The school year has just wrapped up and with that came a bevy of accolades for Knox County Education Association (KCEA) President Tanya Coats. She’s been recognized by Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas and recently received the Education Award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission.
Thomas called Coats “a strong, passionate and effective advocate on behalf of teachers.” He cited her advocacy for salary increases and said he doesn’t always agree with Coats, but he respects her professionalism.
Coats is serving her third term as KCEA president and is currently vice president of the Tennessee Education Association (TEA). She now has her eyes on the top spot with the TEA, but that election is not until April of next year. But draw a line under this: whatever she is doing, she will never stop advocating for public schools, teachers and students. Especially after the lessons learned coming off 15 months of challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tanya Coats
“It was rough. That’s the CliffsNotes version,” Coats said. “It really opened up some wounds, not just in Knox County, but the whole country.”
Coats noted the catch-up game that had to be played when KCS went to all virtual for most the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Just getting laptops into students’ hands wasn’t enough. There were disparities in access to internet and Wifi that had to be addressed. And then there was the extra stress on teachers.
“We’re talking about teachers having to do 4-5 jobs,” she said. “Teaching in person, teaching in class, learning new curriculum via technology, providing those meals, making themselves available to parents. It’s been trying. But we made it. Teachers are just as resilient as students.”
After what teachers endured throughout the Covid crisis, Coats would really like to see some across-the-board raises in the near future. And don’t come at her with talk about private school voucher programs. A soap box will be dragged out.
“It is our right to be educated. We can’t allow public money for private schools,” she said. “How do you justify using that money to pay $20,000 for a student in private school when we’re barely getting $9,000 per student in public schools? It’s appalling.”
Another key focus for Coats is making sure educators have a seat at the table when decisions are being made about school funding and curriculum.
“We need to make sure our profession continues to be represented instead of others making those decisions for us,” she said. “Not just locally, but at the state and federal level as well.”
Coats, 48, also has a laser eye focused on the East Knoxville community after an exceptionally difficult year for the students at Austin-East High School. She said one thing the community needs is support for the organizations already on the ground in the area.
“I worry sometimes that we’re all working in our own silos, whether or not everyone is on the same page,” she said. “I do know these students need to feel and be safe in their own community. There is a long and unsettling mistrust that they are not going to be treated fairly.”
While Coats’ parents are both from Tennessee, she was born in Anchorage, Alaska, where her father was stationed at the time with the U.S. Army. She moved here in 1989 to live with her mother’s parents in New Market and to establish residency to attend the University of Tennessee.
“My father had his retirement in sight, and they both knew they wanted to move back to Tennessee, so I came on ahead of them.” Coats said. “I didn’t want to stay in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.”
Thing is, save for a few classes, she already had enough credits to graduate, but her father wanted her to stay at her grade level with students her own age. So, she took classes at Jefferson County High School as well as Carson-Newman before going on to UT and Lincoln Memorial University. Her impressive resume is too much to fit into this space. But suffice it to say lessons instilled by her parents have carried her far.
“They are both very smart people,” she said. “They instilled a sense of discipline in me.”
It shows. In all the best ways, it shows.
Beth Kinnane is the community news editor for KnoxTNToday.com