Chasing Bailey

This first episode of Chasing Bailey sketches the four-year story of an effort to transform a “failing” public school in Nashville, TN, only to have success turn sour when the district office determined that the underserved students at the school -- mostly poor and mostly Black -- had to be moved out of the place that had become their educational home. Host Barb Stengel introduces us to several central players and to the important infrastructure elements – teaming, teacher leadership, residents, relationships, race, culture, curriculum, collective responsibility, and equity – that made a difference at Bailey, and that will be explored in depth in monthly episodes to come.
00:00 Introduction: What is a good school?
03:28 Why tell the Chasing Bailey Story? Resident Julia Konrad
06:11 “Every single day, remember who we are.” Principal Christian Sawyer and Teacher Leader Karen Dorris Wolfson
10:41 Last on the list and “persistently dangerous”: Bailey in 2012. Sawyer and Dorris
13:55 Mental health and emotional needs at Bailey. Counselor April Roberts
15:54 Prioritizing teacher talent: Recruitment, development, retention. Sawyer and Dorris
19:25 Getting started: Good intentions but not much else. Sawyer and Dorris
21:05 External constraints. Metro Nashville Public Schools IZone Director Alan Coverstone
23:56 Making plans. Sawyer and Host Barb Stengel
25:00 Teaming. Exceptional Educator and Teacher Leader LeKeisha Harding
28:13 Teacher residents. Dorris and Stengel
29:43 Unpacking race at Bailey. Sawyer, Dorris, and Teacher Leader Whitney Bradley Weathers
35:50 Measuring success. Sawyer
37:03 Chief of Culture. Dr. Claire Jasper
40:51 Closing Bailey and moving the students, despite success. Sawyer and Dorris
42:48 Why “Chasing Bailey?” Sawyer and Dorris
44:47 What was Bailey missing at the start? Sawyer and Dorris
48:35 Relationships! Student Damisha Hanserd

Chasing Bailey is hosted and narrated by Dr. Barbara Stengel, Vanderbilt University.
This episode was edited and co-produced by Brenna Fallon. The executive producer is Dr. Lowery Woodall, Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

For full Show Notes visit: https://www.chasingbaileypod.com/episodes/episode-one

Show Notes

This first episode of Chasing Bailey sketches the four-year story of an effort to transform a “failing” public school in Nashville, TN, only to have success turn sour when the district office determined that the underserved students at the school -- mostly poor and mostly Black -- had to be moved out of the place that had become their educational home. Host Barb Stengel introduces us to several central players and to the important infrastructure elements – teaming, teacher leadership, residents, relationships, race, culture, curriculum, collective responsibility, and equity – that made a difference at Bailey, and that will be explored in depth in monthly episodes to come.

00:00 Introduction: What is a good school?

03:28 Why tell the Chasing Bailey Story? Resident Julia Konrad

06:11 “Every single day, remember who we are.” Principal Christian Sawyer and Teacher Leader Karen Dorris Wolfson

10:41 Last on the list and “persistently dangerous”: Bailey in 2012. Sawyer and Dorris

13:55 Mental health and emotional needs at Bailey. Counselor April Roberts

15:54 Prioritizing teacher talent: Recruitment, development, retention. Sawyer and Dorris

19:25 Getting started: Good intentions but not much else. Sawyer and Dorris

21:05 External constraints. Metro Nashville Public Schools IZone Director Alan Coverstone

23:56 Making plans. Sawyer and Host Barb Stengel

25:00 Teaming. Exceptional Educator and Teacher Leader LeKeisha Harding

28:13 Teacher residents. Dorris and Stengel

29:43 Unpacking race at Bailey. Sawyer, Dorris, and Teacher Leader Whitney Bradley Weathers

35:50 Measuring success. Sawyer

37:03 Chief of Culture. Dr. Claire Jasper

40:51 Closing Bailey and moving the students, despite success. Sawyer and Dorris

42:48 Why “Chasing Bailey?” Sawyer and Dorris

44:47 What was Bailey missing at the start? Sawyer and Dorris

48:35 Relationships! Student Damisha Hanserd


Chasing Bailey is hosted and narrated by Dr. Barbara Stengel, Vanderbilt University.

This episode was edited and co-produced by Brenna Fallon. The executive producer is Dr. Lowery Woodall, Millersville University of Pennsylvania.


For full Show Notes visit: https://www.chasingbaileypod.com/episodes/episode-one


What is Chasing Bailey?

Chasing Bailey is a podcast about a group of teachers, leaders, and others who dedicated themselves to changing the fortunes of a failing middle school in Nashville TN from 2012 to 2016.
They succeeded, but their achievement was bittersweet.
In 2016, the district closed that school.
Still, those who were there knew they had stumbled onto something special, some important educational truths that might help all of us find our way out of the morass that COVID 19 has left us in.