The Metro Nashville School Board approved new changes to the district safety policy Tuesday night in response to school safety legislation signed into law by Governor Bill Lee last May.The biggest change is the formal establishment of district “existence of threat” assessment teams to develop intervention-based approaches to prevent violence and manage reporting of potential threats.“This is a new policy for MNPS, even though we do have threat assessment teams,” said Director of Board of Education Relations and Management David Sevier. “It just codifies having threat assessment teams at a district level. We also have other threat assessment teams that assemble, when necessary, at school levels.”The director of schools will appoint each member of the team. Those members will also document behaviors and incidents that pose a risk to school safety or resulted in intervention.

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.

Public charter schools haven’t exactly received the warmest of welcomes from the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education in recent years, but Dr. Brenda Jones hopes to change that Tuesday night.Dr. Jones’ proposed Invictus Nashville Charter School is one of three charter applications board members will be deciding whether to approve. The board denied all three in the initial round of the approval process last April. That vote followed a similar denial of every proposed public charter school the year before.Jones hopes Invictus Nashville will find an easier path with its education model that focuses not just on academic outcomes, but social and emotional outcomes, opportunities for students to direct their education, and help students figure out what they want to do and what they can do to pursue their goals.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) selected Christine Tran to represent her fellow MNPS students on the school board next year. Tran is a rising junior at the soon-to-open James Lawson High and former student of the recently closed Hillwood High School.

The approval process for proposed new public charter schools is about to begin its second round for school districts across the state.Four school boards will be voting on amended applications this month from nine public charter schools that were all denied in the spring.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) has launched a “Back to School” webpage to help families prepare for the new school year that begins August 8.“The morning rings August 8, welcoming students, teachers, and staff in schools across the district - ushering in a traditional and exciting start of a new academic year. We are so glad we'll be back together,” wrote MNPS.In addition to having information to help get families and students ready for back-to-school season, the page provides information and resources for enrolling students, COVID protocols, and transportation.

Members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education plan to consider using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding approved for COVID expenses, to address an inequality in pay raises for teachers.Last week Metro Council approved a 6 percent cost of living (COLA) raise for Metro employees but the budget only included a 4 percent COLA for school district employees.

The path that Pathways in Education (PIE) takes its name from began decades ago with the challenges organization founder John Hall faced when he was in school.Hall has a learning disability and couldn’t read until the age of 13. 

Metro Council approved a 6 percent cost of living increase for Metro Nashville employees Tuesday night, but teachers won’t be receiving the same amount. The council’s $3 billion substitute budget only included the 4 percent cost of living raise for Metro Nashville Public School employees that Mayor John Cooper proposed last month.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Director Dr. Adrienne Battle unveiled the district’s new plan to keep students safe during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.Battle says that plan involves strong collaboration with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to help implement safety protocols and prepare faculty, staff, and students for different scenarios.“As we know, the impetus for this current discussion was a tragic shooting that took place in our community at the Covenant School which took the lives of three young children, three administrators, and the shooter. My heart goes out to the victims’ families, and we stand with the Covenant community in making sure they have the tools and the resources needed for the long road to recovery,” said Battle.

The candidates vying to become Nashville’s next mayor finally answered a question about how they plan to improve education.During Monday’s televised debate, Fox-17 anchor Scott Couch asked candidates how they’d approach struggling test scores if elected.“Metro Schools get the lion’s share of every dollar in the Metro budget, yet our students continue to score below the state average on standardized tests. What do you think the answer is to improve student performance?” asked Couch.Previous televised debates have largely ignored school issues despite independent polling that found more than 21% of likely voters consider candidate’s positions on education to be the most important quality they’re looking for.

Games have a way of expanding the world around us by introducing worldbuilding, writing, art, and fantasy.For Knowledge Academies senior James Loc, the game Skyrim expanded his world and his future.“I love Skyrim,” wrote James Loc in his Choice Champions Scholarship essay. “I remember back in 2012 coming home from school, turning on the television, and spending the rest of my day immersed in a world of might, magic, and dragons. I loved how there was an entire universe held within the television, and I mean literally. Like many children who grew up playing video games, or consuming any form of entertainment, I truly believed that everything shown actually existed somewhere in the universe, or at least inside the television. I clearly remember peeking into the speakers of the television every time I shut it off, hoping to see the characters or creatures inside unwinding and relaxing after a session of quests and adventures, all to no avail.”Loc was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Asian immigrant parents who came to the states to make a better life for themselves and their family. Two months later, the family decided to escape the cold weather and move to Antioch, Tennessee where Loc eventually enrolled in public school.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) reported a welcome increase in scores from last week’s retake of the English language arts section of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP).More than 20 percent of Nashville third-graders improved their scores on the retake including 11 percent who achieved proficiency and 10 percent who moved from “below” proficient to “approaching” proficiency. Students who tested proficient no longer need summer school and/or tutoring to advance to fourth grade under the state’s Third-Grade Retention Law.The Tennessee General Assembly passed the new law in 2021 to ensure students who showed a need for additional support in reading on the TCAP in April receive it before being promoted to fourth grade.The retake test is one component students who tested below proficiency on the TCAP can use to advance to the fourth-grade along with summer school programs and/or fall tutoring.  Some students are exempt from the retention law because of a disability or other factors and others will qualify for an appeal from retention.

Nature isn’t just a part of the name of the Tennessee Nature Academy or even just a component of the new public charter school’s curriculum.When the academy opens in August, students will have a true nature-based classroom in the woods next to their school in Nashville’s Caine Ridge community.

The Tennessee Department of Education says four of five third-grade students in the Jackson-Madison County School System (JMCSS) failed to meet the testing threshold to advance to the fourth-grade. That’s the eighth lowest in the state and behind other large school districts including Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Director Dr. Adrienne Battle laid out the district’s $1.2 billion spending plan to raise salaries, provide universal free lunch for students, and address problems with the substitute teacher system to members of the Metro Council Budget& Finance Committee.

A new poll of likely Davidson County voters found strong support for raising teacher pay, even if that meant raising taxes.More than 56 percent of those polled said they’d support an increase in property taxes to pay for teacher raises. Just under 32 percent said they wouldn’t support a tax hike.

The proposed 2023/2024 budget for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) includes pay increases for school administrators, universal free lunch for students, and increased funding for classroom associates to address problems with the district substitute teacher system.

Two years ago, Dr. Ricki Gibbs featured prominently in WPLN’s Peabody award winning series the Promise, in an episode that contrasted two East Nashville public elementary schools that couldn’t be more different, despite their close proximity.