Tomorrow (12/5/24), South Knoxville Elementary School students and staff will assemble at 8:30 a.m. for a special program. Given the list of special guests, it probably involves a big donation of money.

You will learn about that on Thursday, but for today – and for the kids – I want to introduce David Coffey. With his wife, Pat, the Coffeys have given away a lot of money. Before you can give it away you’ve got to make it.

The Coffeys made their money in science and business, but always have been supportive of kids and education. In an interview with Knox TN Today on Tuesday, David Coffey called South Knoxville Elementary School “the north star” of K-3 reading. (The north star, also called Polaris, is very bright with little movement, making it important for nighttime navigation. It’s like a guide.)

This chart shows Knox County third grade reading achievement on the vertical axis and each school’s percentage of economically disadvantaged students on the horizontal.

As the chart shows, SKES scored 80 percent of third graders as proficient or advanced in reading – at the top of Knox County Schools. Yet SKES falls in the mid-range of schools with economically disadvantaged students. Each green dot represents one school.

Overall, Knox County Schools third graders tested just over 30 percent as proficient or advanced.

David Coffey is a scientist. He wants to know the “why” of the “what.”

You should too. Why are scores higher at SKES? Can it be sustained? And can it be replicated?

Meet David Coffey

David is 92. He and Pat give away money because “you can’t take it with you.”

David has a degree in physics but never got a doctorate. “A Ph.D. is a good thing to have if you don’t let it get in the way of your education,” he told interviewer Tom Ballard.

Pat Coffey taught in Knox County Schools until their children were born. When she went back to work, she joined David in his first start-up. “She’s been there all along the way in business and raising our kids. It’s been a true partnership,” David told Ballard.

He worked 12 years at ORNL, and started his first business in 1968 – Nucleus Inc. produced radiation detection equipment. “We were making fancy Geiger counters.”

The second company was American Magnetics Inc., where he served as president for the next 13 years before selling it. David started and sold businesses. He invested in other people’s businesses. He even had to close a couple that were not profitable.

He founded Alpha Nuclear Labs in Dallas, SunGraphics, CMC Construction Co. and Second Federal Savings and Loan Association in Oak Ridge. It is now the Oak Ridge branch of Home Federal Bank of Tennessee.

“An important part of living is rising to the challenge,” he told interviewer Ballard. “You might run into really traumatic times. That’s real life. People don’t stay happy forever in business.”

David served in the Tennessee legislature for 10 years (1986-96), representing District 33 in Anderson County. Rep. Coffey is remembered as a thoughtful legislator who asked a lot of questions. But he finally gave up the job, recalling a disagreement with a woman in his church. “There is the risk of losing friends, but you can’t vote both ways.”

Coffey was a champion for securing state funding for the Roane State Community College campus in his Oak Ridge district. The first building on the campus was constructed in the late 1990s and is named the Coffey-McNally Building.

David and Pat have contributed over $1.5 million to Roane State Community College, and David co-chaired a committee that raised over $4 million toward construction on the campus. They provide scholarships every year to deserving Roane State and Pellissippi State Community College students in memory of their son, Steven L. Coffey, who died in a plane crash in July 1995.