MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Clarksville Montgomery County School System will decide on an application for American Classical Academy Tuesday. The charter school applied to set up shop in five Tennessee counties — Montgomery, Rutherford, Maury, Madison and Robertson.
In Robertson County, the school board’s charter review committee spent four months going over the application for American Classical Academy. The review committee recommended the application be denied because the school does not meet standards in academic plan design and capacity, operations plan and capacity, and financial plan and capacity.
During a special session on Monday, April 24, the board voted unanimously to deny the school’s application. The boards in Montgomery, Rutherford and Maury counties will make their decisions on Tuesday, April 25.
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In their application, American Classical Academy Clarksville-Montgomery (ACAM) stated that their mission “is to train the minds and develop character in students through a content-rich classical education in the liberal arts and sciences utilizing instruction in the principles of moral practices and civic virtue.”
American Classical Academy is associated with Hillsdale College of Michigan. Hillsdale’s president drew widespread criticism for comments about Tennessee teachers last year. School boards in Montgomery and Rutherford counties denied American Classical Academy’s Application in 2022.
The Clarksville Montgomery County School System Charter Review Committee provided their recommendation about ACAM to the school board at a special called session last week. The committee recommended the application be denied after not meeting standards in two review sections and partially meeting standards in one of them. The school board will vote to approve or deny the application at the formal session on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
If the board votes to approve the charter school, the authorization process will begin for the
school to open in the 2024-2025 school year. A denial would mean the applicant has the can submit an amended application based on the feedback from the review committee and the board within 30 days for another review. The review committee would have 60 days to review the amended application.
