Knox County Mayor's Office

Contact: Susanne Dupes                                          November 17, 2009
215-4439 office
256-0374 cell

Superintendent McIntyre to Speak at November 18 Brown Bag Green Book

Knox County Schools Superintendent Dr. James P. McIntyre will lead a discussion of the Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv at on Wednesday, November 18 at noon at the East Tennessee History Center (601 South Gay Street).

For this session of the Brown Bag Green Book series, Dr. McIntyre will be joined by Knox County School’s Aneisa McDonald, Supervisor of Coordinated School Health, and Lisa Wagoner, Supervisor of Health Services.   The series is sponsored by the Knox County Public Library and the City of Knoxville.

In Last Child in the Woods, Louv explores what he describes as the alienation of modern-day children from the natural world.  He emphasizes the important role interaction with nature plays in our personal motional, physical and intellectual health. One child told him, "I like indoors because that's where the electric outlets are." Louv makes a direct link between the "plugged-in" state of children (he calls this "nature deficit") and significant problems such as obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder and depression. Louv contends that basing education more in the environment raises standardized test scores and grade point averages, improving many skills such as critical thinking and even creativity.

Dr. McIntyre has served as Superintendent of Knox County Schools since July 2008.  He has worked in the field of education, including both K-12 and at the university level for 20 years. Prior to coming to Knoxville, he was the Chief Operating Officer for Boston Public Schools.  He holds a BA in English from
Boston College; a MS in education administration from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York; a MA of urban affairs from Boston University; and a PhD in public policy from the University of Massachusetts.

Aneisa McDonald has been with Knox County Schools since July 2007. She received her BS and MS in education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She spent 12 years as a professional dance educator in Illinois, South Carolina, and Tennessee; and served as a coalition coordinator for the Metropolitan Drug Commission’s Drug-Free Communities Grant Program from 2001-2007.

Lisa Wagoner joined Knox County as a school nurse in 1994 and then was appointed Supervisor of Health Services in 2009.  She holds a degree of nursing from Walter State Community.

The series continues on December 2 with Dr. Bill Shiell, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church leading a discussion of Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell.

For more information, please call Emily Ellis at 215-8763 or visit www.knoxlib.org.