Nashville Schools Eye Controversial AI Weapons Detection as Superintendent Cites ‘Unintended Consequences’ of Metal Detectors

Evolve systems

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) is reportedly considering adopting new, artificial intelligence-based weapons detection systems at all of its schools in the city, after they were initially installed at Antioch High School in the days following the January 22 shooting committed by 17-year-old Solomon Henderson, who killed one student before taking his own life last month.

The school system first announced that Antioch High School would pilot the new AI weapon detection system on January 25, just three days after Henderson committed the attack, and WPLN reported MNPS will now consider whether to adopt the security system at all of its schools during the Tuesday meeting of the school board.

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Nashville Police, Schools Silent on Possible Mental Health Treatment for Antioch High Killer Solomon Henderson After Suspensions

Solomon Henderson

Antioch High School killer Solomon Henderson, who police say killed one and injured two before taking his own life on Wednesday, was reportedly the subject of multiple suspensions or other behavioral consequences during his time in Nashville’s public schools, though neither the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) nor Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) confirmed this in response to Friday press inquiries from The Tennessee Star.

It was reported on Thursday by WSMV 4 that two sources familiar Henderson’s disciplinary history in MNPS said the attacker “had long been a concern,” with the sources apparently pointing toward disciplinary action taken against Henderson after he was caught bringing a box cutter to school.

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Antioch High School Reportedly Removed Metal Detectors Prior to Shooting at Nashville School

Antioch High School main entry

A source familiar with Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) told The Tennessee Star on Wednesday that metal detectors were previously installed at Antioch High School some time during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that they were removed sometime prior to the January 22 shooting that saw two dead and two injured.

The source told The Star that the metal detectors were installed sometime around 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting they could have been obtained by MNPS using federal pandemic relief funding, but that they were removed for unclear reasons over the intervening years.

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Public Charter School in Nashville Files Lawsuit Against Metro Schools for Rezoning Plan

Students

LEAD Public Schools filed a lawsuit against Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) on Monday, challenging a rezoning plan previously approved by the MNPS board concerning LEAD Cameron Middle School.

LEAD Cameron is a zone-enrolled public charter middle school operating south of Nashville in the Glencliff cluster. The middle school was founded in 2011 and serves grades 5-8.

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Two Metro Nashville Schools Where Students Allegedly Brought Weapons Received ‘D’s’ on Their State Performance Reviews

Two Metro Nashville students were arrested on Wednesday as a result of separate incidents at two Metro Nashville schools involving firearms. Both schools, a middle school and high school, received D grades by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE).

A 14-year-old student was arrested on Wednesday at Hunters Lane High School after another student reportedly told school administrators he suspected a firearm in the other student’s backpack. School administrators searched the backpack and found a semi-automatic pistol, prompting the student’s arrest and transport to a juvenile detention facility.

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Unveils Potential Changes for One of District’s Highest Performing High Schools

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) is considering making changes to Martin Luther King Academic Magnet School (MLKAMS), one of Nashville’s highest-performing high schools.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, district Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle unveiled plans to move seventh-grade and eighth-grade students to Head Middle School and rebrand that school as Head Middle School at MLK. If MNPS goes forward with its plans, MLKAMS will become a traditional high school serving ninth-grade to 12th-grade. MLKAMS currently teaches students from seventh-grade to 12th-grade.

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Nashville’s Live New Year’s Eve Event to Benefit Metro Nashville Public Schools’ HERO Program

This year’s Jack Daniel’s New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park will go towards supporting students and their families who are experiencing homelessness through the Homeless Education Resource Office (HERO) Program of Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Experiencing Wide Spread Internet Outages

Metro Nashville Public School’s (MNPS) teachers and students face widespread internet outages after returning from fall break.

Sean Braisted, MNPS’s chief communications officer, told The Tennessee Star, “We’ve experienced network traffic issues over the past few days, primarily linked to changes during a recent upgrade that has led to increased network saturation.”

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Tennessee’s Public Charter School Commission Overturns Five Local Charter School Application Denials

At this year’s annual charter school appeals hearing, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission (TPCSC) heard from eight proposed charter schools. State law permits charter authorizers who have been denied by the local authorizer to ask for reconsideration.

Established in 2022, as a means for those appeals to be heard, the commission has the power to overturn local decisions.

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Metro Nashville School Board Proposes Lottery Admission at Two Top Performing Schools to Increase Diversity

The Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) Board this week considered changing eligibility rules for admission to its two highly successful academic magnet schools – Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School and Hume-Fogg Academic High School. If adopted, all prospective students would be subject to a lottery system for admission.

The proposed rule change would not go into effect until the 2024 – 2025 school year, but if adopted, would sever established pathways for entry into MLK and Home-Fogg. Currently, Meigs Middle School and John Early Middle School serve as pathway schools to Hume-Fogg, while Head Middle School and Rose Park Middle School serve as pathways to MLK.

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Concerned Parent Blows Whistle on LGBT Material Displayed to Four-Year-Olds in Nashville Public School

A concerned parent shared a photo with The Tennessee Star this week depicting an LGBT pride flag at Dan Mills Elementary School in Nashville, which he said is on display for children as young as four years old.

The pride flag is emblazoned with the words “MNPS for All,” and hangs above a poster that breaks students into groups by race and sexual orientation, noting that each group is “loved.”

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Amends Discipline Policy

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) adjusted its discipline policies for the upcoming school to all first-time violent offenders to avoid expulsion by enrolling in a five-hour anger management course.

The new program was first introduced to MNPS principals two weeks ago as the First Time Violent Offender Program. The district has since changed the name and now refers to the initiative as the First Time Behavior Support Program.

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Tennessee Department of Education Releases Data on Third-Grade Retention Appeals

This week, the Tennessee Department of Education(TDOE) released final data on third-grade retention appeals.

In 2021, Tennessee lawmakers passed the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act. It set forth key academic supports for third-grade students who did not score proficient on the English language arts (ELA) portion of their TCAP assessment. It further updated requirements for students to move to the next grade via multiple pathways for fourth-grade promotion.

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Tennessee Department of Education Releases District-Level TCAP Results

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 2022-23 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) district-level results. TCAP provides insight into how school districts are performing across the state.

TDOE reported 68 out of 141 public school districts had 38.7 percent of students’ scores “met expectations” or “exceeded expectations” across all grades and subjects tested. An additional 19 districts reported 50 percent of students scored in the “met” or “exceeded” categories. Only nine districts failed to increase overall proficiency rates compared to last school year, while 107 increased those rates compared to the 2019-20 school year.

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MNPS Announces New Principal and Executive Assignments for Upcoming School Year

When the 2023/2024 school year opens for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) there will be 23 new principals employed by the district. A slightly higher number than in previous years, due to several veteran principals choosing to either retire or accept a position with a surrounding district. In some instances, MNPS has chosen not to renew a seated principal’s contract. 

On Friday, the district revealed upcoming assignments for the new school leaders. They also named three new executive leadership placements, including one for the district’s long-term chief spokesman.

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Nashville Mayoral Candidates Offer Views on City Schools

A poll conducted in May on behalf of Tennesseans for Student Success by VictoryPhones, showed that Nashvillians prefer a mayoral candidate with a strong position on education and infrastructure. That quality slightly edged “positions on social issues” as the leading factor in who earned their vote.

In discussing education policy with Nashville mayoral candidates, The Tennessee Star found few variances between potential city leaders. All candidates supported Metro Nashville Public Schools and appreciated the past administration’s efforts to increase teacher pay. They all voice a commitment to ensuring that Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) are among the best in the country. Outwardly, none are choice advocates.

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TDOE Releases 3rd Grade TCAP Scores Late Friday, Leaves Parents Scrambling

As promised, the Tennessee Department of Education released results from this year’s TCAP test for third-graders to districts on Friday. However, it wasn’t until after 3;30 that the data was delivered.

Districts still have to sort through the data and identify exclusions – students who are English Learners or have a disability that affects their ability to read – before they can send notify families of student status, Students failing to score “proficient” are eligible for a retake. That exam window is scheduled to be open from May 22 -June 5.

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MNPS High School Student Pepper Sprays Teacher for Confiscating Phone, Both Say They Were Assaulted

A video depicting a female student pepper-spraying a male teacher at Antioch High School (AHS) went viral over the weekend. The minute-and-a-half video, surfacing on Friday, shows the confrontation between the two after the educator confiscated a cell phone from the student for using it during an exam in the classroom.  The student was asked repeatedly to put the phone away, The New York Post reported.     

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MNPS Budget Request Grows While Attendance Numbers Remain Flat

MNPS has submitted a proposed budget that requires a funding increase of 5% over last year to maintain the status quo while addressing inflationary costs. The request comes even as MNPS enrollment remains flat. 

District enrollment – traditional and charter schools included – grew by o.26%, or 622 students, from 79,651 to 80,273 students in Pre-school to grade school. Tradition school enrollment grew by 460 students, while district-authorized charter school enrollment grew by 162 students. 

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MNPS Leaders Present Proposed Upcoming School Year Budget to School Board

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) leaders presented their proposed budget for the 2023/2024 school year to the school board.

Included in the presentation were numbers for a baseline budget that allows MNPS to maintain this year’s services, along with requests for additional money to fund new programs. The baseline budget called for an extra $55 million to account for inflation and raised the needed funding to just over $1.1 billion.

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Nashville Students Walk Out for Anti-Gun Protest

Monday marked another day of anti-gun protests in Nashville, as hundreds of Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) students walked out of school and marched to the Tennessee State Capitol demanding gun control. 

“HUNDREDS of students, activists, and community members in Nashville walked out of school this morning with us and are walking to the state Capital to DEMAND action against gun violence,” said the anti-gun group March For Our Lives on Twitter, attaching a video of some of the student protestors. 

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Offers No Details on Student, Parent Involvement in Capitol Riot

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) did not return a Friday comment request from The Tennessee Star seeking further clarifications about students and parents who were reportedly involved in Thursday’s protest-turned-riot at the Tennessee Capitol building.

WTVF reported Thursday that thousands of parents and students gathered at the Capitol to protest in favor of gun control.

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Report Says Tennessee Schools Spent COVID-19 Funds on Unrelated Projects

A new report by the Beacon Center of Tennessee says that $4 billion worth of federal COVID-19 relief funding allocated to Tennessee’s school systems was largely spent on items unrelated to COVID-19. 

“The data suggests that Tennessee public schools have budgeted or spent millions of dollars on areas that had little to nothing to do with COVID or student performance,” said Beacon Research Associate and report author Jason Edmonds. “School districts across the state budgeted tens of millions of dollars for ‘indirect costs’ without any further explanation and also funded pet projects such as walk-in coolers and retractable bleachers.”

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Metro Nashville Schools Working with Police on Safety Protocols Following Uvalde Mass Shooting

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed Wednesday that it is working with Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) on safety protocols after Tuesday’s deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. 

“Primarily precinct-based officers are visiting elementary schools today where they are providing reassurance and discussing existing protocols,” MNPD spokeswoman Kristin Mumford told The Tennessee Star Wednesday. 

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Says They Will Not Close Schools Amidst COVID-19 Spike

Metro Nashville Public Schools said on Monday that shutting down in-person learning and switching the district to remote learning is “not an option”. 

An email sent out to staff by MNPS stated, “So, to be clear, switching the district to remote learning during this wave is not an option, and closing schools is not an option without extending the school year into the summer”. This is in compliance with current state guidelines, individual classrooms or schools may temporarily switch to remote learning for up to seven days, school districts are not allowed to. The need must also be documented.

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