Amy Frogge is an elected member of the Metro Nashville school board. She is a lawyer and a parent. In her first election, she was outspent overwhelmingly by corporate reform forces, although she was unaware of their push for privatization. In her second election, Stand for Children poured huge sums into the effort to defeat her, but once again she won handily.

In this post, which appeared on her Facebook page, she explains why she loves public schools and why her children are thriving in them.


Like many parents, I initially worried about enrolling my children in our zoned public schools, because I heard negative gossip about local schools when we first moved to our neighborhood. But our experiences in local public schools have been overwhelmingly positive. This year, my daughter is a 7th grader at H.G. Hill Middle School, and my son is a 4th grader at Gower Elementary School. They have attended our zoned neighborhood schools since pre-k (my son) and kindergarten (my daughter). Our local schools are Title 1 schools (Gower recently came off the Title 1 list) serving widely diverse populations.

If you have not considered Nashville’s zoned public schools, you really should. These are just a FEW of my children’s experiences in our schools:

My children have taken many educational field trips over the years. My son has traveled to Chattanooga to visit the Challenger Space Center and the Creative Discovery Museum. My daughter has visited the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Discovery Park of America in Union City, TN, and Wonderworks in Pigeon Forge, TN. This year, she is heading to Six Flags for a second time with her middle school band. (Last year, she played at Six Flags over Atlanta, and this year, she’ll play at Six Flags over St. Louis.) As part of this year’s band trip, she’ll also tour The Gateway Arch and Museum of Westward expansion.

Here in Nashville, my children have taken field trips to the Adventure Science Center and planetarium, Traveler’s Rest (to learn about history), the Nashville Zoo, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, and the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall (where they learned about instruments from a symphony member and a Nashville sessions player). They have sung with their elementary school choir at the State Capitol, Nashville City Hall, and the County Music Hall of Fame. They have both studied songwriting in a special segment which brings professional songrwriters to their school to set their songs to music. This year, my children both participated in the Project Based Learning Expo at Trevecca Nazarene University, where my son presented a project on the book “I am Malala” and my daughter presented a project on Samurai.

My children have both performed in a 1950s-60s music revue and in numerous choir and theatrical performances. My son played “The Prince” in “Cinderella” last year at Gower and this year will play “Scar” in “The Lion King.” His drama teacher suggested him for a NECAT children’s show, so he also went to a studio this fall to film a television production.

In elementary school, my children helped hatch baby chicks in the classroom in spring. The teacher that hatches chicks also operates an animal camp each summer at her nearby farm, where children learn about both farm animals and exotics- and also just spend time playing in the creek! My children have also attended other summer camps through the school, including Camp Invention, where they built their own pinball machines and more.

My daughter now plays in three bands at her middle school: the 7th-8th grade band, the Honor Band, and a rock band. She recently participated in a band competition at MTSU and was thrilled when her middle school band won awards. My daughter has learned to play three different instruments and also has been invited to sing solos with her rock band (for which she also plays the piano). She has played soccer, played basketball, and currently runs track at H.G. Hill Middle, where she also serves as a Student Ambassador and gives tours of the school to prospective families.

My children have both participated in numerous clubs at their schools, including robotics/coding (my son can now code games on his own), cartooning club, gardening club, and the Good News Club. In Encore, my daughter built rollercoasters to learn about physics, and my son has extracted DNA from strawberries. My son was excited to learn today that he will soon study special effects makeup in his drama class, and he will also soon participate in the school’s “Wax Museum”: In 4th grade, every student dresses up as an historical figure and shares that person’s story with those who come to tour the “museum.”

My children have experienced ALL of this because of public education in Nashville. They are learning SO much- not only academically, but also about their community and the larger world from their friends who come from many different countries and speak many languages. I believe the education my children have received in our often underappreciated zoned schools rivals any they would receive from private schools in Nashville or the more coveted public schools in more affluent areas of Middle Tennessee. My children are both doing well academically, and they are getting all they need to be happy, well-rounded, and confident.

Public schools rock!

Please support our public schools! Our public school teachers, leaders and staff work hard to serve our children well.