Nashville Collegiate Prep students urge state board to approve high school expansion

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.The partnership appealed to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to overturn the denial and members plan to consider written comments in their decision next month, including those from students.“NCP is important to me because NCP cares about us mentally and physically, our teachers care about if we are struggling or doing amazing! It’s important to build a high school because NCP has an amazing (Learning) System. NCP has created a smart and happy (community) and we need to expand NCP’s wonderful (community),” wrote student Summer Jackson.The proposed school is designed to serve a large at-risk population of students including those in need of learning support and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It would eventually grow to serve up to 600 students in grades 9 through 12.The expansion would enable Nashville Collegiate Prep to offer additional sports facilities and electives to students and provide innovative art and technology pathways.Commissioners also heard from parents who want the opportunity to see their kids continue at Nashville Collegiate Prep through high school.“I’m so happy with this school (Nashville Collegiate Prep) that I hope we can have the opportunity of having it all the way to High School. I love and enjoy this school. My daughter was attending a MNPS and as a parent I can say that I see the difference 150 percent.   We want this Charter School to continue growing,” wrote Nancy Figueroa.Parents of special needs students also wrote in support of the appeal. Angel Gaddis told commissioners the school offers a safe and engaging environment that allows her child to succeed.“NCP provides my special needs child with a safe and fun educational environment where he can excel in his strengths and work toward reaching goals where he has difficulties. My son scored in the 95th percentile for ELA nationwide while attending MNPS and he was not recognized, congratulated, or encouraged. This year he is at the top of his class so far in ELA and the amazing team at NCP makes sure that he is recognized and has the ambition to continue. This is the kind of environment that I want my child to receive throughout his high school career as well which I do not feel he will receive at the local high schools that are already in place,” wrote Gaddis.Not all written comments to commissioners were supportive of the appeal.Newly elected Representative Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, wrote in to oppose the school. Representative Hemmer reiterated some of the concerns Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) presented in a public hearing on the appeal earlier this month.“I find it concerning that Nashville Collegiate Prep has fallen short of academic, operational, and financial standards outlined in the state rubric, raising questions about its ability to deliver a high-quality education in this district. The fact that both NEI's Nashville Collegiate Prep and Knowledge Academy schools have performance scores mostly below MNPS' data raises questions. There also do not seem to be many members of the community asking for or supporting the project, nor a demonstrated need for additional seats in the area. These issues warrant careful consideration before any expansion plans are approved,” wrote Representative Caleb Hammer, D-Nashville.Representative Hemmer’s comparison of performance scores is not backed up by state testing data.  Nashville Collegiate Prep is located in the Cane Ridge Zone, and it outperformed all seven MNPS run elementary and middle schools in that zone on state testing for English language arts. Just one of those seven schools outperformed Nashville Collegiate Prep in Science and only two outperformed it in Math.Commissioners additionally heard from former ReThink Forward employee SC Bannon who criticized the school’s efforts at working with the Cane Ridge community.“Cane Ridge tried to be involved in the planning of the school,” wrote Bannon. “Their community engagement person refused to meet with any of the community leaders, including the city councilman. They have a horrible reputation in our community. Our community needs high-quality charter schools, but NCP is the perfect example of what a charter school should not be. Approving them weakens the argument for charters.”Nashville Collegiate Prep High School is one of two proposed public charter school in Nashville making appeals to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. Commissioners plan to make a final decision on both next month.