State charter school commission hears pros, cons at ACA appeal hearing in Jackson

Following American Classical Academy's appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission after its application for a charter school was denied by the Jackson-Madison County school board members in July, representatives from both ACA and JMCSS sat before the commission on Monday morning to present their respective cases.

JMCSS denied the preliminary application in a 7-1 vote on April 27 and subsequently rejected the amended application in a 5-1 vote on July 25, citing 74 reasons for the denial. ACA had 10 days following the July 25 decision to appeal the board's denial to the state charter commission.

The commission will have the final say in whether the appeal is reversed or upheld and is scheduled to vote on it at its Oct. 5 meeting.

In the event that the JMCSS denial is upheld, ACA would therefore be ineligible for further appeal.

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The commission's Executive Director Tess Stovall led the hearing, commencing the discussion by disclosing that the responsibility bestowed upon the charter commission by the General Assembly is taken "very seriously."

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission was created by Public Chapter 219 of the 111th General Assembly.

According to Stovall, ACA's appeal in Jackson is one of eight "new-start charter school" appeals under examination by the charter commission in the current appeal cycle.

"We also understand that it is our responsibility to ensure that only the best and highest quality charter schools are in operation here in the state," Stovall said.

Opening statements

JMCSS's Charter Review Team began the discussion by detailing how the rubric used for the review process, as established by the Department of Education, determined ACA's application deficiencies.

According to JMCSS Chief Innovation Officer Theresa McSweeney, the review team's findings revealed that 22% of the items on the rubric met or exceeded standards, whereas 78% partially met or did not meet the rubric standard.

Reasons that comprise the 78%, and expressed in opening statements, included the following:

• Lack of clarity in the targeted demographic (school zones, academic performance, etc.) from which the school intends to draw students

• Listing non-schools as East Jackson schools along with data from those schools to determine the charter's proposed location

• Lack of rigor in curriculum in accordance with state standards

• Lack of evidence shown in the process of measuring monitoring, and revising academic goals

• Failure to identify a specific location/facility where the charter school will operate

Joey Hale, Madison County resident and a member of the state's ACE Charter Board, began opening statements on behalf of ACE suggesting that the establishment of a charter would provide additional options for parents.

"I can't help but be adamant about our need for more choices for our community," he said.

ACE CEO Joel Schellhammer explained that the basis for the charter's appeal stems from ACE's understanding that not only does its application meet state standards, but that the approval and inherent establishment of a charter school in Jackson would be in the "best interest of this local community."

Schellhammer rebuked the idea that the ACE curriculum lacked sufficient rigor, noting that its "content-rich" program conjunctively teaches the liberal arts and sciences with moral character development.

Public comment: Those in favor

Public comment allowed two minutes each for a total of 20 speakers, 10 who were opposed and nine who were in favor, to have their voices heard before the commission. Speaker diversity was vast as parents, grandparents, elected officials, and educators alike took to the podium.

One of the application deficiencies cited in the opening statements by JMCSS, was ACE's inability to provide a detailed plan of how technology and computers will be utilized in the classroom with consideration of one device per 17 students listed in the application.

Heather Grisham, a mother of five who recently removed her children from JMCSS to opt for homeschooling, took issue with this sentiment.

"Socrates didn't have a computer lab and his teachings have stood the test of time," Grisham said. "That's what I want for my children.

Jackson resident Londa Rohlfing supported what she described as the "time-tested, high caliber, classical education," an option she believes ACE would provide to area families.

"The option, the choice of an American Classical charter school should be offered to them here in Jackson-Madison County," she said.

Those opposed

County Commissioner Olivia Abernathy, who spoke to the importance of the distinction between intention versus impact and referenced application discrepancies.

"I've read every page of this application and all the resubmissions and what concerns me the most is how far off their stated impact is from their ability to see that through to impact," Abernathy said. "It's not enough to intend to enroll 340 kids or to intend to hold community meetings, you have to actually do it.

"Though they're an outside entity, their stated intent is to value our community, to know our community, and to earn our trust. Yet they got our county name wrong 10 times, cited nonprofits that were in Illinois and standards from the state of Ohio."

During Stovall's period of questioning following opening statements, she asked ACE representatives how their proposed school model in East Jackson was determined and how it would best suit the students who may enroll.

Phillip Schwenk, an ACA principal, explained during the meeting that in identifying a target demographic for the charter, he and a colleague "walked the streets of East Jackson talking to families there about their interest in a school like this," alleging that between 90% and 95% of families they spoke to voiced support for the charter.

City Councilman Johnny Dodd, who serves East Jackson in District 2, spoke in opposition to both the charter school and the supposed community desire for one.

"As a 24-year city councilman, and I've had several meetings within my district, I haven't had one person come to me and say they wanted charter schools in East Jackson," Dodd said, posing the notion that our current school system is moving in the right direction without the establishment of a charter.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: State charter school commission hears pros, cons of ACA in Jackson