Janette Carter

Janette Carter

Education

High school

O.H. Bernard High School

Bachelor's

Tennessee State University

Graduate

Trevecca Nazarene University

Personal

Religion

Christian: Baptist

Profession

Graduate student mentor

Contact

Personal website

Janette Carter was a candidate for District 1 representative on the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education in Tennessee. The general election was held on August 4, 2016. Carter lost the election.

Carter participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.

A candidate forum held in June 2016 highlighted the charter school debate in the district. Incumbents Will Pinkston, Amy Frogge, and Jill Speering refused to attend the event due to concerns that the organization hosting the forum promoted "unabated charter school growth." Only the candidates seeking the District 5 seat were able to face off at the event.

Winners of the district's 2016 board of education election inherited a lawsuit against the state over education funding. In June 2016, the school board voted to approve the lawsuit, saying the state had not provided enough funding for the district's English language learners for the 2016-2017 school year.

See also: Issues in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Carter works as a graduate student mentor for Trevecca Nazarene University. From 2007 to 2014, she served as a principal at the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center. From August 2002 to December 2007, Carter worked as an assistant principal for Whites Creek High School in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Prior to that, she worked in the district as a teacher and a coach. Carter is a member of Temple Baptist Church. She is also involved with the Bordeaux North Nashville Chamber of Commerce, the Gold Key Neighborhood Association, the Women's Collegian Basketball Association, the Retired Teachers Association, and the O.H. Bernard Community Club. Carter earned a bachelor's degree in science, health, physical education, and recreation from Tennessee State University and a master's degree in supervision and administration from Trevecca Nazarene University. She has three children and seven grandchildren.

Elections

2016

See also: Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools elections (2016)

Five of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016. District 1 incumbent Sharon Dixon Gentry defeated challenger Janette Carter to win another term. In District 3, incumbent Jill Speering also won another term by defeating challenger Jane Grimes Meneely. Norman Merrifield originally filed to run for the District 3 seat, but he withdrew from the election. Christiane Buggs, Miranda Christy, Corey Gathings, and Erica Lanier ran for the District 5 seat, which was left open when board member Elissa Kim did not file to run for re-election. Buggs was elected to the seat. The District 7 race featured incumbent Will Pinkston and challenger Jackson Miller. Pinkston was re-elected to another term. District 9 incumbent Amy Frogge faced challenger Thom Druffel. She was also elected to another term.

Results

Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sharon Dixon Gentry Incumbent	55.56%	4,114
Janette Carter	44.20%	3,273
Write-in votes	0.24%	18
Total Votes		7,405
Source: Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County Election Commission, "August 4 Election Results," accessed January 12, 2017

Funding

See also: Campaign finance in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools election

Carter began the race with an existing account balance of $8,572.12 from her previous campaign. She reported $1,255.00 in contributions and $9,827.12 in expenditures to Davidson County Election Commission, which left her campaign with $2.07 on hand as of September 15, 2016.

Endorsements

Carter was endorsed by the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, AFL-CIO and the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association.

Campaign themes

2016

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Janette Carter participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on June 7, 2016:

“

I strongly believe that I am capable of effecting change and enhancing the school board, and making a positive difference in the lives of children. I am passionate and self-driven advocate and a leader who believes in serving people. I have the core and the ability to be an agent of change. I sincerely care about the Educational needs of all children in Nashville Public Schools. I have over 32 years of experience as an educator, serving as a teacher, coach, assistant principal and executive principal. I bring critical experience, leadership and perspective to the board. I know how to be responsive and receptive to parents, students, staff and the community. My record exemplifies hard work, passion and a desire to make our school districts one of if not the best in the country.

”

Ranking the issues

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.

Education policy
Click here to learn more about education policy in Tennessee.
Education on the ballot

Issue importance ranking
Candidate's ranking	Issue
1	Balancing or maintaining the district's budget
2	Closing the achievement gap
3	Improving relations with teachers
4	Improving post-secondary readiness
5	Improving education for special needs students
6	Expanding school choice options
7	Expanding arts education

Positions on the issues

The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.

Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.)
No. We should make every effort to academically improve all public schools in my district.
Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement.
The state should be involved in the district routinely.
Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement?
No. However, you must have a tool in place to assess and measure improvements and bridging the gaps of learning. But we must take into consideration that some are unreliable because of student's differences, issues and their state of mind at the time of testing. These test results should never be used as the primary factor in making high stakes decisions.
What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative?
Common core has some good points.
How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district?
Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. All of the suggestions above should be used with individual situations. You should go through due process before terminating any staff; unless it doesn't affect the safety of the students, staff and school.
Should teachers receive merit pay?
Yes. Merit pay for those teachers that work in underperforming and challenging schools and communities.
Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program?
No. Private Schools are private and they make decisions about the student population that enters their school. They make selections and use a process of eliminations; public schools have to educate every child that comes through the door regardless of their backgrond or circumstances.
How should expulsion be used in the district?
It should be reviewed on an individual circumstances. And if it affects the safety of students, staff and school. Resources should be provided to help those students.
What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration?
Teachers Teachers must gain an understanding of the total child; while building a relationship in a positive manner. Recognizing that all parents, regardless of economic background, educational level, or cultural background have educational concerns for their children. They must focus efforts to engage families on developing trusting and respectful relationship in order to experience success in the classroom.

Candidate website

Carter highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:

“	Education We must find a way to reconnect disconnected students back to education through job training and community support. Establish effective programs that parents can be made aware of that can help them with their children. Vocational / Career Centers for those students that do not fit the academic track for attending college and giving options. It isn't to say that these students are not smart enough or driven, they simply have other paths in life to take. Let's keep them in school so they can become positive and productive citizens. These two life paths require different types of education. Neither path is better than the other, it all comes down to personal preference. Doctors, lawyers, scientist, farmers, artist, truck drivers, musicians, mechanics, and plumbers all work together to make this world a beautiful and diverse place. Testing Standardize testing are important for teachers and vital to policymakers, but the state of Tennessee needs to listen to parents' and teachers' concerns about over-testing. Assessments are an essential tool. But they have to be done smart. And we have to be smart about how we use them. There is a growing backlash against perceptions of overtesting that students take. It is important for us to know where we have achievement gaps. And important for us to know where our students are making progress. But there are places around the country where there is too much assessing and the assessments are not the quality we want. We must allow teachers time to teach if students, parents and stakeholders are to share and maintain high academic standards. More leadership and partnership with educators to do more to achieve equity in Nashville's public schools and to elevate the teaching profession. Teachers only want time to teach and re-teach if necessary, and to have more professional development to make testing more efficient in order to have success with their students. Discipline You cannot increase graduation rates if children are out of school. We need to keep disruptive students in a school where they can receive: More psychological counseling, health care, family outreach and social services for (chronic behavior or for those students that have been incarcarated). It's not about singling a student out, it's about giving a child what he or she needs from the most gifted to those who need more. I think these things would make a huge difference, because schools right now are very limited in their ability to see a student's whole picture. We must get serious about early identification of students with mental health issues. Address their social, emotional and physical needs. Create comprehensive student profiles from all areas of the student's life. Collaborate with community organizations from churches to doctor's office. Integrate out-of-school services within school services. Make mental health services a priority. Capital Investments Launch inspections of all schools. Assess the maintenance and repair or replace deteriorating conditions of schools. Bring all schools up to quota and make sure that all offer the same improvements. Create Vocational or Career Center to give those students an option. Diversity We are a diverse school district and there are too few male teachers in our schools and I think recruitment of male teachers need to be a priority especially on the elementary level. Students need to see examples of who and what they can become from adults they see in their daily life; at an important stage in their development.	”
—Janette Carter (2016)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Janette Carter' 'Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Janette Carter - Google News

See also

• Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tennessee
• Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools elections (2016)

External links

Suggest a link

• Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• LinkedIn page