A number of questions arise from these emails:
- Why is the Mayor spending $250,000 on BES for two single, young adults (BES Fellows) from outside of Nashville to start charter schools?
- Did any of the $250,000 go to BES for writing charter applications for the Fellows? If the BES Fellows are not writing their applications, does Alan Coverstone or the school board know it?
- The influence of these charter management companies on Metro government is growing. Is the Dean charter school program an attempt to check public unions? Will independent charter schools have a level playing field to compete with the BES charters?
- Were the BES applications given extra time last year? Did the Metro department overseeing the selection process show favoritism to BES?
- How much money does Linda Brown at BES make? Is BES committed to non-profit transparency?
- Why wasn't the charter incubator open to all applicants? Are there no qualified leaders in Nashville?
- How will Metro insure that BES Fellows do not artificially produce higher test scores by getting rid of underperforming students and drilling others?
- Why did Alan Coverstone move to get the BES schools in quickly? How were the local applicants judged against the BES Fellows?
Regardless of these questions, one of the BES Fellows was already selecting students in North Nashville last week:
If Metro government has not been transparent about the selection process for these BES Fellows, will it be open about how many of these kids actually achieve the learning goals of privatized public education?