Rocketship Nashville’s New Name

by Kevin Bronk, Editor, Beyond

This week marks the beginning of professional development for our Nashville teachers; all are hard at work preparing to open our first school in the region.

Two months ago, taking part in one of my favorite Rocketship traditions, approximately 200 Rocketship families came together to officially name their new school: Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary. Parents name each school at a community meeting before it opens. In Nashville, Rocketship holds its community meetings on Mondays at both 9 AM and 6 PM to accommodate families’ work schedules and ensure that all who want to be included are able to. This open and collaborative process also extends to the establishment of a school’s values.

“Our first school in Nashville will be adopting the four Rocketship central core values – respect, responsibility, empathy, and persistence – but we’ll wait on adopting a fifth core value until after we open,” said Adam Nadeau, principal of Nashville Northeast Elementary. “This is to allow families to be a part of the choice of a fifth core value after our community has further coalesced.”

Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary will be the first of several public charter schools Rocketship hopes to open in the Metro Nashville area in the coming years. Located in a brand new building on Dickerson Pike, it will serve 450 students entering K through 4th grade in the inaugural 2014-15 school year. The second school, which has not been named yet, was approved by the Metro school board on Tuesday, June 24.

“We are excited to partner with the Metro Nashville School Board to provide additional high-quality school options in Nashville,” said Shaka Mitchell, Rocketship’s Tennessee Regional Director. “We are encouraged by the board’s affirmation of our second charter and especially the response we’ve had from parents across the city.”

Kevin works on the Rocketship Network Support Team and is the Editor of Beyond. He is a former Special Education teacher in San Jose, with experience teaching in both traditional public and Rocketship schools. He earned a BA in Journalism and Digital Arts from the University of Oregon. A current Bay Area resident, Kevin is passionate about education, story-telling and creative exploration. 

Published on July 11, 2014