Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Thales Academy-Franklin’s Principal Rachael Bradley, who talks campus expansion and tour on Thurs., April 7th at 9:15 a.m.
Leahy: We are joined in-studio now by the administrator of Thales Academy Franklin. Now let’s go through the growth plans. What’s your overall mission here in the Metro Nashville area, Rachael?
Bradley: The overall mission for all Thales Academy is to educate as many children as possible.
Leahy: That’s a great mission. And educate them well.
Bradley: Well. We want to teach them how to be great thinkers.
Leahy: Reading, writing, arithmetic, K through 5, using the direct instruction methodology, proven to be the most effective methodology in use for 50 years. And then you follow kind of in 6 through 12, more the classical education model.
Bradley: Yes.
Leahy: Using traditional American values.
Bradley: Traditional American values, yes.
Leahy: Today you’re pre-K through 5, and you’re located in Franklin on Carothers, just across from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Bradley: That’s right.
Leahy: But a more pleasant experience,
Bradley: Better customer service for us. It’s not hard to do.
Leahy: (Chuckles) The next academic year beginning in July, you’ll go Pre-K through 6.
Bradley: Yes.
Leahy: But I heard that your model, which you’ve successfully operated in North Carolina since 2007, is to have a 10-acre campus that will include a middle school and a high school.
Bradley: That’s correct. Side by side, beautiful campus. I actually recently posted the prototype on our Facebook page. If you want to search Thales Academy Franklin on Facebook, if you’re on that, you can see the prototype. It’s gorgeous.
And this is what we build. This is our standard prototype in every town. As we mentioned, we have 13 campuses in North Carolina and we’re moving to Greenville, South Carolina. We’re in Richmond, Virginia. So there is a lot of demand for what we’re offering nationwide.
Leahy: And I’ve heard that 10 acres have been purchased in a five-mile radius or so around where you’re currently located.
Bradley: Yes, that is correct.
Leahy: There’s a process to take those 10 acres as they exist today.  And then create the prototype, which will include a separate elementary/middle school and then a separate high school.
Bradley: Yes.
Leahy: That’s the model.
Bradley: Two buildings side by side. That’s the model. Lots of green space, beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows. Despite our affordability, you would never know it walking into our buildings.
Leahy: They’re gorgeous. I’ve been to them in North Carolina. And of course, the founder of Thales Academy, Bob Luddy, is also the founder and owner of a company called CaptiveAire that’s been around for over 50 years. And they are the leading provider of heating ventilation equipment for commercial kitchens in the country.
Bradley: If you go in any restaurant in America and look at their hood, you’ll see CaptiveAire.
Leahy: And they’ve used that ability and knowledge to create a great system for ventilation of air within the school as well.
Bradley:Â Our air quality is amazing, which really served us well the last couple of years. We remained open the entire pandemic.
Leahy: They continue to innovate on having good airflow. And when you have a good airflow of clean air in any building, people pay more attention. It’s particularly important in schools, isn’t it?
Bradley: Absolutely. Yeah. It makes for an ideal learning environment. I think it’s like 99 percent fresh air, zero humidity. And he put that system in all of our schools. He’s really invested in the success. He’s a man with a vision.
Leahy: Let’s kind of walk through for people that are listening right now and they say, I want to look at this. It’s only $5,500 a year.
The experience, the record of graduates of Thales Academy’s 12th grade in North Carolina has been spectacularly good, hasn’t it?
Bradley: Spectacular, yes. And again, you can visit our website at thalesacademy.org and see a complete list of all of the schools and universities our graduates have been accepted to. And it’s impressive.
Leahy:Â And these are top schools.
Bradley: They’re all top-tier schools.
Leahy: What’s interesting about this is, here in Metro Nashville right now, parents in Nashville have this option of Pre-K to 5. In July, it will be Pre-K through 6. This is July of this coming year; then the following year, in July of 2023, that academic year, you’ll expand to seventh grade.
Bradley: Yes. We will grow by at least one grade level every year.
Leahy: Then in 2024, which is a little over two years from now, if all goes well – because when you’re building a big complex on 10 acres, there’s always a little twist and turn on it.
Bradley: (Chuckles) That’s right.
Leahy: But if all goes well, then you would have this new campus available with these two buildings and you’ll have K through 8, and then you’ll grow like one grade per year thereafter, right?
Bradley: That’s exactly right. We’re shooting for 2024 to be in our new campus, barring development snags that can happen.
Leahy: Which can happen. (Bradley chuckles) And so the first graduating class would be in 2028. This is for anybody right now whose children are what, currently in fifth grade or about to be in sixth grade, shall we say if you’re going to be in sixth grade starting in July?
Bradley: Yes.
Leahy: Then you will have a complete path to graduate from high school, from Thales Academy here in Franklin.
Bradley: Absolutely.
Leahy: It’s pretty exciting.
Bradley: It’s very exciting. I just can’t say enough about it. As a parent and a lifelong educator, it’s just a phenomenal program. It’s a nice place to be.
And I would say anybody who wants to learn more, we do tours. We have one tomorrow [Thurs., April 7], actually, at 9:15 a.m. at our Franklin campus.
The best way to learn about our program is to come see it in action. When you see that instruction taking place and those kids that are engaged, it’s a thing of beauty.
Leahy: If somebody’s listening right now and they want to get a tour of the Thales Academy Franklin campus, what should they do?
Bradley: No need to register. Just show up at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow at 3835 Carothers Parkway in Franklin. And we would love to have you.
Listen to the full interview :
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Thales Academy” by Thales Academy.
