Knox County Schools administrators promise seamless transition on special education

Andrew Brown, the Knox County Schools administrator taking over special education and Region 5, will approach the job in a similar style to his predecessor, and he is ready to hit the ground running.

The transition should be seamless for families, he told Knox News.

Brown is replacing Jason Myers, who had pledged to families that district would work to fix its long-standing issues in special education. Myers is working closely with Brown, who takes over as interim assistant superintendent of student success on Feb. 19.

The two are meeting with stakeholders and leadership teams, including the special education council and principals at Region 5 schools, to help with the transition.

Brown joined the district in 1999 as a Central High School teacher and has worked as the senior executive to the superintendent since November. In between, he was a teacher and principal in Bristol for 12 years, then returned in 2016 to serve as South-Doyle Middle School's principal, then as the Central High School principal.

"He's not an unknown entity here in central office," Myers said. "He's in all of the one-on-one meetings. ... I have 110% confidence in Andrew's capability to come in and execute the mission of Knox County Schools as it relates to student success."

Myers is taking a job the private sector, and while he didn't share the specifics, he will be staying in the Knoxville area, he told Knox News. His salary with the district was a little over $142,000.

Beyond special education, Myers oversaw the district's work to improve some of its most challenged schools in Region 5, plus other student supports and school culture. He worked with the district for over 15 years, starting in 2008 as a teaching assistant at Fulton High School. He transferred to an administrative role in 2013. In 2016, he was appointed as the principal of Knoxville Adaptive Education Center. Two years later in 2018, he was appointed principal of Bearden High School.

Myers' work leading change for special education and student success division

Superintendent Jon Rysewyk has outlined a focus on improving special education and schools in Region 5, home to some of the county's most challenged neighborhoods.

"The special education issue was actually birthed out of taking a deep dive into all of student success," Myers said.

In a passionate speech before the school board Sept. 5, Myers committed to being personally involved in forging change in special ed, especially by attending IEP meetings.

"Under my leadership," Myers told the board, "our pursuit of continuous improvement will never be finished. There will never be a time where I sit in a meeting and be like, 'Yeah, we've arrived, we're as good as we can ever be.'"

IEP, or individualized education plans, outline measurable goals, how the district will collect data on the child’s progress and what services are needed for the child to be able to accomplish the goals. An IEP team consists of, at minimum, an administrator such as a principal or assistant principal, a special education teacher, a teacher who knows the child and a parent.

Brown said he will continue to operate the same way.

"The way that I've been able to enact the most change is just by getting in and getting to know people and by building relationships," Brown said. "Those are things that I will definitely plan to continue."

Region 5 schools gained a lot of attention this past year with the district developing a roadmap for improvement. Four schools in the region were among the lowest-performing in the state, the state announced in 2022. The goals for the district set a standard for academic excellence and better outcomes for its students by way of ensuring teacher recruitment and retention, literacy interventions and providing career and college pathways.

The community can look forward to the opening of a new welcome center that will support families with limited English proficiency, this coming fall.

Areena Arora, data and investigative reporter for Knox News, can be reached by email at areena.arora@knoxnews.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @AreenaArora.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County Schools administrators promise seamless transition