Superintendent Threatens To File Suit Against Tennessee Over Classical Education Charter School Initiative

Image Credit: americanclassicalschools.com & Jackson-Madison County School System

The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –

Jackson-Madison County School System (JMCSS) Superintendent, Dr. Marlon King, has threatened to sue the State of Tennessee over the approval of a classical education charter school initiative. 

Earlier this month, The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission overturned JMCSS’s decision to vote against allowing American Classical Education (ACE) to move forward with their classical education model charter school initiative in the district. 

JMCSS denied ACE’s charter school application on two different occasions prior to this decision from the State.

These denials alongside multiple from other Tennessee counties are what drove ACE to finally submit appeals to the State Charter Commission.

In light of the State’s decision, Madison County Commissioner Olivia Abernathy, took to her social media to share her frustration.

“Yesterday, the TN Public Charter Commission voted to overturn the JMCSS School Board’s denial of the ACE Charter Application. I’ve made my opinion very obvious on this matter. But the dialogue in the meeting yesterday was pretty infuriating,” wrote Abernathy. “People who have never set foot in East Jackson spent an hour deciding what the children of East Jackson ‘need’ and apparently decided that was the American Classical Academy Charter School.”

According to The Tennessee Conservative’s source, Superintendent Dr. King has said that he will sue the State to keep this from happening and maintains that he is not opposed to the idea of charter schools, just this one specifically. 

Our source further noted that this stance is inconsistent with Dr. King’s previous stance against charter schools in general.

The superintendent has also allegedly stated that there is a different charter school initiative he wants to bring into the district instead of the ACE initiative, despite the fact that this other charter school has not yet gone through the process of submitting an official application to the school district.

The JMCSS School Board is scheduled to conduct a special meeting today, October 16^th, at 9:30am for the purposes of discussing the Tennessee Public Charter Commission’s recommendation regarding ACE’s plans for the charter school, American Classical Academy Jackson Madison.

During this meeting it is possible that the board will vote on pursuing this lawsuit against the State, which would inevitably take a toll on taxpayer dollars. 

“It will pass and cost us a lot of unnecessary money,” wrote our source who has also called on Jackson-Madison County residents to get involved.

“Please email the JMCSS School Board Members and let them know you expect them to vote NO, and that you will be holding them accountable for their decision if they vote to sue the State at the expense of 100’s of THOUSANDS of our taxpayer dollars to STOP the recently-approved American Classical Education Charter School from coming to Madison County!”

Contact information for Jackson-Madison County School Board Members can be found here.

About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.