Plans to create a replica of the all-boys Chattanooga Preparatory School in Knoxville are moving ahead after the effort won a narrow vote of approval by the Knox County school board last month.
The panel agreed 5-4 to endorse the new public charter school, and Chattanooga Prep officials have identified a location in Knoxville’s central city where classes are slated to begin in August 2024.
Brad Scott, chief executive of the nonprofit entity that will oversee both schools, said there are still questions in Tennessee about the effect of public charter schools and that’s part of the reason for the tight vote in Knoxville.
“It’s our role as we’ve done in Chattanooga to show both supporters and those who have questions and may not support us now that we truly can work with the community and impact scholars for the betterment of families,” he said in an interview.
Chattanooga Prep was started in 2018, co-founded by Chattanooga businessman Ted Alling and his wife, Kelly. The tuition-free school that serves primarily minority and underprivileged boys in Hamilton County started with a sixth grade class of 65.
Students have been added each year since then, and the Highland Park school now has 380 students, Scott said. He said 59% are Black, 36% are Hispanic, 4% are white and 1% are two or more races.
Scott said he expects similar numbers in Knoxville, though its demographics are a little different.
Chattanooga Prep organizers looked at Knoxville after hearing from families and leaders there interested in undertaking the same model, Scott said. He said, for example, the Haslam family, who are school choice advocates and public school supporters, reached out. Bill Haslam is a former Knoxville mayor and Tennessee governor.
“We started community engagement efforts over a year ago,” the school CEO said. “We engaged with leaders, parents in the community that wanted a high-quality school choice option.”
Knox County school board member Daniel Watson, who voted against the proposal last month, said some groups there which had initially supported the idea changed their minds.
Watson said in a telephone interview that he agreed not to publicly share those concerns but it was worrisome to him that the proposal had lost some support.
Despite that, he said, the proposal won the school board vote and he plans to support Knox Prep.
“I want them to be successful,” Watson said.
Scott said he has seen support rise among parents and students in Knox County.
“We went from zero letters of interest … and now we have 95 letters of commitment from Knox County parents,” he said. “Our support among parents and students has been nothing but an outpouring of support. Our focus always has been on what’s best for students and families, not what’s best for special interest adults or politics.”
Scott, who grew up in the Chattanooga area and came back from an education post in Texas to take the CEO job at Chattanooga Prep four years ago, said the first two staffers already have been picked for Knox Prep and are coming from within Chattanooga Prep’s ranks.
Michael Howard, who has been at Chattanooga Prep for three years and is managing the high school, will be founding principal at Knox Prep. Bryan Mann, currently a math teacher and Tennessee charter school teacher of the year two years ago, will serve as assistant principal in Knoxville, where he’s from, according to Scott.
Howard said in an interview that he was inspired by Chattanooga educator Edna Varner, his principal in middle school, where he got involved in music and the arts. Howard said he learned he could succeed in life at something other than sports.
“It showed me another pathway,” Howard said.
Scott said Knox Prep will be open to all students. But he added Chattanooga Prep is marketed to underserved communities “that for a long time their ZIP code determined their education. Those are communities where we see a lack of school choice.”
“We’ll be recruiting all over the city of Knoxville looking for families who want a high-quality school choice option that sends scholars to college,” he said.
Knox Prep will start with 105 sixth graders.
Scott said school organizers are looking at purchasing the Boys & Girls Clubs center on Irwin Street in Knoxville, off Broadway. If it’s not acquired, the Boys & Girls Clubs is interested in leasing, he said. Scott said the facility is 90,000 square feet in size and built in 2016.
He said the building has classroom space, a cafeteria, basketball gym and indoor swimming pool.
“We could have school there the first two years without having to do anything,” Scott said. “We’ll have to purchase desks, technology. It’s a perfect replication for Chattanooga Prep.”
Fundraising has started, Scott said, with individual supporters of school choice and with state and national nonprofits that invest in school choice along with obtaining state and federal grants.
When the 2024 school year starts, he said, Knox County expects to allocate an average of about $11,000 per student for the 105 members of that first class, or $1.15 million.
In Knoxville, plans are to hold town hall-type meetings with parents, potential students and others, Scott said.
He said Chattanooga Prep’s founding class had an average of 18 on the most recent ACT test, which is above average for sophomores in the state. Scott said he believes the class can hit an average of 21 as juniors.
Scott said college visits are a key part of Chattanooga Prep’s model. Starting in sixth grade, all students are required to visit at least one college campus, he said.
“It happens every year for every grade,” Scott said.
Hershel Brown, a Chattanooga Prep sophomore, said in an interview that he likes the environment at the school.
“Sometimes it’s challenging,” Brown said about the school work, adding he plans to study welding engineering in the future.
Scott said Chattanooga Prep officials more than a year ago had a visioning meeting and discussed how it could make the largest impact.
“It was unanimous in our room that we wanted to expand our impact,” he said.
Next school year at Chattanooga Prep, it will have 480 students in grades six through 11, Scott said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.