Former Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) teacher Samira Hardcastle is calling on educators to speak publicly about problems she says she witnessed firsthand in the district, including students struggling with basic academic skills and pressure on teachers to prioritize testing and district policies over student needs.
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An award winning teacher resigned from Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) on Tuesday, claiming she was asked to fabricate grades for a student in order to appease a parent, days after a New York educator received national media attention after raising similar concerns in a viral video.Â
“District leaders asked me to fabricate grades for a parent who sat in the office for hours until her daughter’s failing grades were changed. It creates false entitlement,” said former MNPS Samira Hardcastle during the public comment portion of the MNPS Board of Education meeting.Â
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The Nashville budget proposal by Mayor Freddie O’Connell, which is set for a vote on June 17, includes $100,000 for the nonprofit Alignment Nashville. This is the same 501 (c) (3) nonprofit that contracts with Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) to provide “conference services,” including the district’s annual “SPLASH retreat” for principals that reportedly took place in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this month.Â
O’Connell’s budget proposes a $100,000 grant for Alignment Nashville for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027, which the city’s FY 27 Expenditure Overview shows is the same dollar contribution the city granted the nonprofit in 2024 and 2026. In 2025, the contribution by Metro was reduced to $50,000.
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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.
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State and federal investigations have been confirmed after at least nine schools in Metro Nashville and the surrounding area were reportedly targeted with alleged swatting attempts, resulting in lockdowns or lockouts as local police verified there were no threats.Â
Threats were called in on Monday to at least nine schools in Nashville, Jackson, Franklin, Smyrna, La Vergne, Murfreesboro, and Clarksville, according to WSMV 4, while WKRN reported that the same school targeted in La Vergne was swatted a second time on Tuesday.
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Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) on Tuesday rejected requests to establish four new charter schools, including Music City Academy, which was proposed by former Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson.Â
In addition to Dyson’s Music City Academy, the four schools MNPS denied the opportunity to launch were the Gate School, Nashville School of Excellence, and Empowerment Academy.
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A Tuesday report released by the Nashville Banner described a series of actions taken at John Overton High School to accommodate students during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which the observant do not eat or drink during daylight hours.
According to The Banner, the school marked the Muslim holy month by allowing more than 80 students to leave class to attend prayers for 15 minutes daily, creating a program where 10 teachers agreed to keep food out of their classrooms as students fasted during the day, changing the lighting in at least one classroom, and holding its “second annual iftar,” which is traditionally when Muslims break their fast at sunset.
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The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy and Lead Reporter Tom Pappert argue that Ramadan accommodations at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) as detailed in a recent Nashville Banner feature article may violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said Metro Nashville Public Schools’ (MNPS) newly announced partnership with Colin Kaepernick’s artificial intelligence (AI) company raises serious questions about the district’s priorities and the quality of education being provided to students.
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Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) last week announced a formal partnership with the new artificial intelligence (AI) company co-founded by Colin Kaepernick, the leftist ex-NFL player who started the nationwide activist effort by professional athletes to kneel during the national anthem in 2016.Â
The Tennessee Star first reported on Thursday that Kaepernick spoke to MNPS administrators before touring Antioch High School on the one-year anniversary of the tragic school shooting that saw one student killed before the shooter, another student at the school, took his own life.Â
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Photographs posted to social media on Thursday showed a visit to Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, by Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who sparked the activist effort by professional athletes to kneel during Star Spangled Banner during professional sporting events that began in 2016.
The Tennessee Star also learned that Kaepernick spoke to Nashville school administrators on Thursday, and a staff member at the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Martin Professional Development Center confirmed Kaepernick visited the facility.Â
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A former assistant principal at Antioch High School reportedly sued Nashville and her former boss, alleging she developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after witnessing Solomon Henderson take his own life after he fatally shot another student at the school on January 22, 2025.
Dr. Kelly Latham filed the lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court, according to Tristar Daily, which obtained the lawsuit last week. It reveals the former Antioch High School administrator, who had worked in Nashville schools since 2003, claimed Executive Principal Dr. Nekesha Burnette chose to “run away from the crisis,” leaving Latham to “take charge” of the situation “by organizing the evacuation and dismissal of students.”
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Images obtained by The Tennessee Star appear to show lessons about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA) History Month, unofficially observed in October, were distributed by Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) to social studies teachers using Schoology, the Learning Management System (LMS) used by the district.
The images appear to depict two lessons that are part of an LGBTQIA History Month curriculum, with the materials obtained by The Star covering the Lavender Scare of the 1950s and the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.
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The lawsuit filed by the parents of Josselin Corea Escalante Vega was released publicly on Monday, revealing they seek $700,000 from Metro Nashville and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) after their daughter was killed during the January attack on Antioch High School (AHS).Â
Filed in the Tennessee Circuit Court for Davidson County by parents Josseline Escalante Vega and German Corea, the lawsuit accuses MNPS and Metro Nashville of negligently failing to protect their daughter from Solomon Henderson, who fired about 17 shots inside the school, including the bullet that fatally struck Josselin Escalante Vega on January 22, by specifically failing to ensure a safe environment for the students.Â
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Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) earlier this month announced new principals and executives for the 2025-26 school year, which included the promotion of Dr. David Martin to serve as the executive director of the MNPS Support Hub.Â
While the MNPS press release published on June 3 described Martin as “an experienced educational leader with more than 15 years in district and state-level administration,” it did not note that Martin resigned in 2021 from his new role as superintendent of the Alamont School System in Illinois after just six days, when concerns were raised about his past career as an openly gay professional wrestler, as well as his appearance on “The Jerry Springer Show,” which was reported in 2001.Â
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Two students have been arrested this week for bringing loaded handguns into Nashville schools, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) announced.
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The new “Belonging Fund” announced by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell to support illegal immigrants was reportedly presented to Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) students as a resource by Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle.
Battle directed students to the fund on Monday in response to a letter purportedly written by students concerned about the joint immigration enforcement operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), according to WPLN, which reported about 80 students voiced their concerns in a letter addressed to O’Connell and Battle.
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Two sources have confirmed to The Tennessee Star that Carlton Battle, the brother of Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle, was working at Antioch High School on January 22, the day 17-year-old Solomon Henderson killed a classmate before taking his own life at the school.
Carlton Battle was previously a basketball coach at Whites Creek High School, where a lawsuit filed by former administrative staff and MNPS employees claims he “beat up” the parent of a student who complained that his child did not play after a basketball game.
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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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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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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the use of metal detectors inside Antioch High School in Nashville may have prevented the deadly shooting that took place at the school on Wednesday morning.
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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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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 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 (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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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 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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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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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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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 (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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Executive Director of the Tennessee Firearms Association John Harris and Professional Educators of Tennessee CEO JC Bowman continue their in-studio discussion of school safety on Wednesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with host Michael Patrick Leahy.
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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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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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Governor Lee has criticized the Metro Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) plan to utilize $3.375 million in state grant funding to support its current pool of 60 armed school resource officers (SRO) in the 45 Nashville public middle and high schools while increasing patrol presence around elementary schools.
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Metropolitan Nashville School (MNPS) Board approved the final $1.2 billion budget for the 2023/2024 school year this week, which eclipses previous district budgets.
The vote to adopt was 7- 0, with Board Members Emily Master and Abigail Tylor abstaining.
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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.Â
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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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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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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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.  Â
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Three charter school operators submitted applications this year to Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) to start new schools. On Tuesday, at their regularly scheduled meeting, the MNPS school board rejected all three.Â
The board denied the applications primarily based on reports compiled by the district’s charter school review committee.
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The Davidson County Republican Party (DCRP) condemned the Metro Nashville City Council for failing to pass a resolution concerning the evaluation of school safety plans at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Davidson County Republican Party Chair Lonnie Spivak in studio to give his statement in response to a down vote by Metro Council for school safety evaluations.
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On Tuesday, the Metro Nashville City Council failed to pass a resolution concerning the evaluation of school safety plans at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).
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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.Â
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.Â
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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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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the education reporter for The Tennessee Star, TC Weber in studio to talk about how Metro Nashville Public Schools high school students were able to attend the protest at Tennessee’s Capitol last week.
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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.Â
“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.Â
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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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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed new Tennessee Star journalist TC Weber in studio to talk about Metro Nashville Public Schools’ new all-female left-wing school board.
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