Rocketship Public Schools Drops Charter Appeal in Nashville to Focus on Rutherford County

NashvilleMiddle TennesseeLocal Education
Written By Sky Arnold

Rocketship Teacher with students (Photo by Rocketship)

Rocketship Public Schools announced Tuesday that it’s only planning to appeal the denial of one of its two proposed new public charter schools.

School board members in Nashville and Rutherford County both voted down applications to expand the charter operator’s personalized learning model earlier this year. Rocketship Executive Director Eric Dailey tells the Tennessee Firefly that his organization is only planning to appeal the narrow 4-3 decision in Rutherford County to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education members denied Rocketship on a unanimous vote.

“Rocketship Tennessee remains committed to expanding access to high-quality public school options for families in both Davidson and Rutherford counties. After careful consideration, we chose to focus our immediate resources on appealing the Rutherford County denial, which we believe offers the greatest opportunity for impact at this time. We will continue to explore opportunities in Davidson County in the future, and our goal remains the same: to work alongside local communities and districts to help every child reach their full potential,” said Dailey.

Rocketship’s Personalized Model

Both proposed schools would have served roughly 600 students in kindergarten through fifth grade with a personalized learning model that aims to provide each child with exactly what they need for literacy and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skill building. Unlike most elementary schools, Rocketship students additionally receive instruction from experts in humanities and STEM, instead of just one teacher.

Rocketship currently operates three elementary schools in Nashville, and one key difference between the proposed expansion there and Rutherford County is the challenge Rutherford County Schools has faced in building schools fast enough to keep up with a growing population.

Board members in Rutherford County denied the application in part because of perceived discrepancies that some wanted to see addressed and resubmitted next year.

Rutherford County School Board Member Caleb Tidwell was among those who supported the application, pointing to Rocketship’s performance in Nashville.

“Rocketship Dream outperformed six of ten Rutherford County elementary schools in the Smyrna LaVergne area,” said Tidwell before voting last month. “Are they ready?  I think that they financially are probably the most ready of the ones that we have had. Their academic record is pretty solid.”

Nashville Public Hearings to Begin This Week

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will be holding public hearings for two other Nashville appeals this week, including The Rock Academy and The Forge School.

Sky Arnold

Sky serves as the Managing Editor of the Tennessee Fireflly. He’s a veteran television journalist with two decades of experience covering news in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Tennessee where he covered government for Fox 17 News in Nashville and WBBJ in Jackson. He’s a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and a big supporter of the Oklahoma Sooners.