Commentary: Metro Nashville Public Schools fails students, gaslights over charter schools

MNPS Board of Education chambers (Photo by MNPS)

Across Nashville, families are waking up to a painful truth: The public education system that’s supposed to serve all children is too often more invested in maintaining power than producing outcomes.

Nowhere was that more evident than at the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) board meeting on June 10, when two high-quality public charter school applications were denied — yet again — with no real explanation and no accountability.

Nashville PROPEL Executive Director Sonya Thomas (Photo by Sonya Thomas)

As the Executive Director of Nashville PROPEL — a parent-led organization advocating for educational justice — we came prepared. Parents filled the room, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, with clarity, passion and lived experience. What they were met with, however, was disappointing and familiar: board members gaslighting families, dismissing concerns and falsely claiming that no one had tried to engage them.

Let’s be honest: This wasn’t about school quality. These applications weren’t denied because they lacked academic rigor or sound planning. They were denied because they represented a shift in power — from systems that fail children to families who are demanding something better.

In Nashville, choosing a charter school is often an act of survival, not preference. And those who challenge the status quo are often punished for it.

Several board members used the public meeting to promote a dishonest narrative about how well the district is performing. But parents see the truth in their homes and in their children’s homework: Far too many students are not reading on grade level, and too many schools remain stagnant.

To suggest that everything is fine is not only misleading. It’s deeply disrespectful to the families who live this reality every day.

In 2024, Nashville PROPEL launched a citywide data transparency campaign and released a comprehensive white paper highlighting literacy gaps and equity concerns. We formally requested meetings with MNPS central office staff and superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle to share what we were hearing from parents on the ground.

Yet again, our efforts were met with silence, broken promises and delays — this time from the district’s own Chief of Staff. This pattern of avoidance isn’t new. It’s normalized.

Board Member T.K. Fayne asked why people hadn’t reached out to discuss concerns. The truth? We have. I’ve rescheduled meetings with Fayne several times due to cancellations on her end.

I’ve personally invited Chairwoman Freda Player to multiple events. I’ve made repeated efforts to meet with Cheryl Mayes, who continues to offer vague commitments without follow-through.

I even asked Board Member Erin O’Hara Block for a simple coffee meeting — with no response. Berthena Nabaa-McKinney also did not respond to my request for a meeting.

These aren’t isolated incidents. They reflect a broader unwillingness to engage with the very families board members were elected to serve.

What the board continues to underestimate is the fierce love and relentless advocacy of Nashville’s parents. We serve families across both systems — 49% public charter and 51% traditional. These parents are not confused. They are not manipulated. They are informed, empowered and passionate. And they are fed up with being ignored.

Many of these families didn’t choose charter schools as a first option — they chose them after witnessing their children fall behind, be overlooked or get passed through a system that refused to be honest about its failures. They chose something different because they had to. And now, they fight not just for their own children, but for every family still stuck in a cycle of limited options.

To deny that passion, to erase that experience, to pretend those voices don’t exist is a betrayal. A betrayal of trust, a betrayal of equity, and most important, a betrayal of the very children this board is supposed to protect.

We still believe in the possibility of partnership. We believe that public charter and traditional schools can be stronger together. But that kind of unity will never happen without courage — without board members who are willing to lead with humility, listen without defensiveness and act with integrity.

The board may have cast its votes. But we are not done. We will continue to speak. We will continue to organize. And we will continue to fight. Not out of anger — but out of love. Because our children are not bargaining chips. They are not a distraction.

They are our legacy, and we will never stop showing up for them.

Sonya Thomas is a native Nashvillian, mother of four and the founding Executive Director of Nashville PROPEL (Parents Requiring Our Public Education system to Lead). Since 2019, she has led a powerful movement of parent advocates demanding educational equity, accountability and high-quality public school options for Black and Brown children.