Inez Tenenbaum
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Inez Moore Tenenbaum (born March 8, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who served as
South Carolina Superintendent of Education The South Carolina superintendent of education is the executive of the South Carolina Department of Education. The superintendent is responsible for overseeing the 1.5 billion dollar budget of the department and ensure that schools and schools dis ...
and as Chair of the United States
Consumer Product Safety Commission The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing “unreasonable risks” of inj ...
. In 2016 she joined a law firm. She is a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
.


Education

Tenenbaum was born in
Hawkinsville, Georgia Hawkinsville is a city in and the county seat of Pulaski County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,589 at the 2010 census. Hawkinsville is known as the "Harness Horse Capital" of Georgia. The Lawrence Bennett Harness Horse Racing fac ...
, obtained a Bachelor of Science in 1972 from the
University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...
, and a Master's in Education two years later from the same university. She received a J.D. degree from the University of South Carolina in 1986, where she was an associate editor-in-chief of the ''South Carolina Law Review''.


Career

Originally a
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
, Tenenbaum entered state government as an employee of the South Carolina Department of Social Services. She later served as the director of research for the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee of the
South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...
. She practiced with a private law firm, Sinkler & Boyd, P.A. from 1986 to 1992, in the areas of health, environment, and public interest law. Tenenbaum was the Democratic candidate in the 2004 election for retiring Democrat
Fritz Hollings Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings (January 1, 1922April 6, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005. A conservative Democrat, he was also the 106th governor of South Carolina, ...
's seat in the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
; she lost in to
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Jim DeMint James Warren DeMint (born September 2, 1951) is an American political advocate, businessman, author, and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from South Carolina and as president of the Heritage Foundation. DeMint is a member ...
.


State Superintendent of Education

Tenenbaum was elected State Superintendent of Education in November 1998 and re-elected in November 2002. She focused her administration on six key initiatives to fuel education progress in South Carolina: raising the academic bar and embracing accountability for student academic progress, improving teacher quality, providing quality early childhood education for all children, supporting strong and effective school leadership, promoting safe and healthy schools, and increasing parent and community involvement. During her tenure, the South Carolina General Assembly approved a $750 million school bond legislation for K-12 school construction and renovation, with local districts leveraging the bond amount to raise the total to $1.75 billion. More than 140 new schools were built under the act, using a combination of state and local voter-approved bonds. In 2005, following parental complaints, Tenenbaum removed
Chris Crutcher Chris Crutcher (born July 17, 1946) is an American novelist and a family therapist. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2000 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens. Biography Crutcher was ...
's book, ''
Whale Talk ''Whale Talk'' is a 2001 novel by young adult writer Chris Crutcher. It is narrated in the first person by the quick-witted, sarcastic, and athletic "T.J." Jones, an adopted Asian-African-European-American teenager living in Cutter, Washington, ...
'', from the state's English reading list for middle grades. She was featured in an interview by
John Stossel John Frank Stossel (born March 6, 1947) is an American libertarian television presenter, author, consumer journalist, and pundit. He is known for his career as a host on ABC News, Fox Business Network, and Reason TV. Stossel's style combines r ...
for a ''
20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'' Special Edition about public schools in the United States and world. Tenenbaum defended South Carolina's progress, noting that the state was rapidly narrowing the gap between its students' test scores and the national average. By the end of her term in 2007, South Carolina was a key leader in the nation in education improvement. Five independent national studies—by the Fordham Foundation, Princeton Review, the Large-Scale Assessment Study, the Northwest Evaluation Association, Quality Counts, and Education Next,—indicated that South Carolina's standards for student academic proficiency under
No Child Left Behind The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...
were among the most rigorous in the nation. During her tenure, South Carolina's performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) showed top rankings for improvement: * Math, Grade 4—Number 1 in the nation * Math, Grade 8—Number 1 in the nation * Science, Grade 4—Number 1 in the nation * Science, Grade 8—Number 3 in the nation Standard & Poor's identified South Carolina as an "outperformer" on NAEP for consistently achieving above the statistical expectations. The state's SAT scores increased 34 points over eight years (1999-2007), the largest ten-year gain in the nation. The 2007 national report card "Quality Counts," published by ''Education Week'', ranked the state first in the nation in academic standards, assessment, and accountability. It ranked 11th in efforts to connect K-12 education with early learning, higher education, and the world of work. "Quality Counts" ranked the state first for improving teacher quality in 2003 and 2004, and number two for teacher quality improvements in 2005 and 2006. Tenenbaum was succeeded as Superintendent of Education by Democrat
Jim Rex Jim Rex (born November 21, 1941 in Toledo, Ohio) was the 16th South Carolina Superintendent of Education. He ran for the position in 2006 as a South Carolina Democratic Party, Democrat, against Karen Floyd, a South Carolina Republican Party, Repu ...
on January 10, 2007.


Consumer Products Safety Commission

On May 5, 2009, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
announced that he would nominate Tenenbaum to head the United States
Consumer Product Safety Commission The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing “unreasonable risks” of inj ...
. She was confirmed in that position by the U.S. Senate unanimously on June 19, 2009. On February 28, 2013 Tenenbaum announced that she will not seek renomination when her term expires in October 2013. In 2009, the CPSC established its first overseas office in the U.S.
Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. In the same year, it created an Internet Surveillance Unit to aid in marketplace surveillance of retail and Internet auction sites to identify sellers offering banned, recalled, or dangerous products. In October 2010, Tenenbaum announced a five-year Strategic Plan (2011-2016), which established a new mission and vision for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Also in 2010, under her leadership, the CPSC made the Office of Education, Global Outreach, and Small Business Ombudsman to facilitate outreach to domestic and international stakeholders, including manufacturers, retailers, resellers, small businesses, and foreign governments. In 2011, the CPSC opened the new National Product Testing and Evaluation Center (NPTEC), testing products for defects and developing methods to determine compliance with safety standards. In October 2011, the CPSC led the first North American Consumer Product Safety Summit with Canada and Mexico. In March 2011, it launched the publicly available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, SaferProducts.gov. In 2011, it implemented a Risk Assessment Methodology (RAM) pilot project that to analyze data available in Custom and Border Protection's International Trade Data System (ITDS) to target potentially violative products coming into the United States. The CPSC obtained more than 1,800 recalls between 2009 and 2012. In 2012, the CPSC conducted 439 recalls involving more than 91 million units from around the world. In the same year, it screened over 17,000 models of imported consumer products at U.S. ports. In 2012, it began its International Extended Training Exchange Program. In 2012, in collaboration with consumer product regulators in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, CPSC, along with KidSafe, organized a multijurisdictional symposium on technical solutions to eliminate or mitigate the hazards posed by ingested button batteries. In 2012, the CPSC began a public-private collaboration to work on lowering the risk of concussions and other mild traumatic brain injuries at the youth football level. The "Youth Football Brain Safety" initiative involved major companies that manufacture or recondition football helmets, industry associations (the National Athletic Equipment Reconditioning Association and the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association), the
National Football League (NFL) The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), USA Football, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Through private funding, the program provides assistance to football programs for economically disadvantaged youth, outfitting their players in newer and properly maintained helmets. As of September 30, 2012, the CPSC completed 96 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)-related rulemaking activities since the passage of the CPSIA in 2008, including 40 final rules and 20 accreditation requirements. The CPSC launched a campaign in 2013 to reduce drowning risks for children. The CPSC began an investigation into the safety concerns of liquid laundry packets that have been swallowed by children in April 2013. In November 2013, the CPSC worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seize more than 200,000 toy dolls that were made in China and contained banned chemical compounds. During her tenure at the CPSC, Tenenbaum made regulations for children's products, created a public database to catalog product safety complaints, and put in place mandatory standards for children's beds, cribs, and swings. In 2013, she stepped down from her role with the CPSC to take a job with the law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.


Law firm

In 2016, she announced she would join the law firm of Wyche, P.A. Her practice focuses on consumer product safety and risk management, working particularly with manufacturers and retailers of consumer products to ensure compliance with applicable consumer product safety requirements and to protect the client's brand.


Awards

In 2001, The Center for Creative Leadership, a nonprofit education institution in Greensboro, North Carolina, named Inez Tenenbaum the recipient of its third annual Distinguished Alumni Award for "making leadership a fundamental requirement for school reform as part of South Carolina's strategic plan for education." In 2009, Washingtonian Magazine listed Inez Tenenbaum as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington, DC.


Personal

Tenenbaum and her husband Samuel Tenebaum reside in Lexington, South Carolina. She is
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
, and her husband is Jewish.


References


External links


Inez M. Tenenbaum-Attorney-Wyche, P.A
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tenenbaum, Inez 1951 births American educators Methodists from South Carolina Living people People from Hawkinsville, Georgia People from Lexington, South Carolina South Carolina Democrats South Carolina Superintendent of Education U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission personnel University of Georgia alumni University of South Carolina alumni Women in South Carolina politics 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Candidates in the 2004 United States elections