Nashville Mayor Shows Rare Bit Of Emotion As School Superintendent Retires

Jesse Register delivered his final “state of the schools” address as Metro Schools superintendent Wednesday, and Mayor Karl Dean gave the introduction with an uncharacteristic flare.

“I really do believe – it’s sort of like Joni Mitchell said – you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” Dean said. “We had something really good here.”

When Dean was elected, there was no superintendent. State-takeover was looking like a real possibility. Then the school board hired Jesse Register out of retirement.

The mayor’s voice quivered as he described a turnaround at McGavock High School, calling it a place that required police to keep the peace.

“You go to McGavock now – and there are other schools in the district like this – but it’s a successful school,” he said. “It’s a successful school where the President of the United States came to draw attention to the good things that are happening there.”

President Obama visited McGavock in January of 2014 to highlight the city’s improved graduation rate and an education model that encourages students to develop specialties in high school.

Dean said Register will never get all the credit he deserves for improvements in Metro Schools, particularly the business practices of the district’s central office.

The two have butted heads on issues like charter schools. But the mayor says Register always has been open-minded, embracing controversial suggestions like a merger of the city and school library systems, known as “Limitless Libraries.”

During his address, Register spent the better part of an hour walking through his achievements and remaining challenges, like a chronically low average ACT score. Register said he’s proud of the high school turnarounds, but he gives much of the credit to his predecessors.

“The work we’ve done in our high schools  now is outstanding. I really do believe it’s the best in the country. I’m very proud of that,” Register told reporters. “But I’ll tell you, what we’re doing right now with the early childhood initiative is one that I’m most proud of I believe. It’s still developing. And I wish I was young enough to stay and finish it.”

Register’s contract expires in June. The Metro school board is working to have a new superintendent hired by then.