Approved

On a professional note, yesterday ended well. Long story short - we were told there may be a possibility that we could not have our Roane State Dual Enrollment class taught by the famous Vera Scarbrough. If that were the case, they should have told us 3 weeks ago, not yesterday. Like the Mother Hen that I am, I decided to flog a few people and ruffle some feathers. In my anger (I always do my best writing when I am angry) I wrote a letter to the Roane State President, Vice President, and head of the Humanities Department. The letter is below as well as the responses I recieved.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am the School Counselor at Oakdale School. We have been involved with the Dual Studies program at Roane State for the past 3 school years. I have worked hard to have students come to Roane State during Dual Studies as well as after they graduate high school. This is the third year we have had the opportunity to have Vera Scarbrough teach English 1010 and 1020. The experience the past two years has been nothing short of spectacular. Every student who took the classes, has commented that the class was extremely beneficial in helping the students to be ready for college.

We were told that we could offer English 1010 and 1020 here at Oakdale with Vera Scarbrough teaching the class. We had 8 to qualify for the class, 2 others didn't make the ACT score cutoff. I was called today and told to tell Mrs. Scarbrough that Roane State would only be able to pay for one class and not the two. Mrs. Scarbrough says that she will not teach the class.

Our semester began on January 5 here at Oakdale. I have worked hard with Chris Creswell and Cathy Day to make sure my students had all their paperwork turned in, paid their fees on time and purchased their books. These students were expecting to begin the class this past Monday. Because of bad weather days, we have not had school until today. Our students have been mentally preparing for these classes for the past 3 weeks. They are excellent students who deserve a chance to accept this challenge.

I know that money is tight. We are all struggling with budgets. But to not let us know until 3 weeks into our semester is very undeserving of our students. They are whose best interest I have in mind and we are doing them a disservice by not allowing them to take the classes. I'm asking you to please reconsider and find a way to pay Mrs. Scarbrough for both English 1010 and 1020.

Our students have filled out the Lottery Scholarship forms, the First Class Scholarship forms, come up with the money for the second class and paid for their books. If both classes are not being taught by Mrs. Vera Scarbrough, the students will not be taking either class. They would need to withdraw from the class. Any other section of the classes is full or would not work into the schedule the students are required to take here on Oakdale campus to graduate on time. They should get a complete refund on their fees and books. I'm sure you would have to return the Lottery Scholarship as well as the First Class Scholarship to the donors.Thank you for your time and attention to the matter.


Responses:
Ms. Reeder
Dr. King and I have discussed this situation and plan to fully compensate Ms. Scarbrough for teaching both classes (6 credit hours). Furthermore, we appreciate continued efforts to recruit Oakdale HS students for ENGL 1010/1020 and other dual studies classes. Ms. Scarbrough does an outstanding job for RSCC and we have been fortunate to work with her for many years.

Thank you.Dr. Peavyhouse (Head of Humanities at RSCC)


Yvette,
This is a very difficult year financially and my deans have been instructed to not run classes with low numbers. However we know that Oakdale is a small high school and each year a large percentage of your graduating class attend Roane State, therefore I was prepared to make an exception. In addition Mrs. Scarborough does an excellent job. I cannot however guarantee that next academic year I will be able to make such concessions. Thank you for your assistance and the work you do with this program.

Respectfully,Adolf
Adolf King PhD Vice President Academic Services Roane State Communitty College


In closing, I'm very proud of my students and my school. I see my students as my kids and treat them as if they were mine. If I feel they have done wrong, I will call them on it. And if I feel they have been wronged, I will go to bat for them. Nobody messes with my kids without hearing from me.
I thank God that I had a good ending to the work week. The past few weeks have been so stressful personally, and I needed something positive to help me remember that God is going to get me through this. I guess I could see the ending of this situation like the rainbow God showed Noah. I know God is not going to give me more than I can handle - I just wish he didn't trust me with so much!