Inglewood Parents Make Plea To Keep Their School Open Amid East Nashville Shakeup

Parents gathered Wednesday night to hear from Metro Schools superintendent Jesse Register. The purple shirts are Inglewood teachers and parents. Those in yellow shirts identify with East Nashville United, which has opposed a plan to make the schools that feed Stratford and Maplewood high schools a special “choice” zone. Credit: Emily West / WPLN

Parents crammed into the library of Inglewood Elementary Wednesday night to make their case for keeping the underperforming school open.

Nina Locker grew up in East Nashville and recently took her child out of a nearby charter school to attend Inglewood.

“I don’t think the effective plan would be closing,” Locker told WPLN. “I think the effective plan would be coming back in, revamping the school, and giving the school the resources and the teachers they need to have higher success rates.”

Metro Schools superintendent Jesse Register has been holding a series of meetings ahead of a big reshuffling of schools in East Nashville. The plan calls for a “choice zone” where no one is zoned to a specific school but would get to choose between any district, magnet or an increasing number of charter schools.

One or more district schools that are under-capacity and underperforming would likely close as a result. Register hasn’t named which schools would shutdown but has noted that Inglewood and Kirkpatrick are struggling.

“Even if the school is not closed, I think there is the fear that teachers do not have job security within this building,” principal Carrie Mickle says. “We really have just come together as a team and we want to stay together as a team.”

After announcing he would not seek a contract extension next year, parents are asking why superintendent Register would move forward with the East Nashville overhaul, seen by some as a concession to charter school boosters. Part of the reason several schools are under capacity is because of growth in charter schools in the area.

“What I say is, there is an urgency,” Register says. “What I don’t want to do is push the pause button for a year.”

Register says he would hope that the next superintendent would continue the reforms.

Emily West contributed to this report.