Nashville education blogger TC Weber takes a deep dive into the data to find out about nearly 1500 students leaving MNPS well after the school year started.
Between August 12 and October 1, Metro Nashville Public Schools lost 1,481 students.
Just shy of 1,500 kids disappeared from Nashville’s zoned schools in six weeks.
The schools losing the most students are not fringe campuses or experimental programs. They are the district’s cornerstone comprehensive schools:
MNPS has entered into a contract with Eduservice, Inc., doing business as CT3, to pilot a program in which teachers receive real-time instructional feedback via an earpiece while teaching. According to contract language approved in May, the program is framed as a “comprehensive professional development” initiative focused on instructional practice and classroom management.
Nashville education blogger TC Weber takes a look at some well-intentioned legislation that may end up presenting more problems than it solves.
State Senator Bill Powers (R–Clarksville) has announced plans to sponsor legislation requiring school districts and public charter schools to implement a computer system for documenting what the bill describes as “early warning signs” related to student health, safety, and behavior. According to public statements, these signs would include bullying, harassment, intimidation, mental health concerns, substance abuse, and self-harm.
At first glance, the intent appears straightforward: identify concerns earlier and intervene before harm occurs. The difficulty lies in the details.
As Weber notes, information documented about students tends to remain in databases – traveling with the student, creating a profile, opening or closing options.
From a family perspective, the stakes are equally high. Students do not reset each academic year. Behavioral records can follow them for years, shaping perceptions long after the original incident has passed. Any system that formalizes behavioral data must grapple with the possibility of long-term impact based on short-term judgment.
More fundamentally, this proposal reflects a recurring pattern in education policy: diagnosing relational problems as data deficits.
Schools do not struggle because they lack information about students. They struggle because time, staffing, and structural support for meaningful relationships have been systematically reduced.
Students at one Nashville high school are learning about business management and cooking by operating a food truck, NewsChannel5reports:
McGavock High School students are getting hands-on experience in both culinary arts and business management through their food truck program called Raider Bites.
The program, which launched in recent months, teaches students everything from cooking and food preparation to financial management and customer service. Matthew Long, a student who serves as sous chef of the food truck, said the experience has prepared him for college and beyond.
A media release from the Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF) announces the 2026 class of Nashville Teacherpreneurs and explains more about the program:
The Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF) announced the latest cohort of the Teacherpreneur program, marking its fifth year and continuing its partnership with founding supporter Amazon. Since 2021, the Teacherpreneur program has supported over 40 educators to develop their innovative solutions for removing barriers to student success, with winners receiving cash prizes and access to seed funding for implementation.
Some of the issues being considered by cohort members include creating employment certification pathways for multilingual students, increasing resources for family engagement programs, building support for first year teachers, and facilitating stronger connections to magnet school opportunities. The cohort experience will culminate in a pitch event in March 2026, where educators will present their ideas to a panel of community judges for a chance to win a share of $25,000, as well as funding to support the implementation of their ideas. The fifth Teacherpreneur cohort includes:
Nashville education blogger TC Weber talks about what passes for leadership in school system central offices:
Most district administrators began their journey as classroom teachers. They know kids. They know learning. They know what works and what absolutely does not. Deep down—buried under layers of jargon, compliance documents, and motivational posters—they recognize the absurdity of much of what they’re pushing.
Nobody who has spent more than 10 minutes with actual children believes that forcing every kid to be on the same page at the same time in the same way is a kid-centered practice. It’s not even an adult-centered practice. It’s a bureaucrat-centered practice.
No one with chalk dust buried in their bloodstream believes loading down a teacher with mandates, trainings, videos, forms, surveys, dashboards, rubrics, walk-throughs, and “fidelity checks” is a recipe for success. It’s a recipe for burnout, and we’ve watched that soufflé collapse again and again.
The latest Educators’ Cooperativenewsletter includes a teacher spotlight:
Meet Cohort 3 EdCo Member Natalie Elliott, a cross-sector and interdisciplinary collaboration all-star! This year, she used our “EdCo in the Classroom” Member Services, to enrich her Gifted and Talented (GATE) classroom at Waverly-Belmont Elementary.
As part of their “Physics of Toys” unit, Natalie requested an EdCo Exchange collaboration with Built Technologies engineer (and EdCo Board Member) Thomas Schlegel. He visited her 5th graders for a career talk, case study, and to help Natalie with her teacher-led project: an in-class toy design activity.Natalie knew exactly what her students would want to talk about (Labubus) and exactly what they would need to successfully design toys (small groups, lots of engagement, and many chances to debrief with their peers).In classic EdCo fashion, Natalie even extended the learning beyond her own classroom and invited another teacher’s class to join the talk and plan their own toy designs for the project ahead alongside her students.
WSMV-TV Nashville reports that a Metro Nashville Schools bus driver was struck by an elementary school student:
A driver was injured Monday morning after being struck by an elementary student while on a school bus.
Metro Nashville Public Schools confirmed a Waverly-Belmont Elementary School student struck the driver on a general education bus Monday morning, “causing minor injuries.”
