001Sorry. Yeah. >> There's still a few folks. >> Yes. Good morning everybody. It is a little after 9. We're going to go ahead and get started. I know there are some folks signing in, but I will start with my opening presentation so we can stay on time. My name is Tess Stoval. I serve as the executive director of the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. I will be the one who's presiding at today's hearing. First, I want to thank uh the representatives from Rutherford County Schools as well as Rocket Ship um public schools for being with us today. We know the length of time that takes for an application process, an application review process. We also know that the appeal process takes on additional time. Um, and so I just want to thank you all for
002your work so far and your commitment to this process. We at the commission take our responsibility when it comes to ensuring that only the highest qual quality of charter schools are authorized in Tennessee very seriously. This is one of six appeals that's currently before the commission. We review and handle each appeal independently um in accordance with the requirements in statute. Tennessee code annotated 4913108 allows a charter school whose amended application has been denied by a local board of education to appeal that decision to the charter commission. So in this case, Runford County Schools voted to deny the amended application of Rock Rocket Ship Tennessee 4 on July the 24th. Rocket Ship then appealed that denial to the commission which we received on August the 4th. Notice of this meeting was posted on the commission's website.
003It was given to both parties. It was also published in the daily news journal on September the 5th and it was given to any individual interested in public meetings of the commission as this meeting is open to the public. Pursuant to statute in an appeal, the commission shall conduct a denovo on the record review of the proposed charter schools application to determine if the local board's decision was contrary to the best interest of the students, the LEA, or the community. To fulfill the commissioner's charge and responsibility by law, in addition to this hearing, a committee of qualified individuals will conduct a denovo review of the admitted application and using the state scoring rubric will independently rate the application. That committee will also conduct a capacity with the proposed governing board to assess their capacity to
004open and operate the proposed school. That committee prepares a report which I then consider in making my recommendation to the charter commission. The charter commission then meets to review my recommendation which will include the findings of this hearing, any public comment that we receive, the review committee's report and a full review of the record which includes all information submitted by the local district as well as all information submitted by the sponsor. Pursuant to commission policy, the commission has to consider my recommendation but they are not bound by my recommendation. If the commission finds that the application meets or exceeds the metrics outlined in the department of education scoring rhetoric and that approval is in the best interest of the students, the LEA or the community, then the commission may approve the charter school. If the
005commission approves the charter school application, then the commission will become the authorizer and the LEA for the school. And that is unless the local board of education and the charter school mutually agree for the local board to be the LEA and authorizer. In this case, the commission will make a decision on the Rocket Ship Tennessee 4 appeal during a meeting on October 16th of 2025. That meeting will be held in Nashville and is open to the public. It will also be livereamed. So information about that meeting, how to watch online, how to attend that meeting will be on the commission's website. I'll start with a quick overview of how the hearing will run this morning. We will begin with opening presentations and both the local board and the sponsor will have up to 15 minutes
006to present. I will then take the opportunity to ask questions of both the local board and the sponsor. We will then move into public comment. So, as previously shared on the agenda, individuals who have registered in advance with the commission will be recognized for public comment. We allow up to 10 individuals speaking in support of approving the application and up to 10 individuals speaking in support of the district's decision to deny the application. Only those individuals who've registered in advance will be able to share their comment today. It is important to note that if we do have an individual who is not here, we cannot transfer slots and we cannot have individuals um read another individual's comments into the record. This is to ensure consistency across all of the public hearings that we conduct. We
007do have nine individuals who signed up to speak today. We have one in support of the district's decision to deny the application and eight who've signed up to support approving the application. When we get to that point in the hearing on a slide, we will list the individual's names who've signed up for public comment. I will call those individuals up and you will come up to this podium. You will be given up to two minutes to give a statement. It is important to note that the commission accepts written comment on any appeal. And if anyone who's giving a public comment here today or if you wanted to give a comment were unable to sign up, we encourage you to submit your comment directly to the charter commission. Information about how to submit a comment um
008is available on the agenda. Um you're also welcome to leave a written comment with a member of the staff today. We will accept comments for the next week on this appeal to be included in my recommendation and the full record on this appeal. After public comments, we will move into closing statements. So, we will first turn to the local board and then the sponsor who will be allowed up to 10 minutes for a closing statement. We are recording this hearing and a copy of this recording will be given to our commissioners in deciding on this appeal. We also are taking notes for our record. So, we are going to begin with opening presentations. I will first turn to representatives from the local board of education for your opening statement and then the sponsor. Um, please
009do introduce yourself for the record as you begin speaking and you will have up to 15 minutes. >> Good morning. I'm Jeff McCann. I'm the coordinator of choice and charter schools here in Rutherford County. We'd like to welcome members of the commission to our facility today along with memberships of the leaders leadership team and support people for uh representing Rocket Ship Schools. Welcome. glad to have you with us today. I'd like to start out simply I first of all I do have to introduce our our newest staff member who's on her fifth day on the job as our new charter specialist. So our office of one is now offered an office of two. So I'm super excited to have Manny Walters with us in support of our charter portfolio. I'd like to start out by
010just reviewing the the evaluation process that Rutherford County went through with Rocket Ship. Um after receiving their initial application at the 1 of February, the appointed committee engaged in a very rigorous um review of that application um to and scored it via the state uh scoring rubric to provide a report to our board. And on April 24th, the uh the RCS Board of Education voted to deny Rocket Ship's initial application again based on the findings of the review committee. On June the 2nd, we did receive the amended application submitted by Rocket Ship Schools and the same appointed committee engaged in the same rigorous review of that um application between June 4th and July 16th developed a report to provide our board. And on July 22nd, that report was presented to publicly at board of education
011work session. And on July 24th at their regular called meeting, uh the board of education voted again to deny the amended application upon which Rocket Ship Schools obviously appealed to the charter commission, which brings us here today. The final resolution drafted by the board of education stated that the applicant Rocket Ship Tennessee number four's amended application to former charter schools hereby denied and the grounds for that denial were the board adopts the findings of the charter review committee concerning the application. So they did agree with the findings that the board or that the charter review committee found. So let's talk about that a little bit. First of all, let's say who was on that charter committee. Here's a list of those that served um in that capacity. I serve as the the chair of that
012committee as I am the coordinator of choice and charter schools. And then we filled the committee with various experts from the central office in different departments including operations of federal programs, special education, accounting, instruction. Uh the committee included two local elementary school principles. uh two parent representatives that were chosen um at random um via a a volunteer parent um survey that was sent out which we had I think around 160 respondents and the two were chosen um at random. And then finally, Francis Rosales, our Rutherford County School Board member who served as a part of the committee per board current policy that requires a member of the board to serve on the review team. Here's the summary that the of the committee presented to the board. They recommended denial of the admitted application for Rocket
013Ship Tennessee because they failed to meet or exceed the criteria of the rubric in three out of the four areas. They were rated as only partially meets the standard for academic planning design, a financial planning capacity, and portfolio review and performance review. Uh the committee did uh state that they met or exceeded the standards for the second one operations plan capacity. Unfortunately, the ratings have to be meets or exceeds for all four in order for us to recommend to the board that they be approved. Uh the board doesn't have to follow that. They they can approve if they wish, but that was the recommendation from the committee because they did not meet or exceed the standards in all four areas in our money. Okay. So, what were those concerns? Why did we say that they
014did not meet uh the standards? First of all, in section one, academic plan and design, we had concerns over the um their four content block schedule and the fact that it was very unclear of the amount of time provided for science and social studies instruction. But if you looked carefully into it, it was only 9 to 18 minutes per day for both of those. Um and they had no additional curricular materials for social studies. Both subjects are to be embedded in their STEM and humanities um blocks. um with no again no curricular separate curricular materials for social studies that would be they said they would teach state standards via their reading curriculum. Now, I understand there is no um accountability at the elementary level for science and social studies technically, but once those students left
015the school and reported to one of our district middle schools, they would then be held accountable for both of those subjects. And we felt like that the uh lack of instruction for science and social studies result in some learning gaps making it very difficult for students to demonstrate mastery for those two subjects at the middle school level. We felt the plan for ELLL services contained a few errors, many of which were corrected between the initial and amended application, but there are still some we felt some inaccurate service levels um indicated. The term modifications we prefer to use accommodations. You can't really modify the curriculum, but you can accommodate, but their plan called for modifications. U some incorrect screening deadlines, and I'll give you an example of that. Um, the plan called for um 30 a
01630-day window to screen any new and incoming students who um whose um response on the home language survey indicated that they might need ESL services, which is in accordance with state law, but the state ESL guide book says that's only for the first 30 days of school. Um, after the first 30 days of school, that window drops to two weeks, 10 school days, and that was pointed out after the initial application, but that was not corrected for the amended application. Uh there's a clear focus on life skills development um with their with their plan, their submitted plan, which may not align with our board of education stance on social emotional learning. To their credit, they did change between the initial and amended application. They changed the wording from social emotional to life skills development. Uh
017but the the plan did not change, nor did the curriculum that they had chosen to use change. So, uh, but our our board has in the past typically not been in favor of social emotional learning being provided in our in Rutherford County schools. Also, we felt like there, uh, the rocket ship education success rates did not match RCS's typical success rate data. So, let's talk about that a little bit. Um, I know that's a question that the commissioner was going to ask about whether or not their data was compared to all Rutherford County schools or just the Smyrna Lever area schools, which is where the school intends to locate. And the answer is yes to both. It was compared to both. This was the statement that was um included in the report that the 23
01824 average success rates for all student group of RCS schools in the Smyrna Lever area were reported as 38.8% 28% for ELA, 40.1% for math. And then the local rocket ship schools report success rates of 20.6 to 26% for ELA, and 10.3 to 39.6 for math, which is quite a widespread. And this information was provided as a part of the recommendation to the board. So, they did see comparison with local schools. Let's delve into that just a little bit more. Here's an overall success rate comparison. Um um and we when we say overall success rate, we're talking about a combination of math and ELA. Uh I have the data for 2324. Um and you'll see that the three local rocket ship schools had success rates of 14% 26 and 31, which is an average of
01922% success rate. The Smyrna Lever school's average was 40. And I did include the RCS average of 50% because our performance frameworks do call for a comparison of their data to overall RCS data. Our performance frameworks do not compare just to local schools. They compare to the entire district. And in our success rates for 2425, I don't have those for the um rocket ship schools. That's not public yet. Um but I do have it for our schools. And it maintained that same consistent pattern of 40% for those local schools, 51 across the district. Another concern they had was the the lack of community support uh in demand for the school itself. Uh you're looking at a a report from the a survey that was sent out to the public uh via email to all Rutherford
020County parents via our school messenger system. It was also posted on our school website, our district website and social media. We received 532 respondents to that survey which was live from February 12th through April the 1st. Um, and of those 530 respondents, 80% answered no to the question, do you fully support the approval of the new charter school application submitted by Rocket Ship Tennessee? Number four, 20% reported to be in favor of that. And that survey itself did contain direct links to the application itself and respondents were encouraged to review that application before they responded to the survey. I know that was one of the questions the commissioner had as well. Along those lines, I think it's important here to look at enrollment trends for that area. That was another question that the commissioner was
021going to ask. Um, and you you'll see here, I think it's easier to see it visually. That's why I put it in the presentation. Uh, right now, Smyrna Lever schools are at 94% capacity, but there are 586 seats still open and available for that area. There are only two schools at or above capacity right now. Lever Lake Elementary and Stewart's Creek Elementary. You'll see highlighted in yellow there. And if we look at forecasted for growth, we typically go with a 3.5% because that is commensurate with what we would typically grow from year to year, which could get the schools to 98%, but there's still about 350 open seats in the Smyrna and Lever school area. Add to that our current charter school enrollment, which was a question I know the commissioner had. You'll take a
022look. Springs Empower and American Classical Academy of Rutherford both opened in 24-25. Springs opened with 171 students. Uh their projection was only 150, but their facility would accommodate more than that. So they were able to enroll 171 in their first year. American Classical only enrolled 202 out of their 340 projected seats. Uh both both schools show enrollment growth for the 2526 year. Springs of Power right now is at 225 with their projection being 250. So they're just a little under projection now. American Classical is up to 358 and their projection is 390. They're just a bit under as well. And you'll see you'll see at their at capacity um numbers 800690. Both schools did add an additional grade for 2526. And keep in mind too we're al we have approved another charter school to open
023in the same area smart academy which is projected to open with 192 students in grades K and one in their first year adding 96 each year thereafter. Okay let's go on to section three the financial planning capacity. The concerns were that the budgeted staff numbers resulted in a higher pupil teacher ratio than 25 to1 which uh the initial application and the capacity interview indicated that that would be their limit 25 to1. However, when the amended application came back uh it stated that they would be requesting a waiver of class size ratios uh which is typical for what they've done at a lot of their other schools. We understand that. Uh but the result would still be classes larger than state pupil teacher ratios which our board is not necessarily in favor of. We were concerned
024that there was no school counselor included in the budget. I know um that typically charter schools can wave that requirement. Um and that's very typical, but um we feel like um in this area of the county, well the first of all, Rutherford County places a lot of importance in the role of school counselors in the building. Um and in this particular area of the county with a high level of students experiencing trauma, um we feel like counselors are a vital component um in schools in our district. Okay. Now, just included as an FYI because the board asked for it. Um, you see our funding the funding impact for year one and year five. They did want to know those numbers, but that there was very little discussion of that of from the board on the
025final voting meeting. So, but they did want to see those numbers and I presented them. So, I I included them at the presentation today. And then finally, section four, that portfolio review and performance record. We did have concerns upon reviewing annual reports from local authorizers. Um u we did have some concerns that showed some fluctuating success rates. Uh chronic absenteeism being a a concern where they sometimes they were listed as does not meet as so they did in credentiing which tells us maybe they were not able to secure uh teachers with with sufficient licensing licensing or credentiing um and as a result they had some does not meet indicators in those areas. Same thing for student suspension rates and other obligations. And then finally, that we mentioned before, the ownership of underperformance or denials from
026a local district. And we'll talk about that in the question section when there's a little more time. Okay. So the final summary from the committee was that Rocket Ship Tennessee was we recommended to deny their approval based on those instructional concerns over science and social studies, that apparent lack of community support, um deficiencies in the written ELLL plan, uh those recent denials of by another local authorizer that did occur in section two, which we did rate as meets or exceeds, but those denials were a concern of the committee and the board. those high of pupil teacher ratios and performance not being on par with typical results for Rutherford County Schools. Any questions on that? Thank you very much. >> Thank you for that opening statement. We'll now recognize Rocket Public Schools for your opening statement.
027You will also have up to 15 minutes for your presentation. Good morning. Uh my name is Eric Daly, uh the executive director for Rocket Ship Public Schools Tennessee. Before I start, just maybe a little bit of housekeeping. We've got some rocket ship staff members who do require interpretation and so uh there will be interpretation happening um for many of our um Spanish speaking uh families today. Um, thanks again, Brotherford County, for opening the doors uh to your space uh today. And thank you to the commission um for what we believe has been a thorough review um of our application and the opportunity to uh share publicly um our case for why Rocket Ship Tennessee 4 deserves um approval. Um I'll start today um really by sharing three things over the next 15 minutes. First, just
028a reminder of the mission of our charter school um and its track record of success over the last 10 years. Um I'll then move to share a little bit more about the need of another highquality school option here in Rutherford County. And then finally, um we'll cover our application and why we believe that we meet or exceed the standards outlined by the state um to have authorization to stand up another charter school. So, first, uh, Rocket Public Schools has been around here in Tennessee for more than a decade, and its mission is very clear. Um, to initiate transformational change in low-income communities through scalable and sustainable public school models. That model hinges on three major pillars. Driving student achievement, developing exceptional educators, and partnering with our parents. You'll hear a little bit more from each
029of those constituencies today during public comment. Our vision is also clear. Equal access for all students, no matter where they live in the county, no matter um what county they live in. And our track record for the past 10 years, not perfect, but certainly strong. We serve more than 90% uh black or Latino students. North of a third of our students are English language learners. and our special education population continues to grow. Um it is public record uh that this network for the last 10 years um has received various reward status designations and level four or five um uh designations as well based on our state assessment uh data. So for the past 10 years we believe um we have done a strong job of ensuring that students in Nashville have access to a high
030quality education. I'll just name that is that record uh that has allowed us to have all three of our school all two of our schools renewed for an additional 10 years and our most recent campus entering its fourth year um as a high quality school option in the Antioch community. Importantly, um elevating academic performance for all of our students is at the core of our work. You'll see here um historically underserved students um at Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep consistently outperform their district counterparts in Metro Nashville. Those are economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, and students of color. It is worth noting that we leverage the data from Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep as our replication school given its proximity to Rutherford County um and its similarities in student demography. And so you'll see the
031purple line representing Rocket Ship Dream and the dotted line represent representing their peers um in Nashville. For each of those student subgroups um average about a 20% difference um in Rocket Ship's favor, which demonstrates our ability to serve students who historically are underserved. Also importantly, this was referenced uh by Dr. McCann and the committee. Uh, Rocket Ship Tennessee has three schools serving different groups of students across the city of Nashville. Um, and almost every year, um, we have received level four or level five, um, designations by the state given our performance. Um, Rocket Ship Nashville Northeast, uh, being our flagship campus, Rocket Ship United Academy, and the Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep. I will talk a little bit more um about Rocket Shift Nashville Northeast as we go through the presentation today, but there should
032be no doubt that Rocket Shift Tennessee for the past 10 years um has done right by students in Nashville. Um and that is borne out by the data uh presented uh by the state. And then finally, u the work that we do in Nashville is not simply unique to Nashville. It is unique to a model that we believe is rooted in research. Um and so not only um are we serving students in Nashville um we're also recognized nationally for the work that we are doing and the model that we are leveraging in our classrooms. This is a quick study from Stanford Credo report that suggests we are one of a few national networks of charter schools that are implementing a model that is busting the achievement gap for students particularly students that we serve here
033in Nashville. I will not sort of bore you with the analytics here, but it is worth noting. On average, Rocket Shift students receive an equivalent of 96 additional days of learning in reading and 138 additional days of learning in math. That is because of the model that we're implementing in our schools, not only here in Nashville, but across the country. Second section I'd like to turn to here is uh the need that we believe exists here in Rutherford County for another highquality elementary school. You do not have to take our words for there being a need and urgent need in Rutherford County for a high quality school option. Um there's a 2023 report um that Rutherford County School Board Commission um RSP and Associates that suggests that very thing that population growth in this county
034is causing strain on existing schools and that despite efforts at resoning um it will not solve the problem. And so you'll see two direct quotes from that report in 2023 that suggests that many current facilities in Rutherford County are overutilized and are not providing the ideal learning environment. You'll also see here to the right that more district facility space is needed to achieve long-term solution. Those are not rocket ships words. Those are the words of RSP and Associates um a staffing consulting group commissioned by the school board here in Rutherford County. There was an updated report in 2024, so not any more than 12 months ago that confirmed the 2023 report, much of which we used to analyze need in Rutherford County during the application process. That report projects that elementary enrollment in Rutherford County
035will increase by more than a thousand students by 2029 and 2030. That's a net increase. Dr. McCann shared the overutilization of many of the schools in Smurlin and Lever at on top of that 1,300 students um because of population growth here in the county. Three of the four schools that that report identified as having capacity challenges are in the the Smyrna area and are schools that we would directly um be in proximity to and ideally uh support and they're listed there. And then finally, this report confirms what the school board shared during uh their final vote that Northwest Rutherford County um is at strain and at capacity and is experiencing significant um residential growth impacting schools, particularly elementary schools. All of that sort of legal ease talk is widely known in Rutherford County. It is
036widely known by Rocket Ship and I believe by Rutherford County Schools that the need for more high-quality schools options um is important and necessary. Um and we believe that rocket ship is one way of helping to alleviate those capacity constraints here in the county. Dr. McKay mentioned a little bit about performance. This demonstrates 2023 2024 data. And as we call out in our application, we leverage Rocket Shift Dream Community Cre as our replication school because of its similarities in demography, because of its proximity to Rutherford County and our expectation that it will serve generally a similar population of students. So we do not um average the scores of all of our three schools. We are comparing Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep uh to the other elementary schools that are closer in proximity and in demography.
037And you will see here that Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep entering its fourth year outperforms most Rutherford County elementary schools in the Leverne Smyrna area. Rocket Ship Dream Community Prep level uh grade B um in 2023 2024 um a level four um and you will see to the right of that chart the significant increase in students uh based on demography specifically those who are historically marginalized in our community. So 40% English language learners 30% economically disadvantaged north of 10% of students with disabilities. So while serving a higher population of high need students, Rockish Drink Comm continues to outperform many of the elementary schools in the Leverne Smyrna area. And then finally, let me close with a quick review of our application. Um again, respect the recommendation of the Rutherford County uh review team. um and
038also um appreciate the opportunity to perhaps clarify um a couple of elements of their findings report. First section, academic plan and capacity. Um we want to simply highlight um that we have a strong track record um of effectiveness specifically with English language learners um and their achievement. You'll see these two charts that demonstrate at least two data points. percent of EL students who meet their weight of growth targets compared to the district uh MNS and the percent of students who are exiting our EL program. Um Dr. McCann mentioned the critique of fixed time blocks for science and social studies. Um I believe it is now on the record that that is not a requirement. Um we do not believe that preferences um should dictate approval or denial of of an application. Um and then there
039was some mention of science and social studies particularly social studies. We leverage high quality instructional materials at all of our schools and we believe uh that the leveraging of those uh resources particularly for social studies um CKLA amplified much of that content aligned to Tennessee state guidance um is being provided to all of our students daily. It is also important to note that science um is an enrichment course in our schools and students are receiving well more than 12 minutes of that instruction um each day in our schools. Finally, operation operational plan and capacity. Uh the committee um rated this as meets or exceeds um clear governance hiring training and startup. There was some mention of perhaps difficulty in hiring teachers or training teachers. uh this operational plan suggests that that we have been able
040to do that well in the past. Um and criticism of past denials and it's also important to note that we want two successful state appeals um and during that same time we're renewed by a local um authorizer Metro Nashville for an additional 10 years. So we would hope um that we don't misuse um the legal route of renewal and appealing to the state as evidence um of us not being operationally sound. financial plan and capacity. Uh we've been around for 10 years. We have clean audits. We are fiscally uh stable. Um during um our capacity interview, we stated um that at the end of I believe our third year, we would have net um uh income um running our school here in Rutherford County. Um believe you were the only one who could suggest that.
041Um, also there were some minor differences around teacher student ratio and whether or not we call it a social worker or a counselor. Those are sort of legal. Um, and also is the reason we have charter schools to innovate and not simply duplicate what is happening in local uh school communities. Um, and it is our belief that many of uh much of that evidence was misused to rate um this part of the plan as partially beat. And then finally, portfolio review. and we look forward to talking a little bit more about our portfolio during uh question and answer. Um we believe uh that Rutherford County School was fixated on one school for one year as opposed to reviewing our full portfolio uh that suggest um very clearly that for the past 10 years we have
042performed well for all of the students uh that we have served in Nashville. We acknowledge the recent dip in performance at our Nashville Northeast campus and we look forward to talking a little bit more um about how we are intervening there. But it is important to note that that is an exception and not the rule and the data does not support that as being the rule. Um most of our schools have earned a level four or five each year. You'll see this quick chart here with updated data from 2425 where each of our schools improved uh their TAS composite level um for the 2425 school year. And then finally, we'll talk a little bit more here about our intervention plan for Rocket Ship Nashville Northeast. Making sure we've got the right people in the right
043places, new investments in academics, and targeted network support for coaching and development. Why do we believe those things are important and why do we believe they're working? Because the evidence to start this school year suggested we are 95% to our budget enrollment target. More than 70% of our home visits have been completed, ensuring parents are partners in the education that we're offering, and we've seen a year-to-year increase in daily average attendance. Very quickly, and I know I'm at time, we believe we meet or exceed the standards outlined by the state um uh based on the application that we amended and submitted. We also believe that brother county misapplied some of the guidance of the rubric and we gracefully ask that you approve um our appeal to open Tennessee 4. Thank you. >> Thank you um
044to both Ruford County and also Rocket Ship for that opening statement. Um I'm now going to dive into questions that I have for both parties. Um we're going to start first with Ruford County Schools and then we'll switch to Rocket Ship. Um, and I know um, you all addressed several of my questions in that your opening statement, but I do want to dive a little bit deeper into some of of the questions that I have. So, the first one I want to start with is enrollment. And it may be helpful if y'all if we could just switch to that slide that y'all had just for visuals. Thank you. Um so from my understanding the two highlighted in yellow are the ones that are overs subscribed geographically. Can you share are those in the same general
045geographic region? Are those different parts of that region? Can you share more about those over subscribers? >> In different parts of that region elementary is in the very north end of the county just over the line from Davidson. Okay. >> And Stewart's Creek Elementary is more in the central Smyrna area. >> Okay. different different demographics for for both areas for the most part. >> Okay. Thank you. And can you confirm um you said how many open seats that you all currently have in that region? You you stated I just want to make sure >> 586. And then from a projected standpoint, where are you guys? >> It was around 350. >> Okay. And what is that time frame? The 350. >> That could be for next year. That's a 3.5% growth. Okay. Each year we
046we we've experienced that typically. Not always, but typically in the past. Okay. In the past, that's what we've used is 3.5. >> Thank you. Um, and then I think the next one of the next slides you have is around current charter school enrollment. And for my own clarity, I think there's a note at the bottom. So, both schools are currently serving K6. Is that correct? Okay. And can you confirm um what is the grade span that Springs Empower is approved to at full capacity? Is it K8? >> K8. Both schools are are K8. >> Okay. Thank you. Um my next question is around the survey that you all sent um out and that you shared in terms of the 80% of residents or respondents um reported not being in favor of the approving the application.
047And so want to make sure I confirm that you shared this was sent out to all Rutherford County parents and that there were copies of the application included as well. >> Yes, there were links to each school's application that were involved in the survey. >> Okay, great. And so for my clarity, both schools were surveyed separately and both links were okay. >> They were >> okay. >> You shared or the district shared in that um and you talked a little bit in the opening presentation around concerns around failure to show ownership of previous denials. Um, can you explain more about what the district was looking for with regard to previous denials by the operator and what you would have liked to see in order to be able to rate that as meeting the standard or
048satisfied criteria? >> Great question. The committee would have hoped to have seen statements in the application um that that indicated recognized shortcomings um in in those particular schools that were denied and what could be done differently um at the proposed school in Rutherford County to ensure they didn't have the same results. >> Thank you. Um, and as you shared in your opening statement that the district did evaluate both overall proficiency of Ruford County Schools as well as the proficiency levels of the Lever Smyrna area. The sponsor also shared data that potentially reflects that there's a lot of variability in that data across that area. Just would like to hear the district's response on how did they evaluate kind of performance across all of those schools in that area. They looked uh strongly at the success
049rates, the achievement levels, and I know a lot of the data presented by Rocket Ship was growth, which is a very important component in Rutherford County as well. >> But we looked mainly at the differences in success rate. >> Thank you. Um and I think that concludes my questions um for the district um since you all covered a lot of that in the opening presentation, which I very much appreciate. Um so now we're going to turn to questions I have for rocket ship and similar um that I going to start with enrollment um that we have you know one of the things that we've talked about in this hearing is questions around enrollment um would like you to provide more information about how you all are using what is quoted as weight list information for
050your current schools as a demonstrated demand for a new school when it is in a different district. >> Yeah. So, all of our schools currently operate near or at capacity in Nashville. The reference to weight list um is important because it demonstrates the strength of our brand um and we believe the strength of that brand transfers county to county, particularly Rutherford County given its proximity um to one of our existing schools. It's also important to note um there are in the past three years about a hundred Rutherford families have applied to Rockship um schools all of which we have not accepted. Um we believe that those families would still benefit from a school here um in Rutherford County. We have more than two dozen rocket ship staff members, many of whom are here today who
051live in Rutherford County who would want nothing more than to serve their local community. those staff members have networks um and relationships with people in Rutherford County who we believe will be ambassadors for this school. So the weight list reference um is a demonstration of the strength of our brand um and the subsequent 100 applications of Rutherford families um staff members who live here in Rutherford County but work in Nashville. It's all more reason we believe that we would be able to enroll this week. >> Thank you. Um so can you share more about the specific community engagement that you all as rocket ship have done within the proposed community and how you what is the evidence that you use to turn that into we would be able to meet the projected enrollment targets? >>
052Yeah. So this work began in earnest I would say maybe 18 months ago. Um some of you may remember we submitted a letter of intent um in 2223. Um we did not apply that year in part because we wanted to continue to do our work to make sure we were um as prepared as possible uh to stand up with school. Um our first sort of house meeting um garnered about a dozen families um in the Lever Smyrna area. Since then we've only accelerated some of that community engagement. Um I believe we allude to town halls that we've held um five of them across the Lever area. Um at the Cedar Glenn community um at the public library um we have visited um uh Tiny Town Childare Hope New Hope Learning Academy daycarees here in the
053community deeply building relationships increasing our visibility and ensuring that folks know who we are and that we know who who they are. I would also just uh name that much of that community engagement um has been in partnership with many um of our Rutherford County staff members who live here in Rutherford County helping us to determine who are the right community members to engage with, where should we be canvasing and door knocking. And so that community engagement work has happened without any marketing, without any enrollment um activity. We believe that will only accelerate when we bring the full force of Rocket Ship and its resources to bear here in Rutherford County. I have no doubt that we would be able to fully enroll this school um to start year one. >> Thank you. Um I
054have a follow-up question. Well, two followup. First is do you all have a sense of what is your baseline enrollment needed for financial liability in year one? >> I think the target right now is 250 full enrollment. Um based on our current financial models, it would be about 220. Uh we deeply believe that starting small to grow fast is the right approach here. 220 is more than half the number of students we currently serve at our lowest enrolled school. And so we believe we'd be certainly able to fully enroll a school of 220 if not the 250. >> Um and you as the executive director would love to hear, you know, opening a new school requires staff resources, intensive resources of a network. Can you share what does that look like from a network capacity
055perspective to open a new school while also supporting schools in existing schools in the Nashville area? >> Yeah, I I think it is a unique challenge that schools who are um asking for replication um have to answer. Um it is why the portfolio review we believe is an important one. Um none of our three schools will be compromised as we grow and expand. We have strong leadership teams at those schools. Um we have a strong regional leadership team supporting those three schools. We believe the evidence of the academic performance of those schools supports the strength of that work. Uh we also have a network um that would support um us being able to stand up a school um a strategy and growth national team um some of whom are here today um who help us
056um to identify facilities to market ourselves in a new community to um work through all of the startup costs um and responsibilities that we will uh engender. Uh we will leverage that team specifically for starting a school here in Rutherford County. It's also important to note that our school principal will be hired, if granted, a charter application this fall. Um, their sole mission is to work with that team and with the regional team to ensure that they are ready to go day one. And so, um, we believe we have more than enough capacity to start a school, particularly one of the size that we're proposing here in Rutherford County in a community that we believe we know very well, um, given the tremendous support that has already been demonstrated um, and the current relationships we
057have um, with staff members and community partners um, here in the community. So, we do not expect that any of our three existing schools will be undermined by starting a school here in Rutherford County. >> Thank you. Um the last part of my questions I want to dig deeper into Rocket Ship Northeast um performance. It was it was a part of the Ruford County's decision. And I think when we as the commission are looking at the potential of a school and a network expanding, we are going to look at the performance of all the schools particularly one that's currently in the commission's portfolio. Um so first I want to ask can you share why some performance data particularly for rocket shift northeast was not more fully discussed in the applications past performance section. >> Yeah.
058So this is a helpful question and we actually appreciate the focus on the portfolio because we too share the importance of all of our schools uh serving our students well. So 2324 data um for Rocket Nashville Northeast maybe was not as fully explained in the application in part due to time. Letter grades were released. I believe it was December 19th uh 2024 um right at the cusp of winter break as I mentioned um earlier. We began in earnest drafting this application, working on this application um earlier in the year of 2024. Um and so as much as we could, we sought to analyze that data. Um ensure that there was coherence in the narrative of our of our application. Um but we did not rush to include data that maybe could have been perceived as
059incomplete or that would have um led to a misinterpretation of data. I also want to be clear that we fully embrace um the realities of all of our schools and it it is a bit personal because as we speak uh there are 50 teachers at the Rocket Ship Nashville Northeast campus working really really hard to make sure that the 450 students there are getting what they deserve. We acknowledge the recent dip in performance at that school. We have diagnosed that dip. we have put in place interventions um and resources to ensure that those students receive the very best. Um and so any sort of notion that we don't um uh embrace the results of all of our three schools, we we vehemently disagree, but it was a timing issue. Um um and we hope that
060we've been able through some of our engagements to share very clearly our one understanding of the data up until recent as a week ago for 2425 um and that we um are ahead of it and have a plan in place to ensure that that school um returns to its states of strength. >> Thank you. Given the fact that you do operate three schools in Davidson County, I would like to hear what is the reflection of what is different or what what you all have diagnosed as different about what was happening operationally, academically at Rocket Ship Northeast to see the different performance as compared to the other two schools that you operate. >> Yeah, it's a helpful question and we've been pouring over this question for some time. Um, there are likely two things that stood
061out to us. One um is leadership and stability. You all likely are aware that our dream campus and our United campus experienced a great deal of leadership stability over the last couple of years. Um Rocket Ship Nashville Northeast had two principles uh in two years. Um and we believe that that certainly has an impact on the level of coaching and support that teachers receive, but also on the actual experience of students in a school when there's that level of of instability. Uh we would also say um that our model um which we believe works and is evidenced by the data that we shared um was inconsistently applied at drink particularly in math. If you look at some of our data um numeracy is actually the area um where we I believe as recently as last
062year was level two or level one. Um we um were not implementing our um STEM um model as consistently as our other campuses. literacy certainly more work to do. I believe we moved to a level four this year in literacy top in the in the cluster. Um but we believe it was leadership instability and the management of that transition. Um but also an inconsistent implementation of the model. Um you know we deeply believe in our ability to correct both of those things and early evidence suggests uh that we're doing just that at Rockship National Northeast. >> Thank you. And that concludes my questions for Rocket Ship. Um, we're now going to move into public comment. If someone has the clicker up Yeah. Um, if I would mind you clicking to the public comment slide. So,
063when we um we are now at the public comment portion, we have um individuals who signed up both to speak in support of the district's decision to deny the application. We also have individuals who has spoken who signed up to speak in support of the application. Each individual will be given up to two minutes. You will come up to this podium to speak. Please do instentise yourself for the record as you begin speaking. And once again want to remind folks that we are accepting written comments on this appeal. Comments have to be received by the commission by next Friday, September 26th at 10:00 a.m. to be considered in my recommendation. All written comments are also provided to our charter commission. So they receive both oral comments as well as written comments and both of those
064are weighed equally. Um so I believe Miss Long is not here. Is that correct? Okay. Um we have Isaac Dicki can come you can come forward and give your comment for up to two minutes. >> Good morning. Uh my name my name is Isaac Dicki and I'm currently a student at Central Magnet here in Murersboro. I'm here today uh not only to uh comment on behalf of the Rushburg County School Board, but also uh to voice my concerns over the proposed opening of the new rocket ship again. Uh I'm a very strong believer in the power of a good education and I've received an amazing education from this district the past 13 years. Uh but I do believe at the same time that this education should come from our traditional public schools. Uh charter schools
065that are already here have diverted money and other resources away from our public education system. All this has done is prioritize a very small number of students while leaving 50,000 plus students in schools that receive less funding. Uh a big argument for charter schools is that you know when they open uh they get teachers and principles and so on and so forth that that reduce uh the fiscal impact on Ruford on Ruford County. But when we're looking at such a small number of students that really doesn't cut down on the amount of staff needed at our schools. Uh furthermore, charter schools are clearly not held to the same accountability standards as our traditional public schools. Uh a good example of this would be Ruford Collegiate Prep, which was approved by this commission uh against the
066wishes of the school board and local residents. By September 9th of last year, roughly 100 students had left the school, mainly due to a total lack of leadership and accountability from the school. The circumstances that led to this, many students leaving have been described as apocalyptic by parents. This is not a political issue. This is an issue that affects the future of our country. It's time It's not time to play games and push an agenda. It's time to do what's best for best for our students. It's time to respect the facts of the case. Uh it's time to respect the facts of the case. and the facts say that charter schools put strains on the local school system while providing an education that is not any better than what a student would get at a
067traditional public school. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Okay, next we have Thank you. Um Luzanne Cardinz, Claudia Vasquez, and Emilyn Menddees. Y'all want to come on up to this podium? Thank you. And introduce yourself for the record. My name is Osan Catas and I'm proud to call the birth my home. We are here to join rocket ship Rutherford chem schools. Not in holy matrimony but in an education in education. I work in Cedar Glenn. I'm the office administrator at Cedar Glenn. We have over 3,000 children in our in our community. So I think this would benefit our community to because they're building homes a lot and but there's no schools. So we need more schools in our community in Brutherford County. So, uh, and I'm here, you know, because I have a lot
068of people that I speak to, 98% are Hispanic, uh, and I speak to them and I carry their voices here with me today because they couldn't come because they work. But don't worry, I don't hear voices, but I carry their voices with me. So, you know, I'm going to do this, Mr. McC. worked in the cafeteria at the best Lever Elementary School that exists thanks to Mr. can you gave me a job and then I had to go and then I just trade to Cedar Glenn because I was fighting cancer for the third time and I needed something more relaxed but then I went to see her but anyway so one morning Lupita came into the office and talked to me about rocket ship and I was like that's amazing so I started informing and
069we were worked together we were giving out information and so many of the residents are really interesting. So I think that would be the best thing for the not just for Cedar Lane but for R County and and Smyrna because there's we need more schools. Oh my god. Who's going to take me out? Who's going to take me out? Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Claudia Vasquez, Emilyn Mendez. Good evening or good morning. Uh my name is Emilyn Mendes. I'm a parent living in Rutherford County and I'm also a Rocket Ship employee. Um I'm going into my fifth year as a staff member at Rocket Ship United Academy. Uh before I even go further, this is my daughter Mila. Um I'm going into my fifth year and over that time I've
070served in several different roles. First as a PAR professional supporting students in special with special needs then as a small group uh professional reading interventionist and a bilingual STEM teaching assistant. Today I'm proud to serve as the lead STEM kindergarten teacher. Um, and I'm also proud to have Mila as one of my kindergartener students. Uh, today I want to just hone in on that each step of my journey has shown me the power of Rocket Ship's model, especially their focus on talent development. I've been supported by coaches and colleagues who believe in me. Uh, they're the ones who encouraged me to go back to school so I could become a certified teacher. Um, my connection is also personal. Uh, my daughter is a kindergartener at rocket ship like I mentioned and I see every day
071how much she is learning. She's understanding content. She enjoys going to school. Um, and I just want to mention how her favorite classes are math and reading. She brings so many like she remembers her day. She remembers what she learned each day. Um what makes Rocket ship different is how it meets the needs of our diverse learners. Um our teachers see themselves, our students see themselves reflected in the curriculum and in their teachers. So I just want to say how powerful that is. Um as someone who grew up without representation, I know how powerful it is for a child to see leaders who look like that. So that's my >> Thank you. Buenos Claudia Vasquez. Good afternoon, members of the board of directors. My name is Claudia Vasquez and I am mother of three children
072and a proud resident of Leverne. I am also an entrepreneur and owner of a barber shop in our community. I'm here today because as a mother, my greatest dream is for my children to receive a quality education. One that prepares them to be independent, responsible, and contribute positively to society. That is also the wish of many families who although they could not join us today asked me to speak on their behalf. Our country, our county is growing rapidly and with that growth comes new opportunities. Rockashe represents one of those opportunities. It is a school that values collaboration between families and teachers and that fosters close communication with parents and offers personalized learning so that each student can progress at their own pace and reach their goal. Something that many families seek. Thank you very much.
073Alejandra Beltran, Miles Brown, and Teresa Aua. >> Good morning. My name is Anan and I'm here in support of Rockship Tennessee 4. I have been a resident of Rutherford County for almost seven years now. It is difficult for me to believe that this is my fifth school year traveling to Southeast Nashville to teach kindergarten humanities at Rockship United Academy, which was just approved for another 10 years. My first, second, third, fourth, and fifth year students fill its hallways with their smiles, enthusias, and enthusiasm. I'm honored, honored to be a part of their experiences at Rockship. We are more than a building of staff and students. Rockship schools build strong communities and welcome you like family. At Rockship, we believe that every child deserves a high-quality education regardless of their zip code. I know firsthand how
074important foundational education is. I come from a working class family and even in a low-income area, I was given a strong foundation for my academic journey. I am a proud first generation Latina college graduate. I earned my bachelor's degree in sociology from Cal State Northridge, all through PEL grants based off my grades. I'm currently working on my master's degree and teacher certification while getting valuable teaching experience. Rockship has provided me a path to building a strong academic foundation for my students and would love to do the same for students in my own community. I love providing students with intentional tailored instruction to meet them where they are through our emphasis on datadriven small groupoup instruction. In addition to growing our students, we grow our community. I enjoy the relationships I get to build with families,
075especially Spanish-sp speaking parents who feel an immediate sense of relief and smile as they know their children feel seen, understood, and supported. While I am still proud, I am also saddened by the amount of thriving students and families who have left our schools due to moving and not having a Rockship campus available to them. If Rockship opens a school in Rutherford County, I would love to be a part of it in order to continue filling hallways full of smiles and enthusiasm. It would be so meaningful to be a part of opening a school that reflects the diversity in our area. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. My name is Miles Brown and I live right here in Westbury County. I was raised in Annioch before moving to Lever where I attended Lever Middle
076and Leverne High School. I am now a proud resident here in Murphy'sboro near MTSU. I've been teaching for six years where I started at Rock Springs Elementary here in Ruford. I was teaching fourth grade and then second grade and for the last three years I've been an ESL teacher with Rocket Ship. One of the things that stands out to me at Rocket Ship is the amount of support I get to grow as a teacher. It was nerve-wracking at first to have my own principal observe me nearly every week. However, her constructive feedback vastly improved my teacher practices. That was something I was missing in my previous experience. I did not have that one-on-one coaching that I needed to become a better teacher. However, now I'm constantly learning and that means that my own students get
077better learning instruction every single week because I too am also learning. But what really makes Rockership different is the partnership for our families. We start every year with home visits sitting in living rooms and kitchens, allowing us to get a glimpse of our students lives outside of school. This builds trust and genuine connection because parents know we truly care about their kids. It's because of this trust that I've had the privilege of being invited to many birthday parties and games over the years. And this allows me to see the families to see me as more than just a teacher, but also a friend. With that, I'm able to be better connected to my students and be a part of their lives. Rocket ship also reflects the diversity of our students I previously. Kids see themselves
078in our text and stories that we use. This is especially true in our ESL curriculum where we celebrate and encourage literacy not only in English but in also their home language. They can read and speak in their own home languages. It only better improves their acquisition of English. This also matters in the community as diverse and diverse as Learning. At the end of the day, parents are more concerned about their child's well-being and education. Do we want to provide a school that allows them to see not only the success of their students but also to feel connected are the classroom every day? I believe Rockship creates that kind of joy and believe family Rutherford County deserve that option too. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. My name is Teresa. I'm a proud parent
079leader and rocket ship during community prep and I'm part of the local organizing committee and a member of our PTA. Thank you members of the commission for the opportunity to speak today. I grew up in Antioch and graduate from MNS schools. I'm a proud parent of two children, Charerelle who is 8 years old and Sheamus who is four. Growing up, my grandfather was my guiding light and instilled the importance of several things. He wanted me to break the cycle. So, growing up, he would tell me, "You can do better than what's been done before you." When it came time to choose the right school for my daughter, Charerelle. I knew this decision was one of the most important my husband and I would make. My husband and I initially owned Charelle in a private school
080because we were concerned about our neighborhood school. When Charelle started school, she came home crying every day. Her school increased from 13 to 24 students in her class. when we were told that they would not exceed 13 students. My daughter, we literally cry every morning. There's no worse feeling than knowing that your child is my happiest school. That's when rocket ship caught my eye. It's less than a mile from our house. And after a little bit of internet talking, like we know we do. Um I was impressed by how organized and evolved the community was from the calendar, their schedules, and their Facebook page. We applied and within 4 days we got notified that Sharel could started Dream. We got a tour. We asked so many questions. They patiently answered and observed the classroom. Something
081in my gut told me that this was the right place. After her first date, Charerelle came home and she said, "I had the best day. I was music." The next morning, she was actually excited to go back to school. Dreams has given Sherelle foundation to thrive not academically but emotionally. The English learning small groups work has helped her grow beyond what I can hope for. As a parent, I have learned so much of like a pro. I know her goals and how she's progressing throughout the year. I'm so proud to stand involved parents to have recommended it to my friends with dream. I feel confident my children live out their dreams and my grand for them. My wish is for parents like myself to have rocket ship as an option in their community here in
082Rutherford too. Thank you. Thank you. And we will finish with Lupe Meyers and Mila Mendes. Good morning. My name is Lupe Davalos Meyers or as I'm known here in the community Lupita. I serve as a director of community organizing and advocacy for Rockefeller Public Schools, Tennessee. For over a year, I've been on the ground in Leverne and Smeirna, knocking on doors, sitting in living rooms, and hosting information sessions, listening to families share their hopes for their children's education. I come to this work not only as an organizer, but as a first generation college graduate and a proud immigrant Latina. I know what it means for education to change the trajectory of an entire family. My mom, a domestic worker, my dad, a landscaping worker, like so many parents I meet here, worked long hours, but
083always believed education could open doors that had been close to them. When I sit with parents here in Rutherford, whether in their kitchens, backyards, at church, or at community meetings, I see my own family story reflected back. The same sacrifices, the same hopes, the same beliefs that education can transform their children's future. Through countless one-on-one conversations, families have made their voices clear. They want another elementary highquality public school option in Rutherford County. I've also met with community stakeholders, neighbors, faith leaders, and local partners who see the same need and share the same urgency. Our families have shown up with courage and conviction, often rearranging work schedules and bringing their children along to meetings because they know what's at stake. They know, as I do, that great schools doesn't they don't just educate children, it strengthens
084and transforms entire communities. I urge you to listen to these families. They're not asking for charity. that are demanding opportunity. By approving Rocket Ship as an option, you are affirming their right to choose a school that meets their children needs, that meets their children's needs, and most importantly reflects a community's voice. Thank you for your time and recognizing the power of organized families to shape the future of education in Tennessee and their local communities. Thank you. >> Good morning. One sec. >> Good morning. My name is Miley Himenez. I am now in sixth grade now, but I went to Rocket Ship United after academy from second grade through fourth grade. My family and I lived here from Florida. And when I started Rocky Ship in the middle of second grade, I was a little behind.
085By the end of the year, I had already gotten to grade level. And by fourth grade, I finished a couple grade levels ahead. Rocket ship really prepared me for middle school. I attend Valor. The standards aren't high, but I was ready and I made all of these my first year and I'm on track to sing this year. I have great memories from my time at rocket ship the science fair where I'm in second place playing basketball and cheering. I even wrote and delivered a good message speech for my fourth grade graduation. I spoke about my core values and what they meant to me. Responsibility, respect, empathy, and persistence and gratitude. These core values still help me today. But what I love most about Rocket Ship was how encouraging my teachers were. I'll never forget the
086meetings where they showed me how much I had grown. It made me want to work even harder. They pushed me to do more than I thought I could and they always believed in me. I was excited to go to school every day because I knew my teachers cared about me. More kids should attend Rockership Schools because it's a great school to get you ready for the future. They teach you the basic basics. Then they push you up to go further and they don't let you give up on yourself. That's why I believe families of Rutherford County should deserve to have rocket ship school, too. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our public comment. So, we're now going to shift into um our closing statements. So, we will recognize representatives from Rutherford County for up to
08710 minutes. and then we will recognize Rocket Ship Tennessee for up to 10 minutes. >> First of all, thank you to the commission and members of the public in support of Rocket Ship School for being here today and engaging with us in this very, very important step in the process. Rutherford County Schools recognizes the time and effort expended by Rocket Ship Schools in the application process and greatly appreciates engaging with them in the proposal to open a new charter school in our district. As a district that is committed to parent choice and multiple options for how and where to educate their children, RCS recognizes the positive impact Rocket Ship Education has made in many other school districts and not just in the state of Tennessee. During the application review process, the Rutherford County Schools followed
088the guidelines set forth in the Tennessee State Board of Education quality charter authorizing standards and the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission's core authorizing principles by rigorously evaluating the initial and amended applications submitted by Rocket Ship Schools, setting high standards but attainable standards for the approval of charter schools in our portfolio, and granting charters only to the applicants. that have demonstrated competencies and capacity to succeed in all aspects of their particular charter school model consistent with stated approval criteria. The Rutherford County Board of Education's decision to ultimately deny the application for Rocket Ship Tennessee number four was based on the recommendation provided by the designated application review committee according to the reasons delineated in the report and presented today. RCS respectfully requests that the charter commission upholds the decision to deny the application based on identified
089areas in the application, including academic plan and capacity concerns as described. Apparent lack of community support that is sufficient to ensure a successful opening year. past performance of rocket ship education schools that are not comparable to the performance of RCS schools in many areas, including those in the same area of the district. As one of the highest performing schools in the state, RCS prides itself on setting high performance standards and working hard to rise to the occasion to meet those high standards. Plus, enrollment challenges already experienced by current charter schools in the same geographic area of location as the proposed school indicates the addition of an additional charter school would affect not only their initial enrollment, but that of the other currently operating charter schools. Again, RCS recognizes the strong organization evident for Rocket Ship
090Schools and admires their efforts to provide quality schools in areas of need for such. However, we do not feel their application at this time presented a preparedness to meet the needs of Rutherford County students. Thank you. Thank you. I will now turn to representatives from Rocka, Tennessee for a final statement and you will have up to 10 minutes. >> Uh thank you again to the commission for the space today. um and again to Rutherford County um schools for um not just today but the entire process if it's been a transparent one and a constructive one. Um I'll leave you maybe with three things. The first um I hope um you see and feel the commitment of Rocket Ship um and its families and supporters for a Tennessee 4 school here in Rutherford County. Um it
091is not by accident that a couple dozen families showed up today um spoke to you today um and shared with you their hopes and dreams for um a school here in Rutherford County. We don't take that lightly. So thank you to the rocket ship uh families who showed up this morning. Second thing that I would leave you with is um a quick sort of summary of the um findings of Rutherford County. At the conclusion of this public hearing, it is clear that the weaknesses identified in the academics plan and the financial plan are all based on preferences. Um social social studies and science Dr. McCann um acknowledges are preferences and not requirements. SEAL life skills development Dr. mechanic knowledges may interfere with core content and we know that SEAL and life skills um are required
092by TDO guidance. The ESL guide book that Dr. McCain references um noting a 12 day or two week um review period that guide book suggests that it's a best practice that it's not a requirement. uh the 30-day uh requirement is spelled out in the guide book. So on the academic plan alone um you cannot deny based on a preference. The financial plan um also those findings are rooted in preference. Um student teacher waiver um which is a legal innovation that we can pursue as a charter school. social workers versus counselors are preferences um that charter schools can pursue um given the innovation um that they uh uphold. Again, um you cannot deny based on a preference. And so we would believe that the academic plan and the financial plan uh should be rated as meets
093or exceeds in addition to the operations plan that the committee and Rutherford County already acknowledged as meets or exceeds. Portfolio review being the fourth aspect of the review of our application. Uh we believe the weaknesses identified by the Rutherford County Committee focus solely on Individual data points and a portfolio review by definition should reference the track record of the full portfolio. I hope that you have felt um our deep commitment to each of our existing schools. when times are good and when times are not as good. Uh the work of our staff members is to ensure steady strong results. Um that is my commitment as executive director and the commitment of the entire rocket ship team. Um but the portfolio review should not fixate on one data point. Um it should review the full portfolio
094and we ask that this commission uh do that um as you make your recommendation um to the commissioners. Finally, I will just say um I've been on this job now for about eight months. While I'm not new to Tennessee, having gone to school in West Tennessee, having worked in Middle and East Tennessee, uh the one thing that remains is the work of education is hard. And there aren't many folks looking to grow schools, looking to do more. the reason that Rocket Ship took on the responsibility and burden of analyzing Rutherford County marshalling resources to ensure that we could present a strong application being here in the community to hear from families to talk to stakeholders. It's because we deeply believe that this community um is worthy of another highquality option and that Rocket Ship is
095the school to provide that option. Uh we would respectfully ask that you reject um Rutherford County's uh recommendation to deny um and approve um our appeal uh to the state. Thank you again for the time today. Um and we look forward to continuing conversation. >> Thank you um to both parties for uh participation in this hearing and for your closing statement. A few final reminders as we wrap up. first that we are accepting written comments on this appeal for the next week. As a reminder, we need to receive them by 10:00 a.m. Friday, September 26 to be included in my recommendation and given to the commission. The commission will make a decision on this appeal at a meeting on October the 16th. That meeting will be in Nashville. Information about where that is, how to
096live stream will be on the commission's website. Um, thank you all for your time today. Thank you for Westford County Schools for hosting us. Thank you to the members of the public who gave a comment today. Um, with no further business on the agenda, this hearing is ajourned. Thank you and have a great Friday.