Stories to Watch in 2018: Culture Club

It’s been nearly two years since Metro Nashville Public Schools hired Shawn Joseph as its superintendent, but lately it seems like things aren’t going exactly the way the school board intended when they hired him.

Before Joseph’s hire, former director of schools Jesse Register had been accused of fostering a culture of fear and distrust in the school district. It’s unclear exactly how the next year will pan out for Joseph, but a few recent happenings make it seem like that culture hasn’t necessarily changed.

The district’s new public information officer also recently caused a bit of a dust-up. The MNPS central office held a holiday party, and PIO Michelle Michaud tweeted pictures of the event — where prizes and cash were handed out. Though all the items given away were donated, and the district did not spend money on the event, Michaud responded to criticism on social media by first saying that all district employees were invited and then blocking a teacher who continued to criticize her. The party happens every year, but not everyone is invited as Michaud had claimed. The incident between Michaud and the teacher was enough to make school board member Jill Speering apologize to the teacher involved.

In a more troubling turn of events, two MNPS administrators resigned during investigations looking into whether they sexually harassed women who worked for the district. One of them, Mo Carrasco, who was the executive director for priority schools, had faced similar allegations at a previous job, which makes us wonder why he was even hired in the first place. Did the district not check with his previous employer?

After it came to light that Carrasco was being investigated, he did an on-camera interview with NewsChannel5’s Phil Williams in which he said the central office was having major issues. (That said, the guy was accused of harassment, and Williams kind of let him rattle on in the interview unchecked, so it’s possible the comments were his attempt to distract from his alleged behavior.) Sources tell the Scene that Carrasco’s comments aren’t totally off the mark.

The board has been building a new process for assessing Joseph: It’s possible 2018 will bring some of the culture issue at the central office to light through that effort. At any rate, the end of 2017 wasn’t a good look for the district.