Maury County School Board Denies Charter School Application in Close Vote

COLUMBIA, Tennessee – The Maury County Board of Education narrowly rejected the application by American Classical Education to operate a charter school in the county in a vote of 6-5. 

An application review committee made a presentation about the different strengths and deficiencies of the school’s application in three different areas of qualification. The committee found that the school’s academic, operational, and financial plans only partially met the criteria of the rubric and thus recommended that the board deny the American Classical Academy Maury’s initial application. 

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Phil Schwenk: Classical Education Is About ‘Making a Person Literate, Numerically Sound, Logical, Reasonable, and a Good Human Being’

Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist and American Classical Education’s Philip Schwenk in studio to talk about the school’s main objective of working with local school boards and supply clarity to misinformation.

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American Classical Education Submits Charter School Applications in Five Tennessee Counties

Wednesday marked the deadline for charter school applicants to submit their packages to local school boards in counties where they wish to establish a new charter school, and American Classical Education (ACE) has submitted applications in five Tennessee counties.

ACE board member and former Tennessee State Senator Dolores Gresham, who retired while serving as Senate Education Chair in 2020, told The Tennessee Star the charter school operator submitted paperwork to  Rutherford, Clarksville-Montgomery, Jackson-Madison, Maury, and Robertson Counties.

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American Classical Education Announces Intent to Apply for Charter Schools in Five Tennessee Counties

American Classical Education (ACE) informed the Tennessee Department of Education and school boards of education in five counties – Rutherford, Montgomery, Madison, Maury, and Robertson – in separate letters last week it intends to apply for public school charters to operate classical schools in those five counties.

“We’ve filed our letters of intent with the school districts and the department,” Dolores Gresham, an ACE board member, former Tennessee State Senator, and former Senate Education Committee Chair, told The Tennessee Star.

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United Way of West TN CEO’s Opposition to Charter School Appeal of Jackson-Madison County Denial Draws Criticism from Supporters

The CEO of United Way of West Tennessee’s public statement opposing American Classical Academy Madison’s appeal of the Jackson-Madison County Public School System’s denial of the school’s public charter has drawn heavy criticism from the school’s supporters.

“Matt Marshall, the president and CEO of United Way of West Tennessee, [spoke] in opposition to ACA during the public comment portion of the American Classical Academy Madison County Charter School Appeal Public Hearing on Thursday, September 15, 2022, in Jackson, Tenn.,” The Jackson Sun reported.

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