CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board members voted no on two charter school applications during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Although the Charter Review Committee recommended approval of one of two charter school applications in a board meeting two weeks ago, board members didn’t line up with the committee’s recommendations.
American Classical Academy Montgomery and Oxton Academy Charter High School both submitted amended applications to the CMCSS Charter Review Committee after their initial charter school applications were rejected in April. With those amended applications, Oxton was recommended for approval, and American Classical was recommended for denial. But the School Board rejected both.
Dennis Pearson, a spokesperson for American Classical Education, was not happy with the decision and said in a statement to Clarksville Now that an appeal is in the works.
“American Classical Education (ACE) is disappointed by this news and intends to appeal to the state’s Public Charter School Commission as we do not believe that this decision represents the best interests of the many parents in Montgomery County who have voiced their support and desire for a classical charter school option within this community,” Pearson said.
Pearson said ACE is confident offering a free public school option within Clarksville-Montgomery County will demonstrably help the citizens of Clarksville as they look for real solutions to deal with the current population growth and considerable overcrowding in existing schools.
American Classical is affiliated with Hillsdale College, whose president recently made comments in front of Gov. Bill Lee criticizing public school teachers that have drawn fire in recent weeks. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn was recorded saying, “Teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.”
In response, the Rutherford County School Board rejected the Hillsdale charter application on Monday. Another Hillsdale-affiliated charter was rejected in Madison County. That makes Montgomery County the third system to reject a Hillsdale-affiliated charter school.
“ACE is committed to providing students and parents of Clarksville-Montgomery a content-rich educational model with an appreciation for beauty and reverence for truth,” Pearson said. “Narratives attributing anything other than these aims to ACE are deliberately false and seek to undermine the choices the parents of this community so richly deserve.”
Chris Smith contributed to this report.
Correction: American Classical Education, a Tennessee organization, uses the American Classical curriculum, which is sponsored by Hillsdale College. This report has been updated,