Rutherford County School Board Rejects Classical Education Charter School

Image Credit: American Classical Academy

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

The Rutherford County School Board voted down an application by American Classical Academy to open a charter school in the Murfreesboro area on Monday night in a 6-1 vote.

American Classical Academy (ACA), affiliated with Hillsdale College, sought to open a privately operated charter school in the area that focuses on classical education, that according to their website, would “develop within its students a foundation of virtue and knowledge by delivering a rigorous, classical, liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the rights and duties of American citizenship.”

NewsChannel5 reports that Rutherford County School Board chair Tiffany Johnson stated that the individuals who operated American Classical Academy have privately attempted to distance themselves from Hillsdale and the recent comments made by the school’s president Larry Arnn, but representatives from ACA chose not to appear at the school board meeting to speak.

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The snippet of the quote in question by Larry Arnn, “…dumbest part of the dumbest colleges…” was taken out of context and turned into headline fodder across the state and nation and has outraged many Tennessee teachers.

Johnson told NewsChannel 5, “The comments that were made by the president of Hillsdale were deeply egregious,” and went on to defend Tennessee teachers against the perceived slander.

Johnson stated that she was willing to give ACA the opportunity to address Arnn’s comments, and to further distance themselves from Hillsdale’s president, but they were a no-show.

American Classical Academy has the right to appeal the school board’s decision by appealing to the Tennessee Public Charter Commission that has full authority to override local school boards.

Rutherford County School Board did, however, approve another charter school, Empower Academy to open a school in the Smyrna-La Vergne area in Fall 2023.

According to Empower Academy’s website, the school will utilize a “highly structured, positive-skills based approach to engage students in a blended learning based curriculum. Empower Academy also encompasses an evidenced-based social and emotional skill building program to help your child achieve their maximum success.”

Empower Academy focuses on students with special needs, which, according to reports, is one of the factors that led a review committee to reject ACA’s application.

According to the review committee, ACA’s application lacked appropriate detail about how the school would serve special-education students and English language learners.

ACA amended its charter application to further distance itself from Hillsdale College, but the reviewers decided that the separation “appears to be superficial.”

The reviewers wrote, “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.”

American Classical Academy also submitted an application to open a charter school which is to be heard by the Clarksville-Montgomery County school board.

Madison County school board voted down a similar application in Jackson last week.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com