District highlights civics programming, plans October event with former governor Lamar Alexander

Megan Gunner, the district’s K–12 social studies coordinator, opened the board’s presentation by reviewing a Sept. 8 “lunch and learn” for high school students that featured University of Tennessee professors and an interactive session with former senator and Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander. "Our students got to hear from UTK professors about the executive branch," Gunner said, and the event concluded with every student who submitted a question receiving a signed copy of the senator’s new book.

Gunner said the district will host another, larger event tied to the Institute of American Civics on Oct. 20 at the ATC, scheduled "from 04:30 to 07:30" with an hour of lecture followed by a conversation with Senator Alexander; teachers in attendance will earn three hours of professional-development credit. She also told the board this is a textbook-adoption year for K–12 social studies: the district has finalized a proposed teacher committee list and will place the committee nomination on an upcoming board docket for formal approval. Finally, Gunner described a statewide grant partnership with the Tennessee Geographic Alliance and the Library of Congress to produce 15 inquiry-based lesson plans for new 5th-grade geography standards; district teachers have drafted and begun revising those lessons for statewide publication.