Nashville Schools Superintendent May Disagree With State Takeover, But He’s Not Fighting It

Metro Schools superintendent Jesse Register has been working on turnaround plans even as the state works to take over one of Nashville’s low performers. Credit: Belmont University

This week teachers, parents and students at Neely’s Bend and Madison middle schools in Nashville will make a final plea to stay out of state control. But Metro Schools superintendent Jesse Register says he won’t fight the state takeover, even though he expects to disagree with the final decision.

“It’s not productive for me to – I use the analogy I’ve used before many times which I think is a very good one – to stand on one side of the river and throw rocks at them on the other side of the river,” Register said in an interview with WPLN.

The state’s Achievement School District had 15 low performing schools to choose from in Nashville, and Register says he was still hopeful that test results were on the upswing at both Neely’s Bend and Madison.

“Frankly, I wish we had the remainder of this year to see what the results are like at those two schools before action is taken,” Register said. “But that’s not my decision.”

The ASD has said it will turn one of the schools over to LEAD Academy. A final decision is expected December 12^th.