KIPP Nashville Public Schools celebrates 20 years of serving students

KIPP Nashville students singing at Tuesday’s celebration (Photo by Sky Arnold)

KIPP Collegiate High School Senior Tomontae Morrell says he was nervous when he first enrolled in a KIPP school as a middle-school student. The public charter school offered a new education model and new expectations, but Morell says the staff made him feel like he belonged from day one.

KIPP Collegiate High School Senior Tomontae Morrell speaking at Tuesday’s event (Photo by Sky Arnold)

“My teachers, my coaches, this community they all saw potential in me before I could even see it in myself,” said Morrell. “At KIPP, success isn’t just about grades. It’s about character, leadership, and resilience. It’s about pushing forward no matter what.”

Morrell says he learned those qualities in the classroom and on the hurdling track where he grew from struggling to get over the hurdles to “flying over them.” He’s since competed at state in the 110-meter hurdles and is a two-time all-American national competitor.

“I did that with determination and dedication, a mindset I learned at KIPP and with a community that believed in me and cheered me every step of the way,” said Morrell.

Morrell’s success story is one of thousands KIPP Nashville Public Schools has been helping make each year for the last two decades.  The public charter school operator opened its first school, KIPP Academy, with one fifth-grade class in 2005. Today KIPP Nashville operates nine schools serving 3,417 students and employing a staff of more than 450.

The charter operator celebrated its 20th anniversary with students, supporters, and community leaders at an event Tuesday that included a look back from KIPP Nashville Executive Director Randy Dowell who helped found that first school.

Thirteen of KIPP Nashville’s initial class of students (Photo by KIPP Nashville)

Dowell said to launch KIPP Academy, staff had to clean and paint rooms in the Highland Heights building themselves and some even drove to Atlanta to pick up desks for students.

“When we started, we had a big idea. We had a mission. We had a can-do spirit, and we had a willingness to work hard and to learn,” said Dowell. “In those days we had a deep belief that every child should have access to receive an excellent, free public school education with high standards and high expectations. We taught academics and character skills, and we wanted to develop the type of well-rounded individuals who would succeed not only in college but in life beyond. That is still our approach today.”

KIPP's growth and success

KIPP Nashville’s approach has driven its growth and new recognition.

A recent national study found KIPP middle and high school students were two times as likely to graduate from 4-year college as their peers and 97 percent of the charter operator’s seniors this year have been accepted to college.

KIPP Nashville Executive Director Randy Dowell speaking at Tuesday’s event (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Next fall the charter operator will open its tenth public charter school and, in the process, create a second K-12 grade pipeline that allows students to spend their entire education journey at a KIPP school.

KIPP Nashville is additionally expanding its extracurricular offerings.  Last summer KIPP hired its first athletic director and the charter operator is expanding performing arts programs like theater and music.

“Through the pursuit of excellence in arts, athletics, and academics, we can provide even more ways for students to learn and grow into the successful adults that we want to see them become,” said Dowell. “I’m filled with excitement when I think about the next 20 years of KIPP Nashville.”