Hillsdale president’s comments insulting, but not reason for charter denial in Clarksville-Montgomery County

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A recent Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board decision to deny a charter school application was not based on the controversy surrounding comments by the president of Hillsdale College, said Herbert Nelson, board chairman.

But those comments were certainly insulting, he said.

Three charter applications from schools affiliated with Michigan-based Hillsdale College were denied in Middle Tennessee just weeks after that college’s president made disparaging comments about teachers.

Hillsdale President Larry Arnn said, while sitting next to Gov. Bill Lee, “The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” Arnn was also quoted as saying, “Teachers don’t have to be an expert to educate a child because anybody can do it.”

Lee has put Arnn in charge of setting up charter schools across Tennessee, with 100 such schools planned.

“(Arnn’s) comments weren’t very kind to our educators, and our educators are the most important commodities in our schools,” Nelson told Clarksville Now. “That’s like if someone were to show up to dinner and call your wife dumb. It wasn’t very kind of him.”

Clarksville votes down 2 charter schools

The CMCSS School Board voted down two charter school application, one for American Classical Academy Montgomery, affiliated with Hillsdale College, and another for Oxton Academy Charter High School.

Nelson said the application from American Classical Academy was denied unanimously, 7-0, not based on Arnn’s comments but because ACAM failed to meet the standards.

“With Hillsdale College, the application did not meet the scrutiny of our community, that’s why it was rejected unanimously,” Nelson said.

He said the decision was based on the committee recommendation and a lack of community support. “I tried to find an email where people asked to have charter schools, and none of the constituents wanted charter schools,” Nelson said.

Anthony Johnson, spokesperson for CMCSS, said an online feedback form was made available for people to provide opinions on charter school applications.

“For the online feedback forms, there were 48 comments for Oxton and 87 for ACAM. Essentially, the comments were nearly 50/50 in support of and in opposition of both charter schools. In general, the majority of comments for both applicants were not specifically about the substance of the applications but about overall support of or opposition to charter schools,” Johnson said.

Nelson said the board had a few other concerns.

“Some of the special education programs (do not require the school) to hold certain classes that other schools are required to, so students could be missing out on some of the things they should receive,” he said. “They can also choose to accept or deny students based on a finite number of slots.”

The other charter school, Oxton Academy sponsored by One-on-One Children’s Services, was voted down 4-3. Voting no were Carol Berry, Nelson, Jimmie Garland and Charlie Patterson. Voting yes were Margaret Pace, Josh Baggett and Kent Griffy.

Arnn tries to explain comments

In written comments to The Tennessean, published July 20, Arnn gave an explanation for his comments.

“Dumb can mean ‘unintelligent’ which I did not mean,” he wrote. “Dumb also means ‘ill-conceived’ or ‘mis-directed’ which is sadly a fitting description for many education schools today.”

Arnn said he was instead railing against the educational bureaucracy.

“Many education schools elevate methods over content as a way for a few to control many. They believe they can engineer society by ‘scientific’ criteria, thereby effectively reducing children to mere subjects of ongoing social experiments,” Arnn said. “More importantly, the education bureaucracy has controlled America’s schools for too long. Consider the current attack to deprive parents of charter school options — depriving them of the educational opportunities they desire and need for their children.”

American Classical Education to appeal

Dennis Pearson, a board member for American Classical Education, told Clarksville Now the board intends to appeal CMCSS’s decision.

In addition to the benefits of a classical charter school education, Pearson said ACE’s board believes the charter school is a good solution to overcrowding.

“Additionally, ACE is confident that 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,” he said.

According to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission website, charter schools can appeal the local school board’s decision, and once the commission makes a decision, it is final. Pearson said the Charter Commission has 75 days to render a decision after an appeal is filed.

In 2021, three charter schools submitted appeals to the commission: Academy of the Arts Charter School, Nashville Classical II, and Rutherford Collegiate Prep, according to the DOE website. Of those three, TPCSC approved two, overriding the local school boards’ decisions.

“To overturn a denial of the local board of education, the Commission must find that the application meets or exceeds the metrics outlined in the Tennessee Department of Education’s scoring rubric and that approval of the application is in the best interests of the students, the LEA, or the community,” Pearson said.