The charter evaluation team for Knox County Schools is recommending approval for a second public charter school.
The team formally presented its findings to the district board of education Monday night in support of Knoxville Preparatory School.
The proposed public charter school would eventually serve up to 700 students in an all-boys 6-12 school on Irwin Street in the Old North Knoxville neighborhood.
Knox Prep is designed to replicate PREP Public Schools’ companion school, Chattanooga Preparatory School, with a similar focus and grade structure.
“The previous experience in the successful operation of Chattanooga Preparatory, along with the passion and commitment of the leaders of PREP Public schools is evidence,” said Charter Review Team Member Julie Thompson. “The Charter Application Review Team recommends that the application of Knoxville Preparatory Charter School be approved for the 2024-25 school year.”
Knox County Schools Board of Education is scheduled to decide whether to approve the school on Thursday.
Board Members discussed the application Monday night and listened to supporters of the school, including three existing students at Chattanooga Prep.
“At Chatt Prep I feel welcome. I feel like I belong there,” said one 8th grade student to the board. “I can go to a teacher, and I can talk to em about something and they give me that support like they’re family.”
Education Model in Demand
PREP Public Schools says it’s applying to open a school in Knoxville because of demand from local families and community leaders who appreciate the success the organization’s single gender model has had with students in Chattanooga.
“We believe the single gender model really helps our boys in the classroom by removing distractions, any potential distractions, but also provides a model where boys can be their self, build brotherhood, build leadership for the future,’ said Chattanooga Prep CEO Brad Scott.
Last school year, 96 percent of the students at Chattanooga Prep were students of color and 72 percent were from economically disadvantaged families.
Those students saw more growth on the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) compared to other Hamiliton County middle schools serving a similar demographic of students and the school achieved a TVAAS Level 5 score. That’s the highest of the state’s academic growth measure.
“We received a numerous of calls from community members here in Knoxville, parents that would call and say hey do you all have a bus that goes from Knoxville to Chattanooga every day for my son,” said Scott. “Parents here in Knoxville we heard, can you replicate what you’re doing, the success, here in Knoxville.
The application has faced some questions about what impact it might have on existing public schools in the same area of Knoxville.
Board member John Butler said he’s heard from parents who worry that impact might be harmful.
“Whenever you take students out and funds out of a school it’s going to effect that school,” said Butler. “My emails were full of concerns from parents.”
Knox County Assistant Superintendent of Academics Dr. Keith Wilson told board members the district’s only public charter school, Emerald Academy, has had a limited impact on surrounding schools. Wilson said an enrollment analysis found only two traditional public schools lost more than twenty students to Emerald Academy.
If the school board decides to deny Knox Prep’s application Thursday, the school would still have the option of submitting an amended application to the board, and if that application fails, an appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.
A successful appeal would provide the option of the state commission overseeing the school.
Newly elected board member Steve Triplett told other board members he believes the appeal process heavily favors Knoxville Prep because of PREP Public Schools’ history in Chattanooga. Triplett says the important decision board members need to make is who they want overseeing Knoxville Prep.
“They have a strong application, they have a history and so ultimately they will get approved whether here or there and they will get probably in the neighborhood probably of around a million dollars of Knox County schools taxpayer funded money,” said Triplett. “So we get the choice of whether we want to have oversight of that money and those students or whether we want the state to take that.”
