No Harm Done And No Need To Rerun School Lottery, Nashville Officials Say

Metro Schools’ selection process was bigger than in past years because it has expanded from charters and magnets to include pre-K and all incoming 9th graders. Credit: Nashville Prep via Instagram

A bug in Metro Schools’ lottery system resulted in a few hundred families getting seats in several different schools instead of just one. But district officials say there was no harm and no need for a re-do.

At a press conference Monday, school officials apologized while also downplaying the glitch that forced the district to take down a website that announced placements for the fall.“It was a programming error in the program itself,” chief operating officer Fred Carr said. “And humans programmed the program, so that’s why we’re doing double quality assurance this time.”

The record number of students participating in the lottery was partly to blame, Carr said. So was the contractor hired by the district, who has overseen the selection process for several years.

There’s no need for a do-over because no one got into a school who will now have to be told otherwise.

“No one will be negatively affected,” Carr said.

Students who were given multiple placements were taking up seats that will now be freed up. Essentially, 147 students who were wait-listed will now be told they got into the school of their choice.

Still, district officials say they will review their processes before conducting the school lottery next year.