Commissioner, Dr. Penny Schwinn, was sworn into office Feb. 1, 2019 as the Commissioner of Education in Tennessee. Schwinn received her Bachelor of Arts from University of California-Berkeley, and attended John Hopkins University and received her Master in Teaching. Later, Schwinn attended Claremont University and earned her PhD in Education Policy.
Schwinn has held many different positions in education prior to being Commissioner of Education in Tennessee. Her previous positions in education include: Chief Deputy Commissioner of Academics, Assistant Superintendent, Principal, and an elected school board member.
Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, Schwinn visited Morristown-West and shared that Tennessee’s students have shown the most growth in English Language Arts and, “some of the highest growth in the country.” She also shared that, “We’re actually one only of three states that are back to pre-pandemic level, so it’s incredible what has happened.”
Schwinn shared that she had, “a great conversation with Governor Lee and he talked about a vision for the state that I deeply believe in, which is ensuring that every child has the opportunity to thrive and now that I’m here, I’m just very grateful to raise my kids here, it's a wonderful state and we’re not gonna leave.”
Schwinn visited Morristown-West to observe the CTE(Career Technical Education) classes. She also observed the Anatomage in Health Science and the 3D printers in Engineering and Technology class and visited many other classes such as the Welding class. Schwinn toured the CTE bus at West and observed the equipment that were inside the bus as well.
After observing many of the CTE classes and their equipment at West, Superintendent, Dr. Bunch, and Commissioner, Dr. Schwinn, visited Mrs. Shannon Jamison’s Biology II Honors’ class and presented Gage Livesay his award for placing first in the tenth grade National Beta Competition that took place in Nashville, Tennessee this past summer.
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