After a number of failed attempts, Knoxville may be opening its first charter school in the Fall of 2015. Previously, Knox County Schools rejected several charter school applicants including Beta Theta Foundation who proposed a residential charter school on the campus of Knoxville College; Genesis Rock, the perennial applicant for Dream Academy; the IRIS Foundation with its alleged ties to Turkish Islamic scholar, Fetullah Gulen; and SMART Schools, Inc., an outfit out of Memphis headed up by Tommie Henderson. 

SMART Schools is the same operator that shoved its charter school down Shelby County's throat in 2011 before the merger with Memphis City Schools. Interestingly, also in 2011, both Knox County and Hamilton County rejected applications from SMART Schools. Hamilton County suffered the same fate as Shelby County with the state reversing its decision; however, Knox County's decision was affirmed and the application denied. The TN BOE cited SMART Schools' lack of familiarity with Knoxville's demographics and its lack of local support to find that SMART Schools was not in the best of interest of Knoxville's students, school district, or community. 

It would seem that SMART Schools is good enough for Memphis and Chattanooga but not good enough for the Governor's hometown of Knoxville. Or maybe the Governor has his own charter school in mind and doesn't want any competition?

It's always best to start at the beginning. So put on your emerald glasses and take a look at all the Emerald entities needed to form Haslam's shiny new charter school. 

First, there is Emerald Youth Foundation, an urban ministry that has been serving inner city children in Knoxville for a number of years. Christian ministries are not allowed by law to operate charter schools, so Emerald Youth Foundation formed a secular 501c3 non-profit organization called Emerald Charter Schools. This second entity will be the actual charter school applicant and operator. Then finally, there is the school itself named Emerald Academy. Confused? Here is the Emerald shell game players -- 

• Emerald Youth Foundation (Ministry Program)                 
  
• Emerald Charter Schools (Charter School Applicant)
  
• Emerald Academy (School)
  

Brian Hornback's blog reveals that Knox County School Board member, Doug Harris and former school board member, Sam Anderson, who is currently employed by KCS both serve on the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation. And that's not all....the Governor, his sister-in-law, and others close to him are also on the Board of Trustees. The Metro Pulse's article names "some longtime friends and supporters of the Haslam family, like Larry Martin, Haslam's former mayoral chief of staff and current head of the state Department of Finance and Administration, and Rick Johnson, the head of the newly-created Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness" who serve on the Foundation's board. 

Not only does Gov. Haslam have personal ties to the Emerald Youth Foundation but he has also given them plenty of money. Every year but 2008, the Governor's non-profit foundation, Charis, has annually donated to Emerald Youth Foundation. The yearly gift in 2002, 2003, 2004 was $30,000. Then around 2007, the donations began to increase dramatically and almost tripled by 2012. You can see the actual amounts listed below and can click on the year to see the tax return. 

• $33,333 in 2005
  
• $33,334 in 2006
  
• $70,000 in 2007
  
• $76,000 in 2009 
  
• $75,000 in 2010
  
• $75,000 in 2011
  
• $85,000 in 2012

School Matters blogged on the potential conflicts of interest and included a handy list of who's who on the Emerald boards. Take a look below, the picture on the left is the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation and the one on the right is the board for Emerald Charter Schools. Steve Diggs the Executive Director of Emerald Youth Foundation is also the Board President for Emerald Charter Schools. 

The concern over conflicts was quickly dismissed by Indya Kincannon who served on the school board at the time. And school board chair, Lynn Fugate called it "a bunch of B.S." for people to think there’s some hoodoo behind-the-scenes actions regarding the Emerald Academy application and its approval. So, there you have it. The great and powerful Haslam has spoken and charter schools are on the horizon for Knoxville.

Only you might get the feeling you are not in Knoxville anymore. That's because Emerald Academy will be based on Cleveland Ohio's Breakthrough Schools Preparatory Model. These things happen when Dee Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns, sits on your board. Like most other charter schools, the Cleveland model calls for a super rigid environment and Teach For America. 

But hey, isn't that what inner city kids need to straighten up and fly right? No, those happy endings are only found in the movies. In reality, militaristic discipline administered by inexperienced TFA corp members leads to kids dropping out or being kicked out of school. And when your truancy rate goes up, watch out!! Memphis saw gangs of teenagers terrorize the city with random acts of violence.

What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .

Momma Bears is sniffing out privatization in the suburbs. We know parents like those in Williamson County are very concerned about privatization threatening their high achieving public schools. Now, we are hearing concerns over possible privatization in the Memphis suburb of Germantown, another high achieving school district.

When Germantown formed their new school system, Shelby County Schools transferred all but three schools to the new municipal district. Three schools that ironically bear the name of Germantown (known collectively as the three G schools) continue to be operated by the unified Shelby County School system even though they are located within the heart of Germantown city limits. 

This has been a big source of angst for the community. Not having all the Germantown schools has also forced the issue of new school construction on a city that is still reeling over the loss of three perfectly good school buildings and struggling to finance their brand new school system. Then, along comes a mayoral candidate promising to get those schools back. Take a look at the promises made on George Brogdon's website. 

Momma Bears is smelling privatization in those campaign promises from a candidate who is endorsed by a former Shelby County School Board member who favored converting the three Gs into charter schools. 

But back to Brogdon’s “innovative solutions.” Well, we all know privatization means appointing friends instead of electing officials. So the fur on the back of our necks stands up when we see this wannabe mayor with plans to appoint a team of leaders in education. Who needs a mayorally appointed education team when Germantown already has an elected school board?

Well, you won’t need a school board's permission to form a charter school because state law allows the Tennessee Department of Education to overturn the school board decisions to reject charter school applications. So it’s a good thing Brogdon’s team will include some “state-wide leaders” who “have intimate knowledge of the school issue.” Those always come in handy when trying to win state approval. 

So what do you need to form charter schools? According to the handy dandy charter school formation flow chart below, you need a founding group and some investors. Interestingly, Brogdon has lined up team members who have “already pledged their support if George is elected.” Hmmm....support as in money? 

Your tax dollars... given to unqualified, inexperienced people who have no oversight and pay themselves huge salaries and give lucrative contracts to their friends & family...  to teach the most precious, priceless things in our world... children.

When they screw up, politicians and the government turn a blind eye.

Why do these charter schools get away with this?  Because they are smart and sneaky and rich.  They deliberately donate money to politicians who pass laws to benefit them and protect them.

So, what's a Momma Bear to do?  Yep, we blog about it.  And let the Legislators know that the voters are on to them.  So, this is #1 in a series of exposing Charter School Corruption, courtesy of www.tennessee-education-matters.net, who generously gave us permission to share all the dirt they dug up on Rocketship.  We know you think this stuff can't happen to your schools.  But, it is here and coming to a school system near you.  Read this clever and insightful blog, share it, and tell your elected officials you're not fooled.  You want excellent public schools for every child in TN.  You want community schools that are governed by the community; schools that are not there just to make a buck on the backs of kids with your tax dollars; schools that will not flip the school into a real estate deal and skip town when it doesn't work out.  Who loses?  Well, it is not going to be Rocketship. It will be the kids and the taxpayers.