The Rutherford County School Board in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, rejected the American Classical Academy by a vote of 6-1. The charter school is Art of a chain affiliated with Hillsdale College. Board members were steaming about the derisive comments about teachers and teacher-training colleges recently made by Hillsdale President Larry Arnn. Arnn said in the presence of Governor Bill Lee: “The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” Lee did not come to the defense of Tennessee’s 80,000 teachers or its teacher education programs. He praised Arnn’s “vision.”
Educators across the state paid attention. So did school boards. And that is why a charter school affiliated with Arnn’s college did not get a charter in Rutherford County.
That group is affiliated with Hillsdale College, whose president was recently caught on hidden camera badmouthing teachers and the colleges that train them.
Board chair Tiffany Johnson said the people who would have run the school had privately tried to distance themselves from Hillsdale and those remarks, but they decided not to show up to defend themselves.
“The comments that were made by the president of Hillsdale were deeply egregious,” Johnson told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
“We have wonderful teachers, remarkable educators. We have a fantastic system. What I saw, I didn’t like — and I gave them an opportunity to address them and lay out for us that they were not a part of those comments. So I had a commitment until shortly before the meeting that they were going to be here to address the board.”
American Classical Academy could now appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter Commission, which has the authority to override local school boards.
A review committee had recommended rejection of the application based on a number of factors, including lack of appropriate detail about how the school would serve special-education students and English language learners.
The group amended its application to distinguish itself from Hillsdale College, but reviewers concluded “the separation appears to be superficial.”
“The ties to Hillsdale have become increasingly problematic and heightened our review committee’s concerns of applicant intent due to comments recently made by Hillsdale’s president, Larry Arnn,.” reviewers wrote.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hooray!
I served on the NM Public Education Commission and a local school board for many years. We had to accept or deny charter school applications.
One of the biggest reasons for denying a charter school application was how they were going to properly serve special-education students and ELLs. For many the charter applicant did not understand what it takes to properly educate special-education or ELL students. These will be the students left behind or forced out of the charter school.
My fear of for-profit and non-profit private schools that will not be configured to support the needs of ALL students and will eliminated students who require special attention.
Their so-called solution is to leave all the expensive and difficult to educate to the public schools. However, with ever expanding charter schools and/or vouchers, the public schools have a lot less money to educate the most vulnerable students. Privatization robs Peter to pay Paul.
robs Peter to pay Paul while Paul sits inside the pocket of privatizers like The Koch Brothers’ Industries
Don’t miss this scam from the oh-so-reverend Mike Hucksterbee!!!
Huckabee is a right wing propagandist that pretends to be a pastor. He bought a mansion on the Gulf in North Florida not too far from me. Then, he tried to privatize the public beach in front of his house. Florida law defines the beaches as public property. After losing in court a couple times, he sold his mansion off. No surprise, his entitled self believes that public property should belong to him.
!!!!
He and his daughter, Que Sera Slanders Huckster-bee, are quite the pair.
And be sure not to miss the Mike Huckster-bee guide to
Dumb Stuff I Believe Because It’s in the Bible
Bob…. Huckabee doesn’t live in Tennessee. Why not give this Tennessee community some credit. The story is about the rejection of this Charter scam, not about Mike Huckabee. Why not stick to the topic? Looking for a loophole to target the ‘South’ in general?
Daedalus, this is a story about the arch-fundamentalist Christian nationalist Hillsdale College and its fundie madrassas. The Huckabee story is relevant because Huckabee is one of the premier spokespersons for this fundamentalist Christian nationalist faction.
The “Christian” political agenda at Hillsdale includes conservative Catholics. An internet search of Clarence Thomas and Hillsdale is enlightening.
After working at the Koch’s Heritage Foundation, Clarence Thomas’ wife ran a Washington-based Constitutional Studies Center for Michigan’s Hillsdale College.
The results of an internet search of Leonard Leo and Hillsdale gives further indication that the school has strong association with the other major conservative religion.
Neil Corkery, an ally of Leonard Leo, was reportedly listed on the registration form as accountant for Ginni Thomas’ non-profit, Liberty Central. Neil’s wife, Ann, is one who promotes the bogus claim of anti-Catholic bias as deflection from those who are politically motivated by religious belief. Reportedly Ginni Thomas founded Groundswell with the support of Steve Bannon. Neil Corkery is associated with the Judicial Crisis Network. Media describe Ann and Neil Corkery as helping to “run Catholic Voices USA…(and, in helping) Leo in managing the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.”
Just seeing Tennessee brought the Scopes trial to mind.
I’d bet the farm that before 2023 state legislature bills are filed, EVOLUTION will be on the hit list.
I did a quick skim the backstory the trial contesting Tennessee law banning the teaching of evolution.
Ya gotta love his answer.
“Would you be willing to stand for a test case?” he asked. Scopes agreed. He later explained his decision: “the best time to scotch the snake is when it starts to wiggle.”
Rather relevant to the first non-Shanker charter schools that evolved into behemoth we have today, the exPresident’s 2016 nomination, allowing the gop and candidates to be silent and complicit…
Gosh, a school board in Tennessee does a good thing, and you bash Tennessee? How do you feel dividing the country makes it stronger? Why didn’t you congratulate McMinville for having more sense than many other places?
You are right – the School Board from Tennessee has done a good and bold thing.
I don’t feel dividing the country helps – my point with the quote was rear-view mirror thinking – did we, the united but not always agreeing country push back when we heard divisiveness, blame, and name calling first being spewed in 2016?
Yes – congratulations to a board for stepping up.
And I shared it because I thought it was unintentionally hilarious.
McMinnville is Warren County. This report is from Rutherford County and Murfreesboro, home to Middle Tennessee State University.
Roy, wasn’t McMinnville the county that banned a Pulitzer Prize winning book by Toni Morrison?
Diane: I could not find the reference immediately. Controversy erupted there in an April 6 meeting over some books. In any case, a much more pernicious banning takes place as scripted curriculum is adopted by various counties. One teacher I know had to give up stimulating lessons on the Holocaust and Fredrick Douglas’ Life as a Slave in favor of a sort of milk toast treatment of those issues.
I love the scene in Inherit the Wind in which a reporter asks Darrow, “What’s the matter, Mr. Darrow? Don’t you believe in the Bible” and Darrow answers, “Believe in it? I’ve seen hundreds of them.”
In response to setbacks like these, Hillsdale (it’s a hill in a dale, a dale on a hill; it’s a contradiction wrapped in an inconsistency inside an oxymoron) will get slicker going forward. But it will still have precisely the same values and beliefs and intentions.
Until, that is, the Repugnicans will it all in 2025. Then, all bets are off and the true colors fly.
It’s only a minor setback for the Hillsdale hustlers, and only a moral victory for the welfare of the people of Tennessee and the U.S. Hillsdale needn’t respond. The Tennessee Public (sic) Charter Commission overturns the will of voters in any local elections. That’s part of the magic of monopolists’ manipulation of government. A small group of investors can now privatize and pocket tax revenue with no one to stop them. The commission overrides the citizenry. Hillsdale charter schools could murder someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it. The Rutherford County School Board is to be commended — solemnly.
Even before Mr. Arnn made his comments (which like it or not – weren’t wrong), there wasn’t a single person with the intelligence of an ant that thought the board was going to earnestly consider the application. Of course – their opinion doesn’t matter any more does it – as everyone already knows what the state will now do. Finally – these unfortunate kids stuck in these failing schools on their 3rd generation of failed kids, will finally have an option to choose a safe, successful place to learn and have a fighting chance in the world. The school board is concerned about money. That is it and that is all – of course anyone paying attention already knows this.
Failing schools and money- Ohio’s privatization, a billion dollar boondoggle, ECOT – the state’s Republican Party took money, the right wing Fordham Institute promoted privatization policy and now, there’s not a chance in hell that the taxpayers will be able to recover a dime.
Read Michael Phelps’ chronicle of Fordham posted at the Non-Partisan Education Review. Then, Macon, take your self-serving attack and shove it. At a minimum, money that remains in the community benefits the locals through the economic multiplier effect. What wealthy enclave is hosting the pockets of ECOT’s owner?
Privatizer, Bill Gates and Zuck are investors in a for-profit schools-in-a-box firm whose business model has a 20% ROI. Anybody who buys what Leary is selling is a dupe.
You are funny Linda. Not a mention about a child’s opportunity for a better education – just money. You people just don’t get it. You want to scream about who is making a buck and where the dollars go while the kids in the communities like Detroit, Cleveland, and so many other districts like them in TN are just dying in these pathetic public institutions. Mind you – not a one of the parents getting the chance to provide better for their kids to be successful, give a crap about some dudes ROI model. The Classical educational model outperforms all others across the board. That is a fact sugar. And I got something for you to read pumpkin – Charter Schools and Their Enemies by Thomas Sowell. I know you guys really hate black people that have a different opinion than you, but it is a great book, and it gets into how minorities are getting hurt the worst with these failing public institutions.
I would keep the conversation going but I see my replies are getting deleted. So I will let you guys just continue your echo chamber exchange so nobody’s feelings get hurt. Allow me to leave you with this though, and remember you heard it here first, the floodgates are open!
Macon,
The Detroit Free Press labeled the charter school system in Michigan as brutal to Black students.
You and I can agree that a person who calls a woman, “pumpkin, “sugar” (btw, you left out “baby”) shouldn’t be involved in public policy.
Privatizers, Koch and DeVos, want the colonialism model for the U.S.
When ECOT failed to provide an education, the consequence was to students’ opportunities.
Fish heads fish heads roly poly fish heads. . .
. . . eat em up YUM!
Duane-
Your answer cuts to the chase.
I post em as I see em.
“The school board is concerned about money,” you say. One would hope so with charter thieves on the lurk.
Good point, LCT