State education commissioner meets with local school leaders

JACKSON, Tenn. — West Tennessee superintendents met Wednesday with Tennessee Education Commissioner Dr. Candice McQueen during a closed-door meeting at the STAR Center in north Jackson.

Candice McQueen

Commissioner McQueen says the goal of the discussion is to bring up topics and get direct feedback from school leaders. This is her third day meeting with superintendents across the state.

The commissioner says having face-to-face conversations about school successes, ideas and challenges will help create a better educational system.

McQueen says Wednesday’s meeting was centered around the new district and schools’ accountability models that will go into effect next year.

“How are we going to ensure more students are getting early post-secondary opportunities?” McQueen said. “How are we ensuring that students are coming to school? And we’re determining how to lower our chronic absenteeism numbers across the state.”

McQueen says she will continue to host roundtable discussions at the start of each summer.