CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – It was a yes and a no for two amended charter school applications, the first ones for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.
American Classical Academy Montgomery and Oxton Academy Charter High School both submitted amended applications to open charter schools in the district, after their initial charter school applications were rejected in April. This time, Oxton was recommended for approval, and American Classical was recommended for denial.
Elizabeth Vincent, who is director of Continuous Improvement for CMCSS and serves on the Charter Review Committee, presented the second set of recommendations to the School Board during Tuesday night’s meeting. The board will vote on those recommendations at their next meeting.
Charter approval process
CMCSS serves as an authorizer when an application is submitted to open a charter school. Vincent told board members there are three main principles charter school applicants need to prove proficiency in before the Charter Review Committee will approve them.
“The first principle is to maintain high standards, the second principle is to uphold school autonomy, and the third is to protect student and public interests,” Vincent said.
“We have strived both in our initial application process as well as this amended process to be as open and clear with charter applicants as possible about our expectations about timelines and to provide (charter school applicants) with as much ability as possible to meet those things in a realistic way,” she said.
Vincent said the committee is strict in evaluating the applications to make sure the schools are viable. Charter applications are judged according to a Tennessee Department of Education rubric, then are either graded as meets or exceeds standard, partially meets the standard, or does not meet the standard.
American Classical denied
Vincent said American Classical Academy Montgomery’s application was one the committee would not be recommending for several reasons, including concerns about the scheduling and how the school would build in intervention time for students.
Moreover, however, the school had not yet found a building. “The school could not provide a concrete contingency facilities plan,” Vincent said, noting there was not much progress made since the initial application. Vincent said the only building the school had chosen, the committee did not approve in the initial application.
“The committee felt that was not a suitable educational facility for them,” she said. “Main contingency is to delay opening for a year, until they can find a facility.”
“The position of the review committee was that that burden fell upon the student who (must) change school plans (if) the charter can’t open because they can’t find a facility, and we all felt that contingency is insufficient,” she said.
American Classical is sponsored by Hillsdale College, whose president made comments in front of Gov. Bill Lee criticizing public school teachers that have drawn fire this week.
Vincent also said the school had applied for certain waivers but failed to demonstrate just how those waivers would benefit students.
Oxton approved
Vincent said the committee did recommend the Oxton Academy Charter High School, although there was some concern about the school’s budget.
The school was able to communicate access to additional capital that helped assure the Review Committee that they could receive more financial backing.
Vincent said the committee determined the school would have to operate with immense fiscal scrutiny through the first year.
School Board members will vote on the recommendations at their next meeting, July 19, at 6 p.m. at Central Office, 621 Gracey Ave.