The proposed charter school, HOPE (Hands-On Progressive Education) Academy, is Blount County’s current hot potato. First a little background information:

In response to the decision to close  Fort Craig School of Dynamic Learning, a group of concerned parents and community members established Innovation Education Partnership, Inc.  IEP, in turn, has applied to open Tennessee’s first suburban charter STEM school, HOPE Academy.  The partnership’s website serves to provide their vision, purpose, and information about STEM schools.  IEP has applied to open the academy in Fall of 2012.

• Proposal for HOPE Academy

IEP’s applications have been denied by the Blount County Board of Education on the grounds that  – in a system that has eliminated 22 positions and $1.7M of operating expenses,  and is operating with a $5.9M budget deficit — the school would have a substantial negative impact on the system’s budget. IEP appealed the school board’s decision and the Tennessee State Treasurer found that the school board had not proven HOPE Academy would provide an undue fiscal burden on the system.  The Tennessee State Board of Education received presentations from both sides November 29, 2011 and agreed to proceed to a final hearing to be held December 19, 2011. 

• HOPE Academy’s Presentation to the Tennessee State Board of Education
• Blount County School’s Presentation to the Tennessee State Board of Education 

Tennessee Charter School Association’s Executive Director, Matt Throckmorton, states that many of the state’s charter schools are performing well and that “about half of them are accelerated, and the other half are performing as well as neighborhood schools. We also have several *outliers. Some are hitting it out of the park, and a couple aren’t doing as well.”  He further states that only two of Tennessee’s charter schools have been closed since the first opened in 2003.  One closed for failing to meet academic benchmarks and the other closed for financial reasons.

However, Blount County Education Association President, Grady Caskey, states Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) 2009 report, “Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States” found that only 17% of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools; 37% of charter schools showed gains that were worse than public schools; and, 46% of charter schools demonstrated no significant difference.

Now that you’re (hopefully a little better) informed, this is what is referred to as the “Call to Action”:

Whether you’re for or against HOPE Academy, Gary Nixon, Director of the Tennessee State Board of Education, needs to hear from you before 5:30 p.m. EST, December 6, 2012.   Mr. Nixon’s contact information is:

Instructions for logging on to listen to the conference call for the final hearing will soon be available on the state board’s website at http://www.tn.gov/sbe.

Finally, if you would like more information about schools in Blount County, please visit my About Blount County page.  As always, I welcome your comments on this issue, including additional information and corrections.

* I had to look up the word ”outliers”.  It means: an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data