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Rutherford Collegiate Prep charter school decision to come out next month





Tennessee Public Charter School Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall will make a recommendation about the application for Rutherford Collegiate Prep to operate in the county next month.TAYLA COURAGE

Tennessee Public Charter School Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall will make a recommendation about the application for Rutherford Collegiate Prep to operate in the county next month.TAYLA COURAGE

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission is set to make a recommendation about the application of Rutherford Collegiate Prep at its next meeting on Jan. 7.

Representatives for Rutherford County Schools and ReThink Forward, the 501©3 looking to launch its second charter school in the state, appeared at a public hearing last Tuesday afternoon.

ReThink Forward appealed its amended application to plant roots in the northern part of the county was denied by both the county school board and the county commission.

RCS Attorney Jeff Reed said it “appears” that the charter school applicants have recycled the application they used to open their Nashville Collegiate Prep location.

“The application was strong on buzzwords and kinds of slogans, but the criteria was missing,” said Reed, referring to missing measurable data that could be used to assess academic growth.

The school board formed a 12-member charter school committee to review ReThink’s application as well as its resubmission and came to the conclusion that three key standards were not met, including state criteria, lack of community support and a negative fiscal impact.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction James Sullivan pointed out that the charter school’s Rutherford application still listed Metro Nashville Public Schools as the local authorizer.

He agreed that the applicant did not meet the standards set in the state’s scoring rubric for new charter schools.

“It was not anti-school choice, anti-charter schools,” said Sullivan, who said the majority of growth is seen in middle and high schools at this time.

Reed used the county’s Free and Reduced Lunch rate and middle school attrition percentages as examples of inaccuracies in the application.

ReThink Forward Board Secretary Tom Lee acknowledged the identified “typos,” but emphasized the need to present parents with another schooling option.

“Respectfully, you have not answered the questions of ‘Why Rutherford Collegiate Prep?’ ” said Lee. “The answer is simple. It’s because this school meets state standards and because Rutherford parents and their students deserve a choice.”

The new school has projected an opening enrollment of 470 K-5 students and hopes to expand up to the eighth grade by its fourth year. This number makes up just under 1% of the district’s current enrollment of 49,039 students.

The goal is to “reach proficiency” and close existing achievement gaps shown in the Smyrna and La Vergne areas.

Lee said the existing school system potentially could save money because it wouldn’t have to build an additional facility to accommodate its growing enrollment and an opportunity to address lower achievement in the northern part of the county.

Lee said ReThink Forward is roughly three months behind in its schedule due to the response timeline of the school board but if granted the ability to open next fall it could reduce enrollment and budget numbers to operate out of a smaller, temporary building. The charter school could also request to push its opening date back by one year.

There were only nine in-person speakers who signed up to participate in the public hearing, including Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron, County Commissioners Rhonda Allen, Joe Gourley and Wayne Blair, who is on the charter school review committee, and State Rep. Mike Sparks.

Allen said she has received no feedback from her constituents that the charter school would be a good fit for the community and mentioned financial concerns.

“You can’t tell me that you can remove the funding the equivalent of 71 teachers out of our budget and that’s not going to have a negative impact on the school system as a whole,” said Allen, who views the introduction of a “third school system” as a “arranged marriage.”

Ketron said he supports charter schools but doesn’t see this area as a candidate for this applicant.

“Rutherford County has two of the best educational systems in the state of Tennessee. We don’t have those same issues as you find in your four other metropolitan cities,” said Ketron.

Sparks was the only elected official to speak in favor of the school coming to the county.

“We need a paradigm shift in education,” said Sparks, who said he would rather see the application issues be worked out at the local level.

Three of the four parents who spoke about the potential charter school were in favor of providing more educational choices for their children.

Pastor Brenda Bryant of Smyrna, who helped start Nashville’s first charter school, said she believes the lack of community support likely comes from a lack of understanding of how the charter schools work.

“Yes, the parents want an option, and I don’t think it’s taking away too much money that we cannot go ahead and offer this as an option to our community,” said Bryant. “It’s time. It’s time. It’s time.”

Stovall said additional public comments would be accepted through Tuesday, Dec. 14 until 2 p.m. Comments can be submitted at bit.ly/3DB6Anm.

The TPCSC will host a specially called virtual meeting on Friday, Jan. 7 at 9:30 a.m. at bit.ly/3pIVjg0.

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