Sunday The Tennessean took at look at Karl Dean's first 100 days in office. The story was polite, but took note of the new mayor's "quiet style" with few notable accomplishments.
One of those accomplishments was the appointment of an education committee to look into boosting graduation rates, even though Dean has no direct power to do anything in the schools.
Meanwhile Police Chief Ronal Serpas was taking action on something than can help students perform better -- he gave the police the power to write tickets on building code violations.
As we've noted before, teachers can teach if children arrive at school ready to learn. When they have family problems, unsafe neighborhoods and other issues that create distractions, they aren't paying attention to their school work.
Building code enforcement is one of the most important tools a community has. As Sgt. Dan Ogren of the East Precinct noted in the Tennessean article:
"Criminals are generalists: They sell drugs, they don't wear seat belts, they play loud music and they trash their neighborhoods."
Serpas and other officers know if they can get violators off the street, they can solve a host of problems. They are helped by the Department of Codes Administration which is teaching people how to recognize and report code violations. If citizens see problems, police can take action.
These types of activities aren't flashy or sexy. They also get buried in the newspapers while relative inaction gets front page coverage. But they make a HUGE difference. Cleaning up neighborhoods of criminals, trash and dilapidated houses improves the quality of life and helps children arrive at school safer and with a more positive attitude about what their communities should be about.
If Mayor Dean wants to help education, he should focus on things such as code enforcement where Metro has total control and stop appointing committees to make recommendations on actions over which the it has little influence.
The schools desperately need Metro's help. Fortunately Serpas and the Codes Department realize how they can help and are taking action rather than appointing committees.
- Jim Grinstead
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