New Nashville School Board continues to deny Charter to Great Hearts, defying State order.

Unbelievably, the new school board has continued to defy the State in denying a Charter to Great Hearts academy.

 Nashville school board denied charter for 3rd time
NewsChannel5.
The Metro Nashville Board of Education has - for a third time - denied the application for a charter school.

Metro defies state, denies Great Hearts  
The Tennessean, Sept, 11, 2012,
 In a surprise move, the Metro Nashville school board defied the state’s education power structure Tuesday and denied a controversial charter school for Nashville’s West Side over concerns that it would cater mainly to wealthy, white families.    

The vote was 5 against Great Hearts and four in favor. Here is how they voted: 

Against Great Hearts and voting to defy the State: Amy Frogge, Jo Ann Brannon, Sharon Gentry, Anna Shepherd andChairman Cheryl Mayes

Voting in favor of Great Hearts. Jill Speering, Elissa Kim, Will Pinkston, and Michael Hayes. Apparetly from the Tennesseean story above, Pinkston voted not his conscience but out of fear of State penalties.

We got a better school board in the last election, but not a school board that is good enough. This decision by the board is likely to cost the Metro Schools state funding.  The state has said that if Metro does not grant the Charter that there may be "penalties." Worse than funding penalties, this vote shows that Metro Schools is not very interested in quality education and tells parents who can afford to do so to send their children to private schools or move to better schools in surrounding counties.

While admitting that Great Hearts has a record in other states of providing a great education, there is a concern on the part of some with the School Board, that Great Hearts will not meet the social engineering goals of Metro Schools.  They are concerned that it will not have the appropriate racial mix and will be too white.

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