Are the Mayor, school board on the same page?

Read typescript here: David Fox, chairman, Nashville School Board

Listen to podcast here: Nashville Public School Board Chairman David Fox

Listen here:Are School board, mayor on same page?

School board chairman David Fox has gotten used to state and federal education officials looking over his shoulder. Chairman Fox said he was taken by surprise, however, by Mayor Karl Dean’s "announcement of an outsourcing of the libraries in our school system to the Nashville Public Library.”

He told the Kiwanis Club, “(It) sounds like an intriguing idea. The problem is, there really wasn’t any discussion with the school system about it." Fox asserted the school board's authority, saying, "So, we’ll have to see if that is what happens. If the school board decides that’s what we need to move ahead with."

Fox referred to the mayor’s letter to the schools’ director saying the Nashville Public Library has, "identified a recommended timeline for consolidation, with (school libraries) … the first phase, primarily focused on the procurement of materials, taking effect July 1."

Nashville Public Library director Donna Nicely told Nashville’s morning paper (she and the mayor) “have been talking for months about this idea to save money and increase efficiency.” Apparently, though, the school board was not included in these talks.

Chairman Fox isn’t averse to help from the mayor. He complimented Mayor Dean for “pioneering a unique role of mayoral involvement in the school system. Typically the mayor has been somewhat involved but more on funding than anything else.”

“Mayor Dean has made it his first priority in trying to help our schools,” Fox said. “We are trying to work on that relationship to make it an effective one.”