All six applicants who sought to open new charters schools in Nashville will have to wait another round.
The Metro Nashville Board of Education voted Tuesday night to disapprove each of this year’s charter school candidates, as members followed the recommendations of Alan Coverstone, the district’s director of charter and private schools.
“Anybody whose built an organization or ever worked in a school knows that it takes a lot of work,” Coverstone said. “So, it’s not a negative judgment on the work they’ve done so far, it’s just a need to do more work.”
Metro school officials have moved the district’s next charter school application deadline to April 1, as opposed to the traditional October deadline. If approved during that cycle, accepted charter schools would open in 2011.
The applicants rejected this time around can apply again, Coverstone said, adding he’s willing to work with each of them to improve their candidacies.
Proposals, which ranged from single-gender to science-based, made up the first round of applicants following the state’s passage of a new law that opened charter enrollment to more students, while raising the number of charter schools permitted in Davidson County to 20.
The six applicants were:
21st Century Learning Academy, a middle school for 5th-8th grade students
Drexel Academy, for K-8th grade students
Metro Prep, an all-boys school for K-12th grade students
Nashville School of Science and Technology, a middle school for 5th-8th grade students
New Vision Academy, an affiliate of Intervention Inc., a middle school for 5th-8th grade students
Smithson-Craighead High School, which would have operated alongside Smithson-Craighead’s elementary and middle schools, already in Nashville