Jackson-Madison County School Board votes to move forward with lawsuit

JACKSON, Tenn. – Almost 60 days have passed since a pivotal decision was passed concerning how students could be taught moving forward. 

On Monday morning, the board members of the Jackson-Madison County School System, legal council, and members of the community were all in attendance concerning two topics.

The first was concerning the Tennessee Public Charter Commission approval of American Classical Academy Jackson-Madison on October 5. 

And the second was to approve the final guaranteed maximum price proposal for the new Pope School, which was tabled for a future meeting.

The first topic brought many concerns for the JMCSS Board, which were discussed during the recess.

“About  inconsistencies in how the application of Madison County was treated compared to the way the commission treated some of the other applications,” said Dale Thomas, the JMCSS Board Attorney.

One inconsistency being the “almost identical application of Maury County.” 

There was also mention towards the “failure for the commission to follow its own rules in handling the application.”

“And also a violation of the open meetings law because the commission met in executive session with the executive in a private session with the members of the American Classical Academy group and did not invite either members of the public or members of Jackson-Madison County to that meeting,” Thomas said.

During the meeting, some spoke in favor of bringing the charter school while others spoke in favor of the school system’s decision. 

In the end, a vote was cast and the plan has now been made public. 

“The school board has authorized its attorneys to file a lawsuit against the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to get the courts to rule on the inconsistencies and the application of the rule,” Thomas said.

The lawsuit will have to be filed by December 4 with the Madison County Chancery Court in order to be compliant with the 60 day deadline from the charter school commission’s decision from October 5. 

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