Education commissioner visits Summer Learning Camp

 Dr. Penny Schwinn, Tennessee Commissioner of Education, has been touring the state to check in on many of the Summer Learning Programs taking place. On June 29, she stopped in at White County Middle School.

“The White County School District was proud to host Tennessee Commissioner of Education Dr. Penny Schwinn and other dignitaries as part of the commissioner’s tour of Summer Learning Programs across the state,” White County’s director of schools, Kurt Dronebarger, said. “I am so very proud of the work that is performed each day by our students and teachers, and it special when we get to showcase that effort with our state leaders. The visitors were genuinely impressed with our summer learning program, and we hope they will visit us again soon.”

Schwinn’s Accelerating TN 2021 Tour will take her to 50 school districts over the course of three weeks as she highlights summer learning opportunities throughout Tennessee. Throughout the tour, Schwinn, along with department staff, both state and local elected officials, and community partners plan to connect directly with students, educators, and stakeholders to learn how schools are accelerating student achievement and attempting to bridge gaps and minimize learning loss that may have occurred over the past year and half.

While in Middle Tennessee, Dr. Schwinn visited White County Middle School as her 39th tour stop and spent time in what Dronebarger described as two exceptional classrooms.

“The entourage got to see the students in Mrs. Marsha Jackson’s class experiment with mini-volcanoes and participate in coding with robots in Mrs. Angela McCulley’s classroom,” Dronebarger said.

He explained what the commissioner and her entourage were able to observe during their visit, while Schwinn posted the following on her Twitter ac-count:

“Stop #39 - White County! Students were doing early coding and building apple volcanoes. We heard about strong partnerships with 4H, @MotlowState and community partners to make school engaging and see remarkable growth!”

According to the Department of Education, Tennessee has led the nation in supporting students throughout the pandemic, prioritizing education programs designed to be sure that students are set up for success, and the Learning Camps and other programs taking place across the state this summer are proof of the focus the state has placed on making sure that students don’t fall behind during these unprecedented times.