The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission unanimously approved Nashville Collegiate Prep’s request to continue providing students its community classroom model into high school.The K-8 public charter school organizes each grade into a pod of 4 to 5 classes. Throughout the day students switch teachers within the pod based on their specific needs and strengths, providing teachers an opportunity to more directly focus lessons on the areas students might need help in.

Nashville Collegiate Prep’s (NCP) appeal to open a high school in southeast Davidson County is finding support from those who are still too young to drive. More than a dozen middle and elementary school students submitted handwritten letters to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission in support of the proposed public charter school.“NCP Middle School is already perfect so why not make it ‘perfecter?’” wrote student Aung Du. “Since the school would be bigger, there would be more sports fields. Also, there would be more than just P.E. There would be STEM, art, computer, Robotics, (chorus), etc. I hope you’ll accept to build the high school!”Organizations ReThink Forward Inc. and the Noble Education Initiative would partner to oversee the proposed high school that would serve as an extension of the existing Nashville Collegiate Prep elementary and middle school, but members of the Metro Nashville School Board unanimously voted the application down in July.

Members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education have seen four of their decisions against proposed public charter schools overturned by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. Next week two new proposed schools will make the case to be added to that list.The commission has public hearings scheduled for charter appeals from Invictus Nashville Charter School and Nashville Collegiate Prep High School (NCPHS) on Monday. MNPS board members denied applications from both in July.Under state law, denied applications can appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. Its members have the option of overturning local district denials.

Proposed public charter schools have not found an easy road to approval in Tennessee this year.Local school boards approved just two charter applications, American Classical Academy-Rutherford and the Tennessee Career Academy in Memphis. School board members in Shelby, Davidson, Madison, Montgomery, Robertson, and Maury County denied every other application to open a new public charter school in their communities this year.Six of those applicants are appealing to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission beginning this week. Commissioners have the option of overturning charter application denials and members did just that with three high-quality applications in Nashville last year.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) District 5 school board member Christiane Buggs listed public charter school demographics as one reason why she planned to vote against an application to open Invictus Nashville Charter School. Any parents listening to her comments during Tuesday's board meeting came away with an inaccurate view of who public charter schools are actually serving.