Inglewood Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization

1700 Riverside Drive

Nashville, Tennessee 37216
inglewoodespto@gmail.com

To: Dr. Jesse Register, Director of Schools

Metro Nashville Public Schools
2601 Bransford Ave
Nashville, TN 37204
November 24, 2014

RE: Inglewood Elementary Families Resoundingly Reject Charter as Future Pathway

Dr. Register:
On Septemember 5, 2014 Inglewood Elementary PTO started a letter writing campaign, an
online petition (http://goo.gl/HceEvM) and a paper petition to persuade you and the MNPS
School Board to allocate appropriate resources and allow the current administration/faculty
the time to utilize those resources in an effort to improve the test scores of our students
and to make sure that they are as prepared for the next stage of education as any other
child in the city. To date our combined petitions have more signatures than families in the
school. Our letters numbered so many that they created confusion in your office.
As the 3rd Way was announced our message became more refined and our voices grew
stronger. On September 24, 2014, you heard the same message from Inglewood PTO, the
faculty and the caretakers of our community, in three separate meetings. The message was
two-fold: 1. we do not want a charter school to convert Inglewood and 2. we want the
appropriate resources and the time to use them. At the end of your day at Inglewood you
stated very clearly that you believed a charter was the wrong direction for Inglewood:
It sounds like this community does not want this school to convert to a charter school. So, we need to
hear that, said Register. I would be very hesitant to recommend a conversion here. There are some other
places where a conversion might work, but I dont think so in this community. Nashville Scene SEP 25, 2014

One month later on October 27, 2014 Andrea Zelenski reported that you had changed his
mind: Register Flips, Hasnt Ruled Out Giving Inglewood Elementary to KIPP Nashville
Scene. What was more striking to the 200 people who attended our meeting with you, and

the 200 who signed our paper petition and wrote letters to you, was another comment in
the same article:
So we take that (community voice) into consideration and I acknowledge that feedback from the meeting.
That was faculty and community members, very few parents there.

The PTOs response to that was to show any obviously confused naysayer that the
overwhelming opinion of our parents is NO CHARTER CONVERSION.
We, the stakeholders in Nashville public education, are at a critical moment in the
discussion. The East Nashville Advisory Board has been seated and Achievement School
District has made an announcement regarding the school they will choose to convert.
Inglewood PTO is still collecting data but below are preliminary results that make our case
loud and clear. Answering the question: If you (the parents of Inglewood students) could
choose what type of school Inglewood Elementary becomes which of the following
would it be?
School wide prelim results:
STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) Litton-> Stratford

20.2%

STEaM (science, tech, engineering, arts, math) Litton->Stratford

52.6%

Charter (Publicly financed, privately run with emphasis on discipline, school as

team, longer days, and high test results) KIPP Middle-> KIPP High

7.9%

Paideia (active learning method featuring presentation, practice and discussion,

most similar to a college liberal arts education) East Middle-> East High

13.2%

STEM or STEaM

3.5%

STEM or Paideia

1.8%

leave as is

.9%

Grade level breakdown of the 4 primary choices:

Pre-K

STEM

26.1%

29.2%

28.6%

14.3%

16.7%

7.1%

STEaM

39.1%

66.7%

57.1%

47.6%

50%

64.3%

Charter

4.3%

0%

7.1%

14.3%

16.7%

7.1%

Paideia

13%

4.2%

7.1%

19%

11.1%

21.4%

Results are preliminary findings from a survey sent home to all Inglewood Elementary parents via daily folder.

Again, the parents of Inglewood Elementary are telling you, Dr. Register, Dr. Coverstone,
Randy Dowell, and others who might have questioned our understanding of the situation
and resolve to have our voice heard that we do NOT want a conversion to KIPP or any other
charter. As we have said since early September, we DO want the appropriate resources,
which MNPS has begun to supply, we do want the time to use them, and we do want the
support to make sure our wants align with our needs. Lastly, we want to remain a part of
AND become a vital player in the rising Litton-> Stratford pathway.
Sincerely,
Inglewood Elementary School PTO