Details were published about the annual “Principal Splash” event held for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) leadership and principals, revealing hundreds planned to return to Louisville, Kentucky, where, in 2023, The Tennessee Star first reported the administrators met for a taxpayer-funded retreat.
According to May reporting by education blogger TC Weber, who has been published by The Star, the principal retreat began this week. It will include three days and two nights in Louisville for about 250 attendees in total. Weber wrote the retreat would include “[t]hree days of meals and snacks” for all attendees, with “extra days” set aside for senior staff members under MNPS Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle.
Discussing his reporting, Weber told The Star of the retreat on Wednesday, “It should have to pass the litmus test, is it good for kids? Does it improve outcomes for kids? And if it doesn’t then we shouldn’t spend [the money].”
JC Bowman, founder and president of Professional Educators of Tennessee, confirmed Weber’s reporting to The Star on Tuesday. He also questioned the optics of the trip, what principals might gain from a professional conference held in a neighboring state rather than in Nashville, and why the district is not leveraging technology to save money for student use.
“It’s a waste of taxpayer money, and I think that none of the stuff that they’re going to be talking about or doing cannot be accomplished here, in Nashville, supporting our tax base and our community,” said Bowman.
“Is this a wise use of taxpayer money? Absolutely not. Does it help one child in Nashville read better? No, it does not,” he told The Star. He added, “It’s just poor optics.”
Bowman, whose organization counts both teachers and administrators as members, told The Star the annual conferences are considered disruptive to many attendees.
“There’s some principals obviously that like it,” he said. “They don’t mind that. But I think for a lot of them, it’s upending their families who are here, they’re having to figure out how to get childcare, how to deal with a spouse that may be working, or a spouse that may need to go, and it may interfere with their vacation time.”
He told The Star, “It just begs into question why we continue to do this. If it’s a key speaker they want to do, we have Zoom. They have the ability to bring people here if they need to do that.”
One text message reviewed by The Star, sent by a school administrator who traveled to Kentucky for the retreat, stated that attendees were informed they would take a private tour and dinner at Churchill Downs and were instructed to dress in attire appropriate for the Kentucky Derby.
Though it is unclear who organized the retreat, it occurs during the period covered by two MNPS agreements with Alignment Nashville, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit whose board includes the district’s superintendent, Battle, among its members.
In February 2024, an agenda item included increasing the total value of the MNPS contract with Alignment Nashville to $430,000, representing an $80,000 increase. According to the agenda, “The contract is for the provision of conference services, including full event planning and coordination, for the MNPS annual SPLASH retreat that helps principals align strategies across tiers to ensure that students are prepared as they transition into the Academies of Nashville.”
The contract was set to last from February 2024 through November 2027, according to the agenda item.
Without changing the duration, a September 2024 amendment to the agreement further expanded the scope of MNPS’ relationship with Alignment Nashville, amending the previously approved contract to increase the value by more than $1.1 million. Alignment Nashville may now be compensated up to about $1.5 million over the length of the agreement.
Battle has held her position on the Alignment Nashville board since 2019, around the time she was named interim MNPS Superintendent. Her predecessor at MNPS, Dr. Shawn Joseph, was also listed as serving on the Alignment Nashville board from 2016-2019.
The scrutiny over the MNPS retreat comes amid similar scrutiny over the decision by Metro Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell to include $735,000 in his budget for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), an organization with which he previously described “years” of “successful collaboration,” and whose political arm endorsed his 2023 mayoral campaign.
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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].
