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The operator of Wooddale Middle School, a Memphis charter school exiting the state turnaround district, will continue managing it after a state panel overturned a decision by Memphis-Shelby County Schools to deny its application.
The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission followed the recommendation of its executive director, Tess Stovall, in approving the application by IOTA Community Schools, formerly known as Green Dot Public Schools.
The 7-1 vote on Thursday came despite a recommendation by the commission’s own review committee to deny the application based on shortcomings in IOTA’s plan for academics and operations, as well as the performance of other schools in the network’s charter portfolio.
Arlandra Parker, who oversees charter school development for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, also argued that Wooddale had shown “inconsistent academic performance” for nearly a decade under the management of Green Dot/IOTA during its time in the state’s Achievement School District turnaround program, or ASD.
But Stovall said her review of the record tells a bigger story.
While acknowledging Wooddale’s mixed academic performance, she said the school has shown improvement in the past two years and generally outperforms nearby middle schools operated by the local district.
“I do not have confidence that, if responsibility for operating the school is shifted to Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Wooddale students will perform any different than the students at the other zoned middle schools,” Stovall wrote in her analysis.
Commissioner Terence Patterson, who is also CEO of the charter-friendly Memphis Education Fund, said the dearth of high-quality middle school options around Wooddale should factor into the state panel’s decisions on charter appeals, especially for Memphis schools transitioning out of the ASD.
“To even consider giving the option of running the school back to a district that has four neighboring schools with single-digit proficiency, I would almost view as negligence,” he said, referring to proficiency rates on state standardized tests.
Chairperson Chris Richards, a retired FedEx executive who also represents West Tennessee on the commission, cited concerns that Memphis-Shelby County Schools recently shuttered its Innovation Zone, another school turnaround program that could have provided Wooddale with additional resources and support when returning to its home district.
“We’re facing great uncertainty (about) the support of the local district, and that bothers me a lot,” she said, adding “that kind of support makes the difference between whether kids can get to school or not.”
The vote was the clearest example so far that the commission is willing to look beyond the state’s established metrics for scoring a charter school application, leaning instead on members’ views of whether approving it is in a community’s best interest.
It was also the third time in seven appeals that the commission has overturned the Memphis school board’s denial of a charter application since the legislature created the appellate entity under a 2019 law.
Last year, the commission approved an application from Capstone Education Group to continue operating Cornerstone Prep Lester as it prepared to exit the ASD at the end of the 2023-24 school year.
The commission also sided last year with Empower Memphis Career and College Prep, which is planning to open a K-8 charter school in the fall of 2025 focused on career and technical education in the city’s Orange Mound community.
In her analysis, Stovall said approving IOTA‘s application was in the best interest of Wooddale’s 450 students, the local district, and community. But she also identified challenges.
Wooddale’s chronic absenteeism rate is significantly higher than nearby middle schools, and there’s no guarantee that Memphis-Shelby County Schools will lease or sell the campus in the city’s Parkway Village area to IOTA.
Bluff City High School, another IOTA Memphis school that is already under the commission’s oversight, has been on charter probation since 2022, based on its failure to meet academic performance standards. The school’s charter is up for renewal under the commission in 2026-27.
IOTA has two remaining ASD schools — Hillcrest High and Kirby Middle — whose charter agreements with the state will end after the 2025-26 school year, creating uncertainty for the network in the next few years.
“While I do have some concerns when reviewing the amended application for Wooddale, the evidence of the entire record demonstrates to me that Wooddale is offering a higher quality option to families in the Parkway Village area,” Stovall said.
The commission also voted Thursday to uphold Rutherford County Schools’ denial of a charter to Novus Smart Academy. But it overturned the Nashville school board’s denials of applications for two new charter schools: LEAD Southeast Elementary and Nurses Middle College.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools now have 30 days to reach mutual agreements with the respective charter networks for authorization. If that doesn’t happen, the state commission becomes the default authorizer.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.
