The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission has approved a resolution to overturn the Metro Nashville Public School board's denial of Nashville Classical Charter's application to open a second school in West Nashville. Now, according to the state commission’s general counsel Ashley Thomas, MNPS has 30 days to decide if it will serve as the local education agency for the second Nashville Classical Charter School. If not, then the TPCSC will serve as the school's local education agency.
The commission was created in 2019 and championed by Gov. Bill Lee, who — Chalkbeat Tennessee reports — “argued the state needed a single board focused solely on ensuring that high-quality charter schools can open and ineffective ones are closed.” At the beginning of 2021, the commission assumed the Tennessee State Board of Education’s responsibility to respond to charter school appeals, and in July it also assumed the state board’s authorization responsibilities. Today marks the commission’s first decision with both Nashville Classical II and another charter school in West Tennessee.
The original Nashville Classical School is located in East Nashville, and the second iteration of the K-8 school will fill the building that used to host Brookmeade Elementary School at 1015 Davidson Drive. According to Nashville Classical’s website, the second location will open in August 2022, “with 81 scholars in Kindergarten and will add 81 fifth graders in its second year (2023-2024). By the 2026-2027 school year, NC II will enroll 700 scholars in grades K-8, making it the city’s first K-8 public school outside of East Nashville.”
The decision has been met with criticism from school board member Abigail Tylor, who represents District 9, where the second Nashville Classical is to be located.
“The State Charter Commission's vote to overturn the will of MNPS's locally elected school board is a terribly disappointing outcome,” Tylor tells the Scene in an email. “It's disingenuous for them to claim opening this school is in the best interest of MNPS and District 9 when they not only heard directly from community members and local elected officials asking them to deny the school, but the locally elected School Board voted against it twice. How can the charter commission know what the 'best interest' of MNPS and District 9 is when none of its members live here, let alone send their children to our schools? This is state overreach, pure and simple."
“None of our schools have ever been on the school priority list," Tylor continues. "In fact, since the 2017-18 school year, every single one of our District 9 elementary schools have been designated reward schools at least once, if not multiple times. All the TVAAS scores for the elementary schools in District 9 meet or exceed Nashville Classical's scores, with the majority exceeding them. If they want to help families who are unhappy with the performance of their zoned elementary school, District 9 should not be location they choose."
Metro Councilmember Dave Rosenberg in nearby District 35 also took to Twitter to share his disappointment: "A mediocre taxpayer-funded private school will open in a community that strongly supports its public schools after state bureaucrats overturned the will of locally elected public officials and the community. This will pull resources from public school classrooms to line pockets."
Representatives from Nashville Classical Charter School could not be reached for immediate comment on Tuesday.
Update: Nashville Classical and its supporters sent the Scene a press release after this post was published. Read it in full below.
“The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission today unanimously approved a second location of Nashville Classical Charter School (NCCS), which has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top-performing public schools in Davidson County. Nashville Classical II (NCII) will be a free, public K-8 school located at 1015 Davidson Drive, the former site of Brookmeade Elementary School.
‘We are absolutely thrilled and excited that the Charter School Commission has recognized the value of replicating Nashville Classical’s proven learning model,' said Charlie Friedman, NCCS founder and Head of School. ‘By opening NCII along Charlotte Pike, we will serve a diverse, growing community and give families from across the city an opportunity to attend an excellent public school that has no geographic priority zones, tests, or other requirements to attend.’
Friedman added, ‘NCCS is one of Nashville’s most popular public charter schools, receiving more than 1,150 applications over the past two years for only 110 new seats. As this year began, there were nearly 200 families on a waitlist to send their children to NCCS, ready and eager to leave their current school at a moment’s notice. NCII will allow more families who want better public school options to benefit from our proven learning model.’
NCII will help alleviate overcrowding at several nearby K-12 schools and will be one of the only public charter schools in West Nashville. The school will be strategically located close to the interstate and near several of the city’s fastest-growing neighborhoods, including Charlotte Park and the Nations, where more than 5,000 single-family homes have been built in the past five years.
‘Nashville Classical II will be a wonderful addition to our community,’ said District 20 Councilwoman Mary Carolyn Roberts. ‘As this community grows, having a high-performing school like NCII will keep and bring families to our community. We are excited to see this decision from the commission.’
Ann Small, a Nashville realtor whose daughter attends NCCS, said, ‘Nashville Classical achieves results that rival any elementary school in Davidson County. They obsess about opportunity; opening Nashville Classical II in 2022 is an opportunity that is wanted and needed, and they have fought tirelessly for it. NCCS deserves this chance to expand and serve more families through a second location. The demand is there. The passion from the leadership team and the vision is there. The opportunity is clear.’
West Nashville resident Jennifer Geppert Smith, whose daughter will begin Kindergarten in 2023, applauded the Commission’s vote, saying, ‘When I explored Nashville Classical’s curriculum and saw that they consistently rank as one of the best public schools - not just in Nashville, but in the entire state - I wondered how and where I could get on the list to enroll my daughter. I'm ecstatic to see that Nashville Classical II will soon be open, giving children - including my daughter - the opportunity to attend a great public school right here in Nashville.’
‘I've witnessed how Nashville Classical focuses on students' strengths, keeps them in their classroom communities, challenges them if they need more, supports them if they need support, all in the classroom setting. NCCS gives them a place to be safe, joyful, excited, serious – to be themselves,’ said NCCS parent Courtney Blaise. ‘It's so important to me, and to parents like me across the city, that we're able to choose excellent public schools like Nashville Classical. And I know that with the approval of Nashville Classical II, more families will have that opportunity.’
Dwight E. Gordon II, whose children have been part of the NCCS community since 2015, said, ‘We have heard parents at other schools speak of how much their kids’ academics suffered during the pandemic. We have seen and heard stories of kids being denied the best education, or going to schools that are lacking diversity and teachers and administrators that care. NCCS offers all these qualities and more, and I know that Nashville Classical II will expand those opportunities to more children in Davidson County who deserve the best chance to develop both academically and socially.’”
