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Charter school application does not pass Knox Co. Board of Education

Board members said they found several deficiencies in the charter school's application. However, proposals to list the reasons it failed also failed.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Thursday, the Knox County Board of Education met to discuss whether they should approve an application for a new charter school — Knoxville Preparatory School.

A motion to approve the school's application failed in a 4-4 vote. Per state law, board members needed to pass a resolution that listed reasons for the application failing to pass. Proposals to list those reasons also failed Thursday night.

KCS now has until May 1, to pass a resolution showing why the original application failed. According to Kristi Kristy, the board chair, if nothing is passed by May 1, Knoxville Preparatory School will become a charter school by default due to "inaction."

"I know there's a process, so if the local school board does not approve, it can go to the state. But we want local approval," said Brad Scott from Chattanooga Preparatory School.

Gary Dupler, the board's legal counsel, also said that the applicant would be able to claim that it was "an improper decision," he said during the meeting.

Board members said they found inaccurate data in the application before the vote.

"The code talks about providing those written reasons why, so the applicant can then take 30 days to submit an amended application," he said. "If there is a denial, there has to be written, objective reasons why."

Jennifer Owen, a board member, said she had some specific issues with the application. She said that the application referenced an opinion article from a Knoxville publication with no source available for data listed. Another part of the application also linked to a "broken URL," she said.

"It lists KGIS as the source of information regarding the location of the school, and sort of implies that region five is a geographic location as well as synonymous with the commission and board of education voting districts too. We know that that's not accurate," she said. "The claim that this is a response to community and demand-need, with no data to support that claim, no meetings of any local neighborhood associations and no survey data also pull that into question."

She also said a hyperlink on that claim goes to a news article where the claim was made, without any data to back it up. She also said that data she sought out pointed to the school serving around 21% of students who were economically disadvantaged in its class, instead of more than 70% like the application said.

Kristy said economically disadvantaged student categories are usually based on applications for aid, and said that there could be explanations for discrepancies in data.

"The numbers don't exactly line up," she said. "The state and federal numbers do line up. The numbers that don't line up are the ones in the application."

Katherine Bike, a board member, said she had a list of reasons why she wanted to deny the application. Some of those reasons included "false information," a "lack of transparency," a "lack of a SPED plan" and a lack of a commitment to accept transgender students.

"I don't feel like being located at the Boys' and Girls' Club is a real long-term plan and I would prefer to see something more concrete. That would give me better feelings about the longevity of this school being in our community," she also said. 

Betsy Henderson invited Brad Scott, the CEO of Chattanooga Preparatory School, to speak about concerns board members had with the application's data.

"We stand behind our data," he said. "Our state report card does not accurately represent us because of certain populations in our school that are not represented in that data because they do not have the documents to show up in that data. Hamilton County Schools sent an email out to you all vouching for our data, standing behind it."

He said that the school is meant to provide parents with a choice in their children's education.

"That's all we're trying to do and ultimately, parents have the choice of whether to send their children to our school or not," he said.

He also said that the school received 75 letters of intent from Knox County parents who said if the school opens, they would send their children to Knoxville Preparatory School.

He also said that a point in a news report that claimed the school performed better than Knox County Schools was only when compared to other schools serving "similar of similar backgrounds and similar demographics."

The board of education decided not to discuss reasons for denying the application during their April 27 meeting as a resolution. They also decided not to submit minutes of the meeting as reasons for denying the application. Both proposals failed in 4-4 votes.

If the reasons for denial are not submitted, then Knoxville Preparatory School will open as a charter school by default. 

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