The Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) Board this week considered changing eligibility rules for admission to its two highly successful academic magnet schools – Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School and Hume-Fogg Academic High School. If adopted, all prospective students would be subject to a lottery system for admission.
The proposed rule change would not go into effect until the 2024 – 2025 school year, but if adopted, would sever established pathways for entry into MLK and Home-Fogg. Currently, Meigs Middle School and John Early Middle School serve as pathway schools to Hume-Fogg, while Head Middle School and Rose Park Middle School serve as pathways to MLK.
Board member Emily Masters introduced the proposed amendment at this week’s MNPS Governance Committee meeting.
Masters told the board, “What I’m trying to do now, with the board we have, that clearly has an equity focus, is for us to take a crack at providing a directive through policy that we are no longer ok with these academic magnets not being representative of the diversity of our city as a whole.”
Hume-Fogg and MLK are two of the city’s highest-performing high schools, regularly securing state and national accolades. Hume-Fogg was recently included in US News & World Report’s top 100 public high schools in the country. MLK came in at #219 on the list, containing nearly 18,000 traditional, magnet, charter, and STEM schools.
Masters, who is up for re-election next year, shared data provided by the district that showed that despite academic achievement, the schools suffer from a lack of diversity.
- 22 percent of the district’s Asian high school students go to either MLK or Hume-Fogg
- 17 percent of the district’s white high school students go to either MLK or Hume-Fogg
- 0.06 percent of the district’s Black high school students go to either MLK or Hume-Fogg
- 0.02 percent of the district’s Hispanic or Latino high school students go to either MLK or Hume-Fogg
Fellow board members had reservations about removing the pathways. They spoke of a need for more community engagement and a deeper dive into available data before adopting the amendment.
“Overall, I would be interested in how many students across the district are qualifying for our academic magnets.” Board member Erin O’Hara Block said, “Of those who qualify, where are they coming from, how many are then accepting the academic magnet slot? What impacts that?”
Under the current rules, students who wish to attend one of Nashville’s academic magnets must meet the following requirements:
- 80 GPA or higher (Quarter 3, Quarter 4, and Quarter 1)
- No missing or failing grades
- Met or exceeded expectations on TCAP (previously labeled On Track or Mastered)
- State or national stanine of 14 or higher
Students who wish to enroll in Meigs Middle School must meet the same requirements. Parents can enroll their children in the other pathways schools without meeting any academic requirements.
This year, 477 students applied to attend Hume-Fogg HS. Of the students admitted, 139 came from a pathway school, and 135 came from a school outside the established pathway. One hundred seventeen students were waitlisted.
Meigs Middle School received 455 applicants, with 243 students selected. The number of applicants was higher than last year but significantly lower than in previous years. The middle school waitlisted 185 students.
MLK had 229 applicants for its 7th-grade class, and 229 applied for 9th-grade. Of those applicants, 212 came from an established pathway, and 40 came from outside the pathway schools. Seventy-five students were wait-listed.
Neither school had the highest number of students waitlisted. Overton High School, a zoned school, had 142 students wait-listed. Lead Academy, a Nashville charter school, had 148 students wait-listed.
The amendment was tabled for further review but is expected to be brought forth again in the near future.
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TC Weber is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. He writes the blog Dad Gone Wild. Follow TC on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]. He’s the proud parent of two public school children and the spouse of a public school teacher.
