The board of the Valor Collegiate Academies, the public charter school company in Nashville whose high school principal confirmed modifying its bell schedule to accommodate Muslim prayer for students, includes board members who are prominent for their affiliation with political causes, litigation, or scholarship.
The board is currently led by Brandi Kellett (pictured above), a professor at Lipscomb University who both chairs its English and Modern Languages Department and directs the university’s Liberal Arts Core.
According to her biography at Lipscomb, Kellett’s “areas of scholarship focus on culture, memory and faith as resistance to oppression in the African diaspora across the Americas.” Valor’s website adds that Kellett, “trains organizations in cultural competency, bias recognition and correcting injustice, and speaks about identity, community action, traumatic history, spirituality and race.”
Minutes from multiple board meetings dating back to 2023 also reveal that Rascoe Dean (pictured here), the son of former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and NES Board Chair Anne Davis, was a member of the board for years, only leaving in May 2025. He most recently attended a board meeting in February 2025.
An attorney, Dean currently works at Sherrard Roe Voigt and Harbison, and is among the lawyers currently representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia in his federal human smuggling case. Dean began representing Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador previously deported by the Trump administration, about one month after leaving the board of Valor Collegiate Academies.
Another current member of the Valor Collegiate Academies board is Cristina Muñoz, who the charter school company’s website states, “has a passion for racial justice and brings extensive expertise in people development and management, equitably designed policies and practices, culture building and professional learning design.”
On the charter school’s website, it states that Muñoz currently works as the People and Culture Lead at Wend Collective, a political investment firm that reportedly focused on funding causes capable of enacting “social change” and achieving “economic justice.” Funded by Walmart heir James C. Walton, the Wend Collective ceased operating in 2024, but reportedly was superseded by Wend II Inc., which is operated by Walton’s son.
The principal at Valor Collegiate Prep confirmed his school modified its bell schedule for Muslim students shortly after another high school’s accommodations for devout students during Ramadan drew scrutiny, including from Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who warned that student-led activities are legally distinct from those using school resources during a recent interview.
The confirmation came weeks after Valor Collegiate Academies, which claims to serve 1,900 students in grades 5-12 across three campuses, announced that its chief operating officer resigned amid “financial irregularities.”
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photos “Brandi Kellett” and “Willard Collins Auditorium” by Libscomb University
Very true and our politicians keep on ignoring this problem which will lead to the downfall of what every Western Nation.
Activists should be banned from doing anything with children and she’s a prime example of one. This is why Americans education system is so terrible because we’ve let the leftist control it and it needs to be taken back
I hope no tax dollars go to this indoctrination scam.
Sounds like she is in step with the left-leaning activists who are attempting (with success) to destroy American values and culture.