Chatt Prep threatened
Parents and supporters of Chattanooga Prep School may take some solace in the fact that a recommendation by the Hamilton County Board of Education to revoke its charter is not final.
A Hamilton County Schools investigation showed that, in addition to the fact the charter school did not fire a teacher whose lack of credentials had been highlighted for school officials and who was later charged with kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a minor (from an incident at another school), it also had 21 of 45 teachers who lacked proper licensure.
The recommendation by Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson to revoke Chattanooga Prep’s license accused the governing body and management of the school of “willfully” violating state licensure laws and “deliberately” misrepresenting “who were the teachers of record in classes actually taught by these unlicensed personnel.”
While none of the above is behavior that should tolerated by a charter school, supporters of the school believe the general dislike of charter schools by public school advocates is driving the recommendation, especially given that the local school district annually has one or more teachers or schools employees arrested and charged with crimes.