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'It's disappointing' | KCS superintendent responds to insults against teachers by charter school president

Knox County Schools superintendent Jon Rysewyk called Knox County's teachers "hard workers" who helped students succeed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The superintendent of Knox County Schools said teachers were "extremely hard workers" on Wednesday in response to insults against them from one of the state's education advisors.

"I think anytime comments are made like that, about the teaching profession, it's disappointing," said Jon Rysewyk, the KCS superintendent. "Because the teachers I have now and the teachers that we have as an employee here in Knox County are extremely hard workers. As proof, [look at] the data that came out and how hard they worked through the pandemic to get us the results and to see students on that upward trajectory. Our teachers work hard for that every day."

Recently, Larry Arnn was caught on video mocking teachers, with Governor Bill Lee nodding his head in agreement, in an investigative report from NewsChannel 5 in Nashville. Some of the comments he made are listed below.

  • “The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country."
  • “They are taught that they are going to go and do something to those kids ... Do they ever talk about anything except what they are going to do to these kids?"
  • "In colleges, what you hire now is administrators ... Now, because they are appointing all these diversity officers, what are their degrees in? Education. It's easy. You don't have to know anything."
  • “You will see how education destroys generations of people. It's devastating. It's like the plague.”
  • “Here's a key thing that we're going to try to do. We are going to try to demonstrate that you don't have to be an expert to educate a child because basically anybody can do it.”

Gov. Lee previously asked Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College, to bring 100 of his charter schools to Tennessee. The school describes itself as an "independent institution of higher learning" and a "nonsectarian Christian institution." It has been criticized by national outlets as being instrumental in moving funds away from public schools across the country.

In response, Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville) and Rep. Sam McKenzie (D - Knoxville) organized a gathering to give teachers a platform to respond to the insults. Several local teachers who work in Knox County attended the gathering.

"I have not experienced what was mentioned in those comments," said Rysewyk. "What we've experienced here in Knox County, and we've been blessed for a long time, is teachers who work extremely hard to build relationships with students and care about their community."

Speaker Cameron Sexton (R - Crossville) also spoke against the comments on July 6, saying Arnn insulted generations of students who made a difference for countless students.

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