Sometimes we have to remind ourselves what's right with the world.
Today is one of those times.
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Hamilton students catch a break
Hamilton County Department of Education is one of three districts to receive a state diversity innovation grant to increase the number of minority teachers in local public schools where 45 percent of our 44,444 students are minorities. (The state's minority rate 36.6 percent.)
This is not just feel-good stuff, and it has nothing to do with equal opportunity. This is about children and students. Studies show students benefit from having teachers from diverse backgrounds, yet in 2016 The National Center for Education Statistics found that nearly 82 percent of public school teachers are white. Black and Hispanic students are two to three times more common than teachers of the same ethnicity.
Emotionally and socially, teachers of color serve as role models for students who share their racial and ethnic identity and often show more cultural understanding and awareness of students' abilities and needs. Most importantly, research finds that academically, teachers of color produce more favorable outcomes for students of similar backgrounds.
Local officials say they are still working out the details of how much grant money our county will get, and how it will be used in a "grow-your-own" plan to increase the number of high school students of color who are interested in teaching. Today, only 11.8 percent of our teachers are minority, according to school officials.
The state's grant program is an off-shoot of its April 2017 report, Preparation Through Partnership, which identifies the need to continually improve the state's teacher pipeline and increase Tennessee's number of effective educators.
"Effective teachers" is not just a buzz phrase: It's a test. The state rates teacher effectiveness based, in large part, on their students' academic growth.
In 2016, Hamilton County had almost twice the number of "least effective" classroom teachers - at 29 percent - as the state's other major school districts and three times as many as the state average. Where do many of our least-effective teachers work? Largely in the classrooms of impoverished and high-minority schools.
Since Superintendent Bryan Johnson took over leadership of Hamilton County Schools in July, our system has focused on teacher recruitment in general. Two recruitment coordinators were added last summer, one of whom focuses solely on Opportunity Zone schools, and a Chief Talent Officer was announced earlier this month.
This is promising stuff.
Commissioner demands spill answers
It's been nearly two weeks since more than 1,000 gallons of oil spilled from a retention pond in the Norfolk Southern deButts Rail Yard and ended up in Citico Creek and the Tennessee River - very near Chattanooga's drinking water intake.
Still, local emergency officials and Norfolk Southern are claiming not to know how the spill happened.
Did an invisible tornado lift the oil from the pond to the creek? If they don't know how it happened, how will they prevent another spill? If they do know what happened, why aren't they being transparent about it?
More questions: Did you hear a peep from Tennessee American Water Co., which has to keep our drinking water pure, about this gap of information? Did you hear any demand from the Chattanooga mayor's office or the Chattanooga City Council? What about the county mayor?
You did hear a call for accountability from one of our nine Hamilton County commissioners - Tim Boyd of District 8, which is largely East Ridge.
Boyd emailed the Times Free Press to suggest that "Norfolk Southern should be forced to drain the retention pond and remediate the site" before a more tragic accident occurs. Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay says that's not necessary. But if the railroad doesn't know how the oil got out of the pond and into the creek and river, how can it know those actions aren't needed?
Tim Boyd's willingness to publicly ask reasonable questions is refreshing.
Medical marijuana bill offers hope
Two Tennessee Republicans introduced a bill Thursday that would make Tennessee the latest state to allow medical marijuana prescriptions for patients with diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDs, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
The bill's sponsors, Nashville physician and Sen. Steve Dickerson and Rep. Jeremy Faison, of Cosby, say at least 65,000 Tennesseans could benefit from what they call safe, regulated access to the cannabis oil-based products.
Tennessee would be neither rogue nor pioneering if our lawmakers pass the bill. The Volunteer State would join 30 other states, including Arkansas and Florida, with similar laws.
"Some of our sickest Tennesseans desperately want the freedom to choose what is best for their own health, and they want to be able to make that decision with their doctor," Faison said. "Now is the time for a safe and healthy alternative to opiates, psychotropics and anti-inflammatories."
He's right. We know what opiate addiction has done to Tennessee. In 2016, our state ranked as the third highest prescriber of opioids. Medical marijuana is safe - despite its unfair stigma. Nothing about opioids, which we allow to be prescribed willy-nilly, is safe.
Not only is this bill promising, it should be passed.
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What's right with the world often starts in Chattanooga and Tennessee. Cool, huh?