One week remains for Middle Tennessee seniors to apply for more than 160 scholarships

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee is offering students more than 150 scholarship opportunities to apply for, but the application is only available for one more week.The CFMT is a local nonprofit that connects donors with charitable organizations throughout Middle Tennessee and parts of Kentucky. Each year, the foundation administers approximately 160 scholarships to Middle Tennessee students pursuing higher education.

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Despite transportation challenges, Nashville Chamber recommends expanding work-based learning program

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce presented its Education Report Tuesday, citing four specific recommendations for Metro Nashville Public Schools to improve the district’s work-based learning program.The two-year pilot program partners 17 schools with local businesses to provide students with professional career training, an hourly wage, and academic credit.

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MNPS offers families a convenient way to engage in school choice

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) has opened the optional schools application process for the 2023-24 school year.This process provides families and parents with the convenience of being able to select from over 100 open enrollment school options within the district. That includes many public charter schools that are among the highest performing in the district.

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Nashville State Launches Darrell Freeman Fellowship

Nashville State Community College has partnered with BGSF to create the Darrell Freeman Fellowship, an opportunity for students pursuing careers in Information Technology.Through this partnership students who graduate with an Associate of Applied Science degree in programming, networking, cyber security and data analytics will be provided additional certification training and other resources.

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Nashville, Shelby County to appeal court’s dismissal of Tennessee school voucher case

Plaintiffs behind two lawsuits challenging Tennessee’s private school voucher law plan to appeal a judicial panel’s dismissal of their remaining legal claims.Metropolitan Nashville and Shelby County governments, which jointly challenged the 2019 law that applies only to their counties, notified the Tennessee Court of Appeals late last month that they will appeal the latest ruling. Attorneys representing parents and taxpayers in a second lawsuit submitted a separate notice of appeal.

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Nashville celebrates ten years of the Community Achieves initiative

Metro Nashville Public Schools is celebrating ten years of the Community Achieves initiative and its work to positively impact students.Founded in 2012 with 9 schools, Community Achieves has grown to serve 58 schools and nearly 35,000 students. The initiative is led by the district’s Support Services Department to connect students and families to various opportunities and community resources.

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Tennessee could see nearly two dozen new public charter schools proposed next year

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.

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Public charter schools continue to find an easier path in Memphis than Nashville

Last week’s Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education meeting provided yet another example of how differently the state’s two largest school districts choose to work with their public charter schools.MSCS school board members unanimously rejected a proposal to shut down four public charter schools that have been designated as Priority Schools.  Arrow Academy of Excellence, Memphis Business Academy Hickory Hill Middle School, KIPP Memphis Academy Middle, and KIPP Memphis Collegiate Middle all made the Priority Schools List for the first time this year.

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Metro Nashville Public Schools looking for teachers for the upcoming school year

Metro Nashville Public Schools will host a Teacher Recruitment Fair Saturday to recruit certified and permitted educators across all grade levels. The district aims to have recruited teachers in the classroom as soon as January for the upcoming school year.The district says quality educators are needed in several areas, including English Learner teachers and math and science teachers. Candidates eligible to teach with a permit, or those that hold a bachelor’s degree, are eligible and encouraged to apply.

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Tennis Star helps provide another winner for public charter school students

It’s been sixteen years since Andre Agassi retired from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, but he’s still serving up aces in communities across the country, including Nashville.The former tennis star recently teamed up with Rocketship Public Schools to create a third high-quality public charter school in Nashville. Rocketship Dream Community Prep, serves the Antioch community of Davidson County, providing more than 350 K-4th grade students with music-enriched curriculum.

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MNPS doubles down on excluding schools serving historically disadvantaged students from celebration

When the parade begins Saturday morning to celebrate Nashville’s public schools, the students marching will not totally reflect the city’s diverse student population.Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) made the surprising decision to exclude the city’s 30 public charter schools from attending the annual Celebration of Schools and School Options Fair for the first time in its 10-plus year history.

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Titans offer to help Nashville high schools get new athletic fields

Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced a plan Wednesday to provide every district run public high school athletic program with new or improved sports fields.The announcement is part of a $15 million partnership with the Tennessee Titans and the Foundation for Athletics in Nashville Schools, Inc. (The Fans Inc), a non-profit organization dedicated to endowing athletic programming at Metro Nashville Public Schools.

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Financial questions raised for proposed high-quality nature-based charter school

The Tennessee Nature Academy aims to be Middle-Tennessee’s first nature-based public charter school but it’s a different type of green that could cause challenges at next week’s appeal hearing with the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall issued a recommendation against the academy’s appeal, citing a lack of documentation about how the school would acquire the necessary funds to operate and its proposed reliance on per pupil revenue by year three of operation.

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Charter commission executive director provides mixed recommendations for proposed Nashville charters

On Wednesday, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will decide whether Nashville families in Antioch and Southeast Davidson County have new high-quality options for their children’s education.The commission is deciding appeals from KIPP Nashville and Saber STEM Academy to open public charter schools in the area. Those appeals received distinctively different reactions from the commission’s executive director.

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Former Mayor Karl Dean among those providing comments supporting denied Nashville public charter schools

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission received no written comments from the public in opposition to the four charter school appeals members are hearing from Nashville.Commissioners are planning to decide the appeals for KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Elementary, KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Middle, the Tennessee Nature Academy, and Saber STEM Academy of Nashville later this month.

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