Chattanooga NAACP leader encourages Knoxville NAACP to reconsider its opposition to public charter school

The education chair of the Chattanooga NAACP wants her organization’s Knoxville branch to reconsider its opposition to the proposed public charter school Knoxville Preparatory School (Knox Prep).Dr. Edna Varner also serves on the board for three Hamilton County public charter schools, including Knox Prep’s affiliated school Chattanooga Prep.Wednesday she wrote a personal letter to the Knoxville NAACP to assure its leaders that Knox Prep will help students of color succeed with a high-quality education that may not currently be available.“We still have skeptics about charter schools here.  When I am asked why I support them, I share what I am sharing with you---I see students of poverty and color achieving at high levels in public charter schools just as they do in public magnet schools (when they can get in) and schools in the most affluent neighborhoods. I see our students discovering their amazing talents, and regularly meeting with local leaders who encourage them to see their future selves leading Chattanooga to higher levels of prosperity and inclusivity,” wrote Dr. Varner in the letter.Dr. Varner’s letter is in response to a letter written earlier this week by Knoxville NAACP President Rev. Sam Brown to the organization applying to open Knoxville Prep.Rev. Brown asked PREP Public Schools to withdraw its application because he fears it will pull resources away from nearby traditional public schools.“We understand that you seek to do good,” wrote Rev. Brown. “Any good your charter school would do will come at the expense of serious harm to the children in the donor public schools and to the communities around those schools.”Knox Prep is the only public charter school that’s filed an application in East Tennessee this year and if approved it would be Knox County’s second public charter school joining Emerald Academy.

History of Charter Success         

PREP Public Schools is proposing to serve up to 700 students in an all-boys 6-12 school that would open next year on Irwin Street in the Old North Knoxville neighborhood. Knox Prep is designed to replicate Chattanooga Prep with a similar focus and grade structure.In its application, PREP Public Schools says it’s applying to open a school in Knoxville because of the demand from local families and community leaders.“The school has been intentionally designed to help boys and young men living in the urban core of Knoxville/Knox County,” wrote PREP Public Schools in its application. “For far too many of these students, geography becomes their destiny. They become trapped in a cycle of poor resources, learning deficits, and mounting barriers to academic progress.”PREP Public Schools says it has a history of helping students from similar backgrounds succeed at Chattanooga Prep.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.Dr. Varner is convinced Knox Prep can accomplish something similar for students in Knoxville.In her letter, Dr. Varner admitted that she was once “anti-charter” but changed her mind after talking to supporters of public charter schools.  She says Chattanooga’s six public charter schools are succeeding in partnership with traditional public schools to offer a better education to students of color and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.“Now our district is curbing the flight to private schools with outstanding, high achieving public schools in neighborhoods with easy access for poor families of color, accepting children on a first come, first serve basis, recruiting community leaders to mentor our students and volunteer in the schools, and using local philanthropy to provide opportunities that only the most advantaged students in our city have experienced in the past.” said Dr. Varner. “I am asking those who read this letter to learn more about public charter schools and how they partner with the district to serve all children well.  I am asking you to spend a day or even an hour in a public charter school in Chattanooga to see what’s possible when everyone in the school has high expectations for every student.”