The public charter school operator Prep Public Schools is looking to replicate the success of Chattanooga Preparatory School with another all-boys charter school that just opened its doors for its first school year last Thursday.

Katherine Bike (District 4) accused Chattanooga Prep Sophomore Theo Pedro Orozco of being a pawn for Knox Prep supporters when he referred to his mother as "illiterate" during a hearing earlier in the week. Orozco was among the group of Chattanooga Prep students who made the drive to Knoxville to speak in support of Knox Prep.

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 education chair of the Chattanooga NAACP wants her organization’s Knoxville branch to reconsider its opposition to 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 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.

School districts across the state received 23 letters of intent this month for applications to open new public charter schools next year. That’s the first step potential charter operators must take before submitting their formal application by February 1, 2023.The letters of intent include proposed schools in four counties that do not currently have public charter schools and they’re coming from both existing charter operators in Tennessee and those who were rejected this year.