Tuesday night the Metro school board once again disregarded a mandate from the state and denied the charter application of Great Hearts Academies. The nine-member panel voted 5-to-4, defying a directive from the state board of education.
It’s a different school board with four newly-elected members. But several echoed the same concerns of their predecessors: that Great Hearts is not giving a full-faith effort to make sure their charter school is diverse. The charter organization – based in Arizona – argues that it has met all the requirements laid out by the district.
New board member Amy Frogge voted against the Great Hearts proposal, saying that the district should be concerned – first – with disadvantaged students, not catering to affluent families.
“We are setting a precedent here tonight about what we will accept in our system, and what we expect from our schools that will be far-reaching and will impact many children, including my own.”
Frogge – who is a lawyer by training – told other board members not to change their minds based on the threat of lawsuits.
Ross Booher is the local attorney representing Great Hearts.
“This decision was obviously a willful decision on the part of the Metro school board to violate state law. I think it was pretty clear cut, I mean, according to their own attorney.”
Metro Legal director Saul Solomon stated unequivocally during the meeting that the board had no choice but to approve the new West Nashville charter school.
The Metro school board surprised even Tennessee’s education commissioner, who said last month he expected the panel to comply with state law.
Great Hearts has produced outstanding testing and graduation results in Phoenix. Emails uncovered by open records requests show Tennessee’s education department has been firmly in favor of getting the charter school operator to Nashville.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM