However, according to the Charter Review Committee, the applicant did not provide estimates for critical expenditures that could affect their liquidity.

The applicant provided MOUs for the services they can obtain at some of their quoted prices.

The applicant was able to communicate their access to additional sources of revenue through the interview, which was helpful to the review committee.

Vincent started by commending the ACAM on the strengths in their application. They indicate that they will consider it and they do have a slight contingency for that, but they don’t indicate that they plan to provide transportation, a service that about 70% of low-income families require in a district in which nearly two-thirds of our students currently rely on transportation to and from school,” Vincent said.ĪCAM did not meet the standard when it came to financial plan and capacity. “The current facilities plans that we have to evaluate as a review committee, we do not feel that they can enroll students at the targets that they set…Especially because they indicate that they don’t plan to provide transportation.

“Because when we look at the median income of Clarksville Montgomery County versus this tract income, this tract has an income at a median level that’s about 181% higher than the county as a whole.” “They would also struggle to recruit students from low-income backgrounds from this area,” Vincent explained. The school board met for a Special Called Study Session to discuss the Charter Review Committee’s recommendation on ACAM’s application, April 18, 2023. But that is certainly a concern for the review committee.” They’ve allotted less than six months to actually construct their school and that may be a misunderstanding in their startup time in the application. “They’ve only allotted a few months for construction of their facility unless we’re just misunderstanding their timeline. “First and foremost, the applicant only highlighted land that they are looking at right now on which they intend to build a school and there were no other contingency locations provided for consideration of the review committee in the event they can secure land quickly enough,” Vincent said. Besides the concerns with governance structure, the biggest issue stemmed from their facility plans. However, there were some large, underlying issues. Key central staff for ACE have been retained from last year.There are plans to use Tennessee evaluation systems for teachers and administrators.They have insurance assurances that are required by the application and by Tennessee state law.Some of the members on the ACAM board are local representees.The operations section included areas such as human capital, food service, facilities, and transportation.Īlthough the committee found many deficiencies, they were appreciative of a few strengths the applicant had. (CMCSS contributed) Operations Plan and CapacityĪCAM did not meet the standard when it came to operations plan and capacity. The reception from the community thus far has been roughly half opposed, and half in support.

Survey they highlighted only appears to have gotten response from 25-27 families with children, which does not represent significantĬMCSS has also conducted their own survey on their website to gather input from the community about their feelings regarding the charter school application.Unclear what the level of parent support is in the community and the level of demand in the community for their model.This concern has been highlighted by community members specifically in both our survey and on social media, which is significant to the review committee.Many terms that are not clear to ensure that the environment would be inclusive to students in what is a very diverse community.Student decorum – “clean and tasteful,” “hair styled traditionally,” “boys’ hair not being lower than the top of the shirt collar in the back,” “religious purposes,” “reasonable uniform alterations,” (Pages 14 and 15, Student Handbook Attachment B).Approach to outstanding fee balances preventing students from registering for the next school year may not be legal (Pg.Approach to unexcused absences and that they do not intend for students to receive credit for homework and assignments they missĭuring those times (Pg.Concerns with verbiage in their student handbook.Math block is not long enough for state expectations (Pg. Their plans for providing RTI supports are not in alignment with state standards.

According to the presentation, other Deficiencies included were:

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