Parents tell state board Williamson County Schools are too political

Williamson County Schools have the reputation of being among the best public schools in Tennessee but Wednesday morning a group of parents told the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission that reputation isn’t warranted.Those parents say the district’s schools have become too political and, they have problems with its Wit and Wisdom English Language Arts curriculum.“I have been dismayed to witness the politics that’s creeping into Williamson County public schools where it doesn’t belong and a lot of parents don’t like that and many parents don’t even know it is happening,” said Laura Brugnoni “Looking forward to the educational future of my 4-year-old son I would prefer to send him to a school where this doesn’t happen. ““Wit and wisdom focuses more on political literacy and history lessons and does not incorporate any classical literature,” said Trisha Lucente.  “This year in first grade, the lessons cover suicide, giving up on life, misery, starvation, and abuse of Native Americans and gender fluidity.”Lucente and Brugnoni were among those who spoke in support of Founders Classical Academy of Brentwood at a public hearing for its charter application appeal. Williamson County Schools denied the school’s application in July and administrators appealed to the charter commission to overturn that vote.Multiple parents say the proposed school would allow them to feel comfortable returning their kids to a public school.“We moved to Williamson County four years ago because of the school district specifically. Sadly, we ended up pulling our daughter from the district in December of 2020,” said Edina Kishonthy. “Our decision to remove her from public schools was the end of a long process realizing that the stellar reputation of the Williamson County school district was a mirage.”Two organizations, Del Rey Education and Responsive Education Solutions, joined together to apply to open Founders Classical Academy of Brentwood and a related public charter school in Hendersonville that’s also under appeal.The public charter school in Brentwood would serve up to 618 students next year and eventually grow to serve as many as 906 Kindergarten through 12th grade students with a classical education model curriculum focusing on:

• Civility and self-government are clearly taught through all course content.
• Core and Fine Arts curriculum is knowledge-rich and built around the belief that there is a common body of knowledge that all members of society should master.
• Emphasis is placed on minds-on learning and fosters a spirit of inquiry.
• Literacy is taught through explicit phonics, traditional grammar, and composition.
• Logic and rhetoric are emphasized in the middle and upper school grades.
• Greek and Latin root words are taught in 3rd grade through 6th grade, and Latin begins in 7th grade. Students will take at least two years of Latin.
• Math and science are pursued for knowledge, and not merely for their practical applications.
• Literature and history are rooted in primary sources and great books.

Del Rey Education Board Treasurer Mitch Emoff told the charter commission Williamson County Schools wrongfully denied the charter application and incorrectly determined 7 operational categories including insurance, transportation, and food service as not being met by the proposed school.“We know that the LEA (Local Education Authority) is very inexperienced with charters and for that reason we feel they came to the wrong conclusion about our charter application.  The LEA has not had a charter and they’ve only had one charter application in the past,” said Emoff.  “In the scoring rubric we feel like they were adding up scores without weighting and other things.”Representatives from Williamson County Schools were not able to attend the public hearing and will instead defend the decision to deny Founders Classical Academy of Brentwood at a meeting next month.The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission plans to decide appeals for the Founders Classical Academy of Brentwood and the Founds Classical Academy of Hendersonville in a meeting October 17.