Ms. Patti Bounds
Chair, Knox County Board of Education
P.O. Box 2188
912 South Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37901

December 8, 2017

Dear Ms. Bounds,
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is proud of the remarkable collaboration and excellent results that
have been achieved through our Leadership Academy partnership. We read with great interest the
proposal put forth by your Superintendent, Mr. Bob Thomas, for a re-structured working relationship, and
we are amenable to all of the elements of Mr. Thomas’ recommendation.
I understand that the School Board has authorized Mr. Thomas to appoint a committee to engage in
conversation with the University of Tennessee regarding the future structure of our cooperation. Given
our programmatic consensus, and the time constraints associated with the rigorous candidate selection
process, I would alternatively suggest that we simply authorize our respective attorneys to work together
to develop Mr. Thomas’ proposal into a draft Memorandum of Agreement that can be reviewed and
considered by the Knox County School Board and the University of Tennessee by early January. This
approach would seem to be the most efficient and expeditious way to be able to institutionalize a new
partnership agreement between our organizations.
I am thrilled that the Knox County Schools is interested in continuing and deepening our successful
collaboration in developing the next generation of outstanding principals through the Leadership
Academy, and I look forward to our continued partnership.

Sincerely,

Dr. Bob Rider
Dean

Office of the Dean
College of Education, Health & Human Sciences
335 Claxton Complex Knoxville, TN 37996-3400
865-974-2201 865-974-8718 fax cehhs.utk.edu