PROPOSED PLAN FOR EAST NASHVILLE SCHOOLS
PILLAR: Make choice meaningful. Students remain zoned for school, but transportation is
offered to any school the student attends outside of the student’s zoned school. The current
choice application is bulky and confusing. Parents should be offered a streamlined choice
application. Parents should also be offered a choice consultation to help them make
decisions, but such a consultation should not be required (to do otherwise would be a
massive administrative headache, in terms of both time and money). No action taken by
parent means student is enrolled in zoned school. Choice is offered, but not required.
IMPLEMENTATION: Draft streamlined, unified application for all schools. Line up
application deadlines and forms for outofzone schools, magnet schools, lottery
schools, and charter schools. Apply federal and local funds for transportation. Draft
and implement unified transportation plan.
TIMELINE: Transportation plan begins 2015/2016 school year. New streamlined application
and choice consultations in use during 2015/2016 school year.
PILLAR: Do turnarounds right. At many schools, MNPS has lost the moral authority to
lead. These schools have been struggling for years, but have endured a merrygoround of
teachers, leaders, and administration officials. Doing a school turnaround means three key
things:
(1) An independent examination. MNPS should bring in an independent, objective evaluation
team (either a consultant on contract, or some other team that is not directly controlled by the
Director of Schools or his administrators) to conduct the evaluation and help guide the
turnaround. MNPS administration has trust issues with its administrators and teachers, and
needs to allow an independent, objective voice into the discussion.
(2) An intensive exploration of what problems the schools face. This means selfevaluations
by teachers and administrators; parent interviews; student surveys; and community meetings.
The independent team will help guide this process.
(3) A commitment to meet the needs of the school and the community. Different schools have
different needs. Many schools need wraparound services that they do not currently have,
such as mental health consults and referrals, clothing and supplies centers, dental assistance
and referrals, optometry assistance and referrals, postschool day food options, family
planning services, domestic violence initiatives, GED classes, work training centers, and other
services. MNPS must use wraparound services such as these as a tool to build community
and combat the pernicious effects of poverty. Once the exploration and evaluation has been
done, MNPS must commit the resources to meet the identified needs and the
turnaround plan. Monetary resources should be block grants, with the school retaining
control over their expenditure (with the independent team exercising oversight). Staffing
resources should be offered, but school leaders (with the independent team guiding and
supporting) should be given full autonomy for all staffing decisions.
IMPLEMENTATION: Distribute a Request for Proposal (RFP) by 12/1 for the
independent turnaround team. Use Tribal reports, where available, as a starting point.
Begin staffing up priority and focus schools consistent with their outstanding requests
(which is already happening, in limited fashion). Include community task force reps in
scheduling school and community meetings. Once the turnaround team is
hired/sourced, it should spend approximately 3 months gathering data, and then
implement turnaround plan. Include setaside of at least $10,000,000 in FY 20152016
Budget process for a Turnaround Fund (exclusive of costs of hiring independent
consulting team). This Turnaround Fund will go to pay for establishing wraparound
services, facilities upgrades (if needed), and funding other needed resources. Any
major capital needs should be funded separately, not through the Turnaround Fund.
TIMELINE: RFP by 12/1/14. Hire/source turnaround team by 3/1/15. Data collection during
Spring 2015, analysis in Summer 2015. Turnaround begins 2015/2016 school year, with
continued data collection, evaluation, implementation.
PILLAR: Friendly charter conversions. For any proposed conversion to a charter school,
the charter partner must agree:
(a) To take the entire school at once (not a phasein, or a restart that builds one grade at a
time);
(b) To accept every child at the school currently, and every child zoned for the school;
(c) To “keep every child,” that is, to not push or force out, directly or indirectly, any child
through the use of a discipline system differing from the system used by noncharter schools
in MNPS.
In addition, the parents at the proposed school to be converted must be fully informed of all
aspects of the new school, and how a charter school would differ from the current school.
Such presentation must include full disclosure of all proposed disciplinary measures and
standards for student conduct, as well as costs, if any, expected to be borne by parents that
differ from costs associated with the school asis. This presentation must include time for the
proposed charter school to present, as well as at least one independent group or entity that
has studied charter schools and can present possible alternatives and downsides to the
charter school model. Current parents (and parents with children zoned to attend the following
year) must have an opportunity to vote in favor of or against the conversion. Conversion
should only occur with a majority (or more) "yes" votes.
IMPLEMENTATION: Begin scheduling school meetings re: charter conversions
immediately, so that those plans can be put in place in early 2015. Presentations and
school votes to occur no later than March 2015. Conversions, if any, will occur during
the 2015/2016 school year.
TIMELINE: School meetings begin immediately. Presentations/votes no later than 3/1/15.
Conversions, if any, occur for 2015/2016 school year.
PILLAR: Examine consolidation, repurposing of resources, and pathway changes. East
Nashville is growing, and as these plans take effect, enrollment will grow. MNPS needs to
think strategically about its facilities, and make sure that it does not let go of buildings that it
will need in the future. At the same time, MNPS should examine ways to convert currently
underenrolled schools in a fiscally responsible manner, while keeping in mind the longterm
trends. This process should look at demographic data, location, parent preferences, etc. It
may mean consolidating two underenrolled schools, and using the older facility to jumpstart
a new magnet, GPZ school, or PreK facility. These decisions should be made in tight
coordination with the community task force. Any school closure, consolidation, or
repurposing cannot happen until submitted to comment by affected parents, heard and
discussed during at least 3 public meetings, and submitted for approval by the community
taskforce.
IMPLEMENTATION: Put this task to the community task force, and distribute surveys
throughout East Nashville to all parents (not simply currently enrolled MNPS parents)
to gauge how enrollment might change/grow with different plans and schools. Include
the possible creation of three key pathways in East Nashville: STEM/STEaM, KIPP, and
Paideia.
Any pathway changes must be submitted for comment to affected parents downstream
(i.e., changes to middle school pathways must be submitted to parents whose children
are in the pathway elementary schools), must be discussed during at least 3 public
meetings of the affected parents/community, and must be approved by the community
task force. Any such changes should not take effect until 2016/2017 school year
(allowing parents time to prepare).
TIMELINE: School meetings and task force work during 2014/2015 school year.
Recommendations announced by 6/1/15, with notice to parents during 2015/2016 school
year. Any closures, consolidations, or repurposing take effect during 2016/2017 school year.