by Aundrea Cline-Thomas
NASHVILLE, Tenn.- When you step foot inside a class at Nashville Prep, you soon learn the high energy environment is integral to its culture. Founder and New York native Ravi Gupta was recruited to come to the city by the Tennessee Charter School Incubator.
"They give support from everything from governance to finance, to curriculum to recruitment and training," Gupta explained.
Before the incubator, Gupta was creating a concept for a school with help from Boston based organization Building Excellent Schools. That's when Mayor Karl Dean got involved.
"Mayor Dean approached Building Excellent Schools and said 'Hey I heard about some of the awesome schools you guys have started around the country. Why don't you guys consider coming down here to start a school,'" Gupta said about the exchange.
Mayor Dean took that same pitch to California, where visited Todd Dickson of Summit Prep Charter High School.
"You could feel the energy, the positive mood of the building when you're in it," Dean explained about the school's environment. "We have that in our Metro schools too but this was really, really impressive."
The success of Dickson's school was featured in the documentary Waiting for Superman.
Now as the newest fellow at the Charter School Incubator, Dickson plans to open eight to ten charter schools in the coming years in Nashville. At Dickson's school in California, 96% of graduates were accepted to four year colleges.
"What is the right thing for our children? How do we offer them the best opportunities? I think charters are in that mix," Mayor Dean added.
However, the influx of charter schools could have a negative impact on traditional public schools.
"If a classroom for instance loses three students they're not necessarily going to close that classroom," Vanderbilt University Professor Dr. Ron Zimmer explained. "They're not necessarily going to lay off that teacher. They still have to educate those students who are left behind with less resources."
Still Mayor Dean said the benefits far outweigh the potential costs and creative planning could bypass them all together. The goal is to give all students a high quality education, and now more than ever charter schools are part of the equation.
The Charter School movement got a late start here in Tennessee. Even with all of the recent and plans to open new schools in Nashville, there are still far fewer charter schools here than many other cities.
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