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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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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A charter school representative Wednesday reacted to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission’s (TPCSC) vote to reject applications for Founders Classical Academy in Williamson and Sumner Counties.
Brian Haas works for Del Rey Education, which helps launch charter schools nationwide, and works with Founders Classical.
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Despite massive turnout in support of two Founders Classical Academy charter schools, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission (TPCSC) has rejected the schools’ bids to open campuses in Williamson and Sumner counties.
“I think it is clear that this school has a lot of community support,” Tess Stovall, TPCSC’s executive director reportedly said. “However, that is not the only thing that one needs for a school to be successful.”
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A group that runs charter schools told The Tennessee Star that plans for one of the schools it represents, Founders Classical Academy of Brentwood, were misrepresented by officials of Williamson County Schools during an appeal hearing held before the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission in Brentwood on Monday.
“Much of the Williamson County Schools presentation, especially the closing, dwelled on our purported ‘inability to effectively serve students,’ based on our lack of general bus transportation (Founders provides busing for special needs and in situations where necessary, and serves more diverse populations than most districts the schools reside in, with parents being willing to drive their children, as they are in Williamson), and lack of food services,” said Brian Haas of Del Rey Education., a company that helps launch Founders Classical Academy public charter schools around the country.
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The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission held a hearing in Murfreesboro Wednesday morning on the appeal by American Classical Academy Rutherford of the denial by the Rutherford County School Board earlier this year of their application to open a charter school in the county.
Twelve Rutherford County parents told TPCSC Chair Tom Griscom and TPCSC staff members in attendance they wanted the TPCSC to approve American Classical Academy Rutherford’s appeal, and grant the school a charter to begin operation in the fall of 2023, initially for grades K through 5.
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On Tuesday at the quarterly Tennessee Public Charter School Commission meeting, Nashville Classical Charter School won approval to open a second campus in the Nashville metropolitan area.
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