September 8, 2020
Over the past few months, we’ve had a few additions to the TSS staff to introduce to you. Meet Jack Minor, Senior Director of Strategy and Advocacy and Alice Ball, Executive Assistant to TSS President & CEO Adam Lister. Enjoy reading about their background and experience below.
Jack joins Tennesseans for Student Success as the Senior Director of Strategy and Advocacy after serving as Rep. Mark Walker’s (R-NC) Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director. Prior to joining the Walker team, he worked for Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Heritage Action for America. He is a graduate of Elon University and a native of Catawba County, N.C. Apart from his official duties, Minor has helped grow Walker’s digital and political presence throughout North Carolina – building one of the largest and most active digital campaigns in the state.
Alice joins us as the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO for Tennesseans for Student Success after spending 10 years with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Savannah, GA. While at the DOJ, she worked in many facets within the Criminal, Civil, and Administrative divisions. Prior to ending her time at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she was the Executive Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia for almost 2 years and looks forward to bringing the same level of organization to this role. While working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she obtained her bachelor’s in law and society, master’s in leadership, and her J.D. Although Alice is not from Tennessee, she is looking forward to making this her home.
The following updates are from Governor Bill Lee’s press conference last Thursday:
In this week’s edition of Inside Equity, the Knoxville Area Urban League. The Knoxville Area Urban League’s mission is to “enable African Americans, other minority groups and the underserved to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights.” The core values of KAUL are: diversity, integrity, passion, customer service, self-sufficiency, empowerment, teamwork, and collaboration.
Read about the impact this organization is making in the Knoxville area and ways you can get involved here.
Despite the ups and downs of this nontraditional summer, we want to extend our thanks to those of you who participated in our summer reading scholarship program, Tristar Reads. Reading is critical for the success of our student’s future, so thank you for investing part of your summer to ensure your child continues to read and grow. Encouraging literacy helps pave the way for a better future for TN kids and the outcome of our state as a result.
This summer, Tristar Reads enrolled 460 students with over 350,000 reading minutes total read over the course of the summer. At Tennesseans for Student Success, we believe in helping students prepare for their future. Stay engaged this fall as Governor Lee recently announced September as College Savings Month with TNStars promoting the opportunity for three students to win a college scholarship. Find out more here and stay connected with us on social media to continue to hear about college savings opportunities.
Want to get ahead of the game? Sign up for Tristar Reads 2021 here!
Last week, the Tennessee Department of Education announced an update on their data reporting to include additional school and district COVID-19 information, including numbers of new positive COVID-19 cases. The dashboard will provide district-reported information on the number of new positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff and information regarding the number of schools conducting in-person learning, remote learning, and a hybrid approach for instruction. For more information on these additional data updates, read the press release here.