Proposed public charter school with connections to Hillsdale faces questions during application hearing

American Classical Education (ACE) faced questions about the letters of support it provided for a proposed new school at a hearing Friday with the charter review team for Robertson County Schools.ACE provided more than 200 letters of support in its application to open American Classical Academy Robertson.Assistant Director of Robertson County Schools Melanie Dickerson says the district received reports that some of those form letters were signed by people who didn’t fully understand what they were signing.“We received, of course, from a number of individuals that say the form letter was signed at various community gatherings so they could get to their seat or the gym or simply move on without really fully understanding what they were signing,” said Dickerson.The district’s charter review team also had questions about two letters of support that included different information but appeared to be signed with the same name.ACE pushed back on questions about letters, saying the organization got their signatures at multiple locations throughout Springfield where staff discussed their proposed public charter school with parents.“We were trying to give the community parental choice, so our parents were interested in choice. All the people we signed were one person at a time, it wasn’t a signed application,” said ACE board member and commissioner Daryl Woodard. “They signed in front of one or two people and if they had any questions, they were alerted to put it in the meetings we were going to have to answer any questions they had about charter schools.”The questions about letters are the latest ACE has faced following the organization’s introduction to Tennessee last year and its connections to Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn.ACE made moves to distance itself from Hillsdale following Arnn’s controversial statements about teachers but the backlash over those comments led three school districts to vote down ACE’s applications to open schools last year.The organization is returning this year with applications to open public charter schools in five counties including Robertson, Madison, Maury, Rutherford, and Montgomery County.American Classical Academy Robertson would serve an initial 325 students from kindergarten to fifth grade and then expand to include additional grades each year, evolving into a K-12 public charter school.ACE CEO Joel Schellhammer told members of Robertson County’s Charter Review Team that parents have requested the schools the organization is applying to open this year.“We’ve heard from 7,000 families across the state of Tennessee after we received some applications last year for this model in their community. There’s a real demand for the Classical Education model,” said Schellhammer.Robertson County’s Charter Review Team also questioned whether ACE’s proposed school would align with county standards to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities and students who need emotional and social support.ACE administrator Phil Schwenk assured the district that the organization is committed to meeting those expectations.“If you look at the macro of what I’m trying to suggest is that our heart is to serve every child. As we become more aligned with what these concepts are as far as local policy, of course we’re going to meet whatever that expectation is,” said Schwenk. “To me, what I can assure you is that we have a system that’s being set up to make sure that is taken care of and most importantly, that the child is taken care of.”The Board of Education for Robertson County Schools is scheduled to vote on ACE’s application on April 27.If approved, it would be the county’s first public charter school.