Donna Wilburn, who will be the school’s first principal, will start work even before then to prepare for the school’s 700 students.



“Students never forget their elementary school teachers and principals because they provide the foundation for children’s academic achievement and personal development,” said Brenda Steele, associate superintendent for elementary schools. “I know Mrs. Wilburn will be a great principal for Cane Ridge Elementary and will give Cane Ridge students a solid foundation for middle school success.”



Wilburn currently serves as principal of Bellshire Elementary Design Center. She began her career in the Hardeman County School District and also served as a teacher in Memphis City Schools. Prior to becoming principal at Bellshire, she taught third grade at Amqui Elementary School and served as a first grade teacher, reading specialist and assistant principal at J.E. Moss Elementary.



She earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Tennessee at Martin, a master’s degree in administration and supervision from the University of Memphis, and an educational specialist degree from Tennessee State University.



Cane Ridge Elementary School, located at 3884 Asheford Trace 37013, is included in the district’s proposed 2012-13 operating budget at an incremental cost of more than $1.1 million. Teachers and students will move from other schools to Cane Ridge Elementary’s 45 classrooms in 90,000 square feet. The budget request must be approved by Metro Council.



In addition, the proposed capital spending plan includes funds to acquire land for another elementary and middle school in the area because of enrollment growth. Projected enrollment in the Cane Ridge and Antioch clusters for the 2012-13 school year is about 2900 students more than five years earlier; an additional 1900 students are expected by 2016.

Music education is getting a big bookst at Lakeview & Oliver thanks to an influx of cash from the Nashville Singers.



These schools have been awarded the Music Makes a Difference Education Grant. It will fund a new chorus program at Oliver and help fund music classes at Lakeview.



From Oliver's Choral Music Teacher Franklin Willis:

The Oliver Middle School community advocates in the importance of music education in students' lives. Receiving this award not only serves as monetary gain to fund the new chorus program, but motivation to meet the challenge of engaging students in finding their own voice through music. It is truly an honor to be a recipient of the Nashville Singer's Music Makes a Difference Grant. I look forward to future collaborations with the Nashville Singers and the Oliver Middle School Chorus.

Cole and Kirkpatrick Elementary Schools participated in the first-ever debate championship May 10, at the Estes Kefauver Building in downtown. The debates were held in federal courtrooms, with five teams from each school debating. Each school’s debate team consisted of 4th grade students with one 3rd grader.



The topic of the debate was “Parents should not be held legally responsible for their children’s poor choices.” Kirkpatrick argued the affirmative and Cole the negative. Kirkpatrick Elementary took home first and second place and Cole placed third. This was only the second debate between these two schools. This was the first year for each team of elementary students, coaches and principals.



Congratulations to both teams!

Do you know...

• What your child will do this summer? (Metro Parks/Others)


• What are your school options? (Student Assignment Office)


• How to keep your child safe in the community and in social media, including electronic resources for students and parents?


• What new standards your child will be required to master next year? (Information on new Standards)


• What school immunizations are required? (Metro Health/MNPS)


• What will be the Metro Planning updates for our community? (Metro’s Planning Dept)


• How to plan for your child’s education? (Katie Morgan, EdSouth)

Antioch Middle School

5050 Blue Hole Road

Thursday, May 17th

6:00 p.m.

After a nationwide search for outstanding educators, Metro Nashville Public Schools Innovation Cluster has selected school principals, called iLeaders. Four are new to their schools and six are veterans; all are charged with leading dramatic improvement at Innovation Cluster schools.

• Bailey STEM Magnet Middle - Dr. Christian Sawyer (New)


• Buena Vista Enhanced Option Elementary - Michelle McVicker (New)


• Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary - Jahi Rohrer (New)


• John Early Museum Magnet Middle - Risè Pope (New)


• Napier Enhanced Option Elementary - Dr. Ronald Powe (Returning)


• Gra-Mar Middle - Dr. Antoinette Williams (Returning)


• Margaret Allen Middle - Dr. Dorothy Gunn (Returning)


• Cameron Middle - Chris Hames (Returning)


• Jere Baxter Middle - Dr. Corey Walker (Returning)


• Brick Church Middle - Chirelle Jefferson (Returning)

Learn more about the Innovation Cluster on its website.

What are iLeaders?

“iLeaders are an elite group of educators committed to transforming Innovation Cluster schools into exceptional schools,” said Alan Coverstone, director of Innovation Schools. “These iLeaders will analyze data and implement strategies to improve student achievement at each school. We want rapid results and will work with teachers, students, parents and the community to achieve them.”

Who are our new iLeaders?

McVicker is a product of Metro Schools as a member of the first graduating class of Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School. She began her teaching career at Norman Binkley Elementary and then moved to Bordeaux Elementary where she taught sixth grade until becoming the outreach manager for Nashville Public Television. In 2004, she joined Rutherford County Schools as school technology specialist. In 2007, she became an assistant principal in Murfreesboro City Schools, splitting her time between Hobgood Elementary: A NASA Explorer School and The Discovery School. During her tenure, both schools have been recognized for student achievement. Hobgood is 13th in the state and second in Middle Tennessee for improving student achievement in Education Consumers Foundation rankings.



McVicker earned an associate’s degree from Columbia State Community College and a bachelor’s degree from David Lipscomb University, both in elementary education. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University and the Ed. S. from Tennessee Technological University.



Rohrer has five years’ experience in school leadership in New York, the British West Indies, and Washington, D.C. He joined DC Prep in 2010 as an instructional coach and became executive principal of the school’s Benning Elementary Campus in 2011. Previously, he was regional director of Potomac Lighthouse Public Charter School, also in Washington. In the British West Indies, he was the principal of the Teacher Gloria Omololu Institute. He began his career as a Teach For America Corps member in New York where he was a semi-finalist for the New York Sue Lehmann Award for teaching effectiveness. He has four years of elementary teaching experience.



Rohrer holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College, a master’s degree in elementary education from Pace University, and has completed the Principal Leadership Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also earned the M.Ed. He is the first African-American to win the overall title at the United State Alpine Skiing Junior Olympic Championship and was on the U.S. Olympic Development Ski Team.



Sawyer returns to Metro Schools from Louisiana where he worked to integrate 21st century learning technology into classrooms. He taught at Hillsboro High School and served as "Teacher in Residence" at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education, where he taught in the Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools program. He has been an instructor of Geopolitics at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and an Atlantik-Bruecke Fellow studying German-American relations with the Tennessee Department of Education. He was named 2006 National Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year by the National Council for the Social Studies and the 2006 Tennessee Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year. In 2008, he received both the Tennessee Distinguished Educator honor and Nashville’s "Educator Award" from the Mayor's Commission on People with Disabilities.



He has written and edited curriculum, including books on Human Geography. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the honors program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development.

A school of fish swam its way into Mt. View Elementary’ s cafeteria! The school is using Pepperidge Farms fish bread to promote healthy choices and eating at school during TCAP testing. Check out the pictures of the healthy lunches MNPS students are enjoying.

Glendale Elementary is like a brand new school on the outside. Its community is anxious to show off its newest outdoor features and say a hearty 'Thanks!' to the folks who made it possible at an open house next week.



Glendale has recently finished renovations on a large playground, planted 30 shade trees, built new birdhouses and planters, and even installed a raised garden and outdoor learning structure! And none of it would have been possible without the private donations given to the school.



The school is hosting an outdoor 'open house' on Friday, May 4, at 8:30 a.m. at the raised bed garden. Please join them in celebrating their newest additions!

Families at Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School and the Nashville community came together to see just how fun math can be!  Nashville Public Television, TSU Women’s Basketball Players, WSMV's Snowbird, Vanderbilt University's Mr. Commodore, and representatives from 92Q celebrated the evening and focused on fine-tuning math skills with the students and families of Robert Churchwell.

Roughly 180 students and their parents attended the special family night. They enjoyed a dance-off with area mascots and tested their math skills with a variety of hands-on problems that needed solving.

The faculty and staff at Whitsitt Elementary will soon dedicate the school’s gymnasium to Ray Whittaker, a 35-year member of the Whitsitt family.  Sunday, April 15, at 2 p.m., the Whittsitt community will gather to celebrate at a special dedication ceremony.

Whittaker dedicated more than three decades to the students, staff and families of Whitsitt Elementary. During his tenure, he served as physical education teacher and principal designee. He also served as a mentor, friend, and father figure to many. He encouraged and inspired countless young people including their family. Even after retirement, Whittaker remained active in the profession serving as a substitute teacher.  Whittaker passed on August 28, 2011.

As an International Baccalaureate Candidate school for the Primary Years Program (PYP), Eakin Elementary presented its first IB Exhibition this spring. Leading up to the event, Eakin fourth graders conducted extensive small group research that encompassed the theme: “Opportunities Depend on Available Resources”. For an IB school, the Exhibition is a culminating experience that gives students the opportunity to share with teachers, parents and fellow students what they learned. The most important and distinguishing features of the Exhibition are the processes of inquiry and the action the students then take because of their learning.

Some examples of this inquiry and action in practice are:

• Students researched the role of St. Jude’s Hospital in the battle of cancer in children. They held a lemonade stand one Sunday and raised more than $500 to donate to the hospital.


• Another group of students visited the local non-profit group, Room in the Inn and interviewed a homeless person as a result of their inquiry into the issue of Homelessness.


• Their research on oil spills, led another group of fourth graders to locate businesses in Nashville who recycle oil. They created a brochure to distribute to visitors at the Exhibition.


• Students researching the lack of education realized that the problem is global. Investigating charities, they selected a charity with a high rating of integrity. The students’ goal is to raise enough money to sponsor a year of education for a student in South Africa.

Board Member & Sports Fan Mark North

Proud Elementary School Teacher – Greatness Groomed Early

The North Sports Report visited Chadwell Elementary School recently and chatted with Music teacher extraordinaire Marsha Brewer who spoke fondly of a former Chadwell student named Devin Wilson and pointed out that Devin recently received the Collegiate Scholar-Athlete Award from the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, after leading the TSU Tigers in receiving this year and carrying a 3.15 grade point average. TSU’s Coach Rod Reed described the Chadwell Elementary alumnus as “a true student-athlete. He is a great role model for young kids and spends time reaching out to our youth.” Mrs. Brewer remembers Devin as “a great music student.”



Every high school and college scholar is built on a foundation of tremendous elementary school and middle school teachers. Congratulations to Devin and to Chadwell Elementary!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Can you imagine receiving a scholar-athlete award from a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Thanks to retired MNPS athletic director Scott Brunette, sports photo-journalist Mike Strasinger, and the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, these scholar-athletes have a memento to treasure, and the North Sports Report proudly shares the pictures with you.

PHOTOS of Student Athlete Awards

MNPS: The First Choice for Tremendous Teachers

Caldwell Enhanced Option Elementary School is earning national recognition for its efforts to promote healthier lifestyles. The school recently received a kit packed with roughly $2,000 worth of easy to use cookware from the Partnership for a Healthier America. The organization is a nonprofit, nonpartisan convener across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors to accelerate existing efforts addressing childhood obesity and to facilitate commitments toward First Lady Michelle Obama’s national target.

Earlier this school year, the students also received a special visit from Dr. Bernard Lafayette. Dr. Lafayette, an ordained minister, is a longtime civil rights activist, organizer, and an authority on nonviolent social change. He co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960, and was a core leader of the civil rights movement in Nashville, Tenn., and Selma Ala., in 1965. He directed the Alabama Voter Registration Project in 1962, and he was appointed by Martin Luther King, Jr. to be national program administrator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and national coordinator of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.

December is here and you can't escape those familiar holiday tunes playing in malls, on the radio and TV.

Shake it up this year and escape the old standards by taking in one of the many fine performances by Metro students! Below is a listing of some of the performing arts events happening in Metro Schools in December. If you're looking for the holiday spirit or something a little outside the norm, take your pick and support our young artists!

• December 1 - Nashville School of Arts - Tastes of the Season - 6:00 PM


• December 2-3 - Antioch High School Dance Department presents “Cats in Motion” - 7:00 PM


• December 5 - McKissack Band Concert - 6:30 PM


• December 8 -Jere Baxter Middle School Fall Band Concert - 5:00 PM


• December 8 - Dodson Elementary 3rd Grade PTO Show - 6:00 PM


• December 8 - East Literature Magnet HS Choir Concert - 7:00 PM


• December 8 - NSA Fall Orchestra Concert - 7:00 PM


• December 8 - Hillsboro HS Music Department Concert - 7:00 PM


• December 9 - DuPont Tyler Middle School Band Concert - 7:00 PM


• December 9-10 - Nashville School of Arts Fall Dance Show - 7:00 PM


• December 11 - Creswell Dance Department presents “Nutcracker - All Jazzed Up” - 6:00 PM


• December 12 - Goodlettsville MS Band Concert - 5:30 PM


• December 12 - Joelton MS Holiday Concert - 5:30 PM


• December 15 - Eakin Holiday Program - 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Paragon Mills Elementary third and fourth grade classes recently invited students from the Glencliff High School Academies to visit Paragon Mills and discuss the various Academies and the importance of setting academic goals and working hard. The students had the opportunity to visit four of the six Academy stations including Business, Culinary Arts, Cosmetology, Marketing, Engineering, and Medical Sciences, asking questions about the Academies as well as the importance of reading and math skills, future job plans, and post secondary aspirations. The Glencliff High School students served as outstanding role models for the third and fourth graders by inspiring them to dream big and work hard.

Pennington Elementary students have just finished a history lesson they won’t soon forget. After studying about the Constitution, Susan Beasley, Pennington’s librarian, challenged students to memorize the Preamble. She did this by reciting it herself on the morning announcements and asked who would join her the following week to share this special document. Students were given movements and a song to help them remember the parts.

This was a voluntary project, but 22 students, grades 2 – 4, participated! The students were awarded certificates and recorded saying the Preamble. The next day they showed off for the entire school, reciting it on the morning announcements. 

Time and time again, research shows children who struggle with reading in third grade will continue to struggle in school and have a greatly reduced chance of graduating from high school.

But we can all help turn this around - teachers, parents and everyone else - thanks to a wealth of new resources from the Tennessee Department of Education. ReadTennessee.org helps us all understand the new standards for reading in elementary school and gives ideas for helping to meet them.

You don't have to be a professional educator or understand the jargon of pedagogy to help out. Cruising through the website, I see reading toolkits for both teachers and families. The reading standards are easily available from the homepage and written in language we can all understand. There is even an area set aside for those who want to volunteer as reading tutors.

Tennessee's First Lady Crissy Haslam says in her welcome message:

Thank you for visiting the home of Read Tennessee, a joint project designed to allow teachers, families and community members to work together for the benefit of young children throughout the state of Tennessee. We encourage you to explore our website to take advantage of the information provided to help accelerate the learning of Tennessee's most important resource, our children.

ReadTennessee.org is meant to get us all working together for the benefit of our students, so head on over and check it out. There are ways for all of us to help!

If you're not hard at work with Hands on Nashville Day, take the kids down to the Parthenon for Celebrity Storytelling!

Each Saturday morning a different local celeb will read a 20 minute story of Greek Mythology at the feet of the golden statue of Athena in the main room of the Parthenon. Following the reading, a Parthenon intern will offer an activity to enhance the reading, as recommended by the National Reading Panel.

Here's the best part: It's 100% free and families who attend can stay and enjoy the Parthenon afterward!

This week's celebs are Woody & Jim from 107.5 The River. Upcoming stars include news anchor Demetria Kalodimos, the Nashville Symphony's Giancarlo Guerrero and country singer Ketch Secor.

The program will continue every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. from now until November 12. Full details in the flier below.

Wow, talk about a big response - Hands on Nashville Day has set a new record with more tha 1,600 people already signed up to help beautify Metro Schools!



The 20th annual Hands on Nashville Day is this Saturday, September 24, at 54 different schools. Volunteers will plant, paint, repair, rake, dig, and mulch until the schools look brand new inside and out. All of this volunteer labor is estimated to make a $145,000 economic impact.



To make it all happen, the Department of Maintenance and Operations has prepared:

• 1,400 gallons of paint


• 1,700 paint brushes


• 504 rolls of tape


• 380 plastic drop cloths


• 400 roller covers and roller frames


• 440-4 ft wood paint handles


• 432-5 gallon buckets


• 884-1 gallon pails


• 8 bush / limb cutters


• 450 yards of mulch


• 65 wheelbarrows


• 100 rakes


• 80 shovels


• 35 hedge trimmers

It's not too late to sign up, either. Head over to the Hands on Nashville website to register and get ready to work on Saturday!



Volunteers will be rewarded with the CMT One Country Celebration at 3rd & Lindsley at noon. There's really no reason to not sign up!

Stella White, Tom Joy Elementary’s library/media specialist, has received a $5000 Dollar General Literacy Grant. This grant will be used to develop a literacy “hub” to promote literacy in school. The money will be divided to provide the Tom Joy students with playaways, ebook, netbooks, flip cameras and software.

If you have a child who speaks a language other than English and has a date of birth between October 1st 2005 and September 30th of 2006, you need to register your child for Kindergarten at the Office of English Learners. Registration will began February 28, 2011 and will be by appointment only. It is best to register your child before the first day of school. For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact the EL Office at (615) 259-8608 Si ustedes tienen niños que hablan un idioma diferente al inglés y con fecha de nacimiento entre el 1º de octubre de 2005 y el 30 de septiembre de 2006 necesitan matricularlos para Kindergarten en la Oficina de Inglés como Idioma Adicional. Nosotros empezaremos a inscribir con cita previa a partir del 28 de Febrero de 2011. No esperen hasta el primer día de escuela, matriculen a sus niños con tiempo. Para más información y para hacer una CITA comuníquense con la Oficina de Inglés como Idioma Adicional (615) 259.8608

This Holiday Season, the Pennington PTO is sponsoring the “Pennington Panthers Giving Tree Project”. Between Monday, Nov. 29 and Friday, Dec. 10, Pennington students are asked to bring in gift donations for children in our community. These gifts will be administered and distributed to families in need. Gifts the school will be collecting include educational toys (Leap Frog toys, Magna-doodles, puzzles, flash cards, etc.), board games (all kinds), building toys (such as Legos, Lincoln Logs, etc.), as well as books (easy readers, books on tape, etc.). After all items are collected, the PTO will take the gifts and a roll of wrapping paper to the families. And in true "Giving Tree" spirit, the students who donate are having a special commemorative picture made with the stump of a 50-year-old tree that was recently cut down in front of the school.

Thursday, Dec. 2, from 4 - 7 p.m., Taylor Stratton Elementary will host World Day 2010. The free event will highlight a variety of different cultures. Guests will enjoy traditional dances, international vendors, native music and ethnic foods!

Check out the video of the Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Dedication Ceremony! Students singing, a portrait unveiled, and touching words from the Churchwell family.

The Nashville Predators started their "off-the-ice" season at Carter Lawrence Elementary Magnet School. And from the looks of things, they had a pretty good time!

Tuesday, Nov. 16, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin visited Lockeland Elementary School to stress the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. The visit was in conjunction with part three of Nashville Public Television's Children's Health Crisis that will first air Thursday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, Metro Health Director Dr. Bill Paul, and NPT Director Beth Curley were also on hand to encourage students and staff to lead healthier lifestyles.