Incoming Schools Turnaround Chief Says She’ll Listen More To Tennessee Parents

The effort to turn around Tennessee’s worst-performing schools has a new leader.

One of her first tasks will be to rebuild trust in the program.

Gov. Bill Haslam announced Tuesday that Malika Anderson would become the new superintendent of the state’s Achievement School District, the effort to fix schools in the bottom 5 percent statewide.

Behind the scenes, Anderson has been a top figure in the ASD. As its deputy superintendent and chief portfolio officer, her responsibilities have included helping to pick which schools would be drawn into the district, overseeing their operations and raising money.

Anderson has been with the special district since 2012, working with its controversial first leader, Chris Barbic. Anderson heaped praise on her former boss Tuesday, but she said she’ll approach the job differently.

Under Barbic, the Achievement School District was criticized for often going ahead with takeovers — despite the objections of parents — and turning them over to charter school operators. Opponents of the district noted its schools didn’t do any better at first than they had before takeovers. 

Anderson pledged to get everyone in a community to buy into changes.

“This has to be done with parents,” Anderson said. “This can’t be done in spite of parents.”

But Anderson also made it clear that she won’t shy away from controversy entirely.

She said she believes the ASD, which currently includes 9,500 students at 29 schools, should grow bigger.

Anderson also said she supports a parent-trigger law. That would let the families of students initiate state takeovers, even if local officials don’t want them.

The idea is favored by many critics of traditional education. But it’s been stymied in the state legislature, where many lawmakers fear such a law would make it too easy to take schools out of their local districts.