April - Tennessee Education Association

TEA RA
Information for Delegates: Electing Governance Leaders
Administrator — Middle
Julie Hopkins, Metro-Nashville EA
For all that I am, my deepest inspiration
comes from the people that
surround me with their encouragement
and support. As the principal
of Buena Vista Elementary Enhanced
Option in Nashville, I inspire the
youth of today with my personal
testimony. I constantly encourage students to
never give up when they are faced with difficult
situations. I share my stories about being an honor
student, a school leader and a teenage parent to
let students know they can do anything they want
to do with determination, commitment and hard
work.The parents are my inspiration. They bring
us their very best with a belief that we, as educators,
are competent in our ability to give each child
the foundation for becoming productive citizens.
I inspire parents with my sincere belief that they
can make a difference in the lives of each child.
Every parent has a purpose and responsibility to
help ensure success for all students. I would like to
think that my fellow educators are inspired by my
positive attitude; knowing that we have a tremendous
task ahead of us. Further, I am inspired by
the dedication of the educators at Buena Vista and
those across the state. I know that with the right
attitude, we can positively impact learning for all of
our students.
It would be a tremendous honor to represent you
on the TEA Board of Directors as the Administrator
from Middle Tennessee and join in the Association’s
work of positively impacting student success across
Tennessee.
Administrator — Middle
Keith Cornelius, Coffee County EA
I started my teaching career in 1989
in Duval County Public Schools of
Jacksonville, Fla. I then came in
1999 to Rutherford County Schools
and have always been an avid and
staunch supporter of the TEA. I
became very involved in my local
association from the onset. I served as a building
association representative for approximately
four years before being nominated to be on the
negotiating team. I served five years on the
negotiating team with four of those in the role of
Chief Negotiator for REA and negotiated one of the
strongest contracts in the state at that time. I was
then elected to the Executive Board of the REA as
president-elect and subsequently served two years
as President of the Rutherford Education Association.
One of my proudest achievements as president
was the continued growth in membership. REA
never had a membership loss during all my years of
involvement and that was due to the hard work of
the dynamic team in place. I finished my presidency
with 1576 members, the fifth largest in the state at
that time.
I have always been a strong supporter of teacher
rights. I have weathered the storm of anti-teacher
sentiments with all of you. I believe in the rights
of educators and will always defend public education.
I was there with thousands of friends in March
2011 standing for five hours or more in the cold
rain fighting for what I still believe in. I am most
fortunate now to be an assistant principal and instructional
coordinator In my home county, Coffee
County. I feel that I have brought some progressive
ideas to the table there and any of the teachers at
my school would gladly tell you right now that I
support them and the right to the best public education
we can provide. I appreciate your support as
Middle Tennessee Administrator for the TEA Board
of Directors.
Black Classroom Teacher — Middle
Kenneth Martin, Metro-Nashville EA
Kenneth Fludd Martin currently
serves the Metropolitan Nashville
Education Association (MNEA) as
parliamentarian and chair of the
MNEA Committee on Constitution,
Bylaws, and Standing Rules. Kenny
is the son of two Nashville educators
and the nephew of MNEA past President Ted Martin,
the first African-American president of his local. He
believes wholeheartedly in the inclusive vision of
his uncle to provide a collaborative workplace for
educators in Nashville. Martin, an exceptional education
teacher and middle school basketball coach
at Martin Luther King Magnet School, formerly
served as MNEA Treasurer and has served his local
as association representative, Negotiations Team
member, Minority Affairs chair, Budget Committee
chair, Special Education Committee chair, delegate
to numerous Tennessee Education Association
(TEA) Representative Assemblies, and state and
local delegate to several National Education Association
(NEA) Annual Meetings. After working as
a substitute teacher, Kenny taught at Bass Middle
TEA Election Polls Open Saturday, May 12, 7:30 - 9:15 a.m.
School, Head Magnet, and McGavock High School.
Martin has attended the TEA Spring Symposium,
NEA’s Minority Leadership Training, National Council
of Urban Education Associations Meetings, the
Johnella H. Martin Minority Affairs Conference, the
TEA Bargaining Conference, TEA Summer Leadership
Academy, TEA Political Academy, and the Tennessee
Urban Education Associations Council Meetings.
Kenny distinguished himself as a member organizer
during the National Education Association’s
Target-of-Opportunities Campaign in Nashville in
the spring of 2007. He loves the work he does for his
local and his school and plans on making a real difference
at the state level as well. A vote for Kenneth
Fludd Martin for TEA Black Classroom Teacher from
Middle Tennessee is a vote for leadership!
Higher Education
Clinton Smith, UT-Martin
Dr. Clinton Smith currently serves as
Assistant Professor of Special Education
at the University of Tennessee
at Martin. He will be serving as
co-advisor for the Student Teacher
Education Association at Martin this
fall. He spent six years as an adjunct
instructor at the University of Memphis. He has 13
years of experience as a special education teacher
in Shelby County Schools and in Arkansas. If elected
as the Tennessee Education Association’s Higher
Education Classroom Teacher, Clinton will focus on
issues that affect those in higher education that
include academic freedom, salaries, retirement
benefits, budget cuts, and increasing tuition rates.
In his 13 years of membership, he has served as
newsletter editor, member of the Newsletter, New
Teacher and Membership Committees, Association
Representative and Alternate, and a delegate for
the NEA and TEA Representative Assemblies. He has
attended TEA Summer Leadership and NEA Southeast
Leadership Conferences. Clinton currently
serves as secretary of the Shelby County Education
Association and as the Technology Chair of the NEA
Caucus for Educators of Exceptional Children.
Clinton earned his Doctorate in Special Education
and Applied Behavior Analysis from the University
of Memphis. The University of Memphis recently
honored him as an Outstanding Alumni in the
Special Education department. Kappa Delta Pi, the
International Honor Society in Education, honored
him as a National Teacher of Honor. He was recently
honored as Shelby County Education Association’s
Special Educator of the Year. Clinton also serves in
several local, state and national leadership roles for
Special Olympics Greater Memphis, Kappa Delta Pi
and Tennessee Council for Exceptional Children.
Higher Education
Derek Frisby, MTSU
Dr. Frisby is a Middle Tennessee
native whose parents were career
educators and TEA members, and
his wife, Debbie, teaches in Rutherford
County. He has a BA in
International Relations and History
from MTSU, and MAs in History and
Higher Education Administration, as well as a PhD
in History from the University of Alabama. Derek is
currently an Associate Professor in History at MTSU
teaching Tennessee and military history courses.
Over the last four years, Dr. Frisby has led students
abroad to explore issues concerning warfare and
public memory by visiting infamous WWI and WWII
battlefields from Iwo Jima, Guam, and Peleliu in
the Pacific to Normandy, Waterloo, and Verdun in
Western Europe. Derek is a USMC veteran of Operation
Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and frequently
works with the military to provide “staff rides” of
battlefields as part of their professional military
education program.
As the TEA Board of Directors representative on
higher education, Dr. Frisby hopes to ensure the
quality of teacher education, to integrate more
effectively the liberal arts and STEM curriculums,
to maintain access to and diversity in higher
education, to expand experiential learning opportunities,
and to improve the effectiveness of
the core curriculum. He strongly believes it is time
to address our state’s increasing dependency on
contingent faculty in higher education without
providing this group codified evaluation/promotion
procedures, involvement in faculty governance, or
due process protections. For more information and
a complete c.v., you may visit his website at: www.
mtsu.edu/~dfrisby.
TEA Board of Directors — District 4
Tanya T. Coats, Knox County EA
Instructional Coach; Green Magnet
Math & Science Academy; KCEA
Executive Board Member, TEA Board
of Director District 4; committee
member of KCEA’s Minority Affairs,
Public Relations, Elections, Human
Nashville Convention Center, May 11-12, 2012
Relations, Green Magnet’s SWS Leadership Team,
Knox County Coaches’ Network; I serve currently
as treasurer of several organizations that include
my church, Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church. “Upon
verifying my credentials in numerous leadership
roles which have included a parliamentarian, financial
officer, logistics coordinator and an on-going
list of other offices, the evidence will prove that I
am well-prepared to be a steward of KCEA’s financial
liabilities. Therefore, I would appreciate your vote
of confidence to ELECT me as District 4 Representative
on the TEA Board of Directors.”
TEA Board of Directors — District 5
Michael Plumley, Bradley Co. EA
Media Specialist at Waterville Community
Elementary School in Bradley
County. I have been a member of
the Association for all of my professional
career of 35 years. I have
served my local in several areas of
leadership including AR, secretary,
treasurer, president-elect, member of the executive
board, negotiations team, membership chair. I have
served TEA on many state committees including
Professional Negotiations, Communications, Member
Benefits, ESP, IPD Commission, TEA Resolutions,
and currently on ION Committee. “I currently represent
NEA on the National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education (NCATE) Unit Accrediting
Board in Washington, D. C. My extensive experience
in the Association makes me qualified to represent
District 5 on the TEA Board. You will find me to be
a strong, conscientious voice who will work hard
for the education professionals in my district and
across the state. I would appreciate your support
and vote for Michael Plumley, TEA District 5 board
seat! Thank you very much!”
TEA Board of Directors — District 6
Scott Price, Coffee County EA
Math teacher Coffee County Central
High School since 1996. Current
President of the Coffee County
Education Association. Served as
local delegate to TEA/NEA RAseveral
years. Served as CCEA President
several times. Recently appointed
Chairman PECCA Special Question Committee for
Coffee County Schools. Bachelor of Science Secondary
Education Mathematics 1993. Master of
Education Middle Tennessee State University 2007.
Previously taught two years in Hamilton County
Schools 1993-1995.
TEA Board of Directors — District 9
Theresa Wagner, Metro-Nashville EA
Elected under an optional election procedure authorized
by Bylaw 10, Section 8.
District 9 TEA-FCPE
Nancy Holland, Metro-Nashville EA
Elected under an optional election procedure authorized
by Bylaw 10, Section 8.
Tennessee Consolidated Retirement
System Board — Middle
Erick Huth, Metro-Nashville EA
Erick Huth is the current vice president
of the Metropolitan Nashville
Education Association (MNEA), a
position which he also held in the
1990s. He has distinguished himself
as the outspoken chief bargaining
spokesperson and president of his
local. Erick has served as an active member of several
boards of trust, protecting the interests of plan participants.
He is an expert on the benefit provisions
of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System
(TCRS) and is extremely familiar with the inner workings
of the institution itself. He is the most senior
teacher member on the Tennessee Consolidated
Retirement System Board of Trustees and serves as
an executive committee member of the Board. Additionally,
Erick is the vice chair of the Metropolitan
Nashville Administrative Retirement Committee and
the Metropolitan Nashville Professional Employees
Insurance Trust. He has gained specialized training
as a trustee through numerous workshops and seminars
provided by the National Education Association
(NEA). Erick is dedicated to the work and finds it very
rewarding. Erick, who is in his second term on the
Tennessee Education Association Board of Directors,
has served as president of the Tennessee Urban Education
Associations Council, central regional director
for the National Council of Urban Education Associations,
and a member of the NEA Project Graduation
Working Group and numerous TEA committees. Erick
participated in Leadership Nashville (1999) and the
Donelson-Hermitage Leadership (2001). Dr. Huth
was also listed among the most influential Nashville
leaders in Nashville Post’s 2010 and 2011 “In Charge”
rankings. His dissertation is entitled Teacher Attitudes
toward Alternative Forms of Compensation
beyond the Traditional Single Salary Schedule.
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