The Connect Magazine_Spring 2017

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Stay CONNECTed! also will serve as a fundraising mechanism for KA
through advertising revenue. The school is supported by tax dollars and
grants primarily.
KA’s first classrooms opened in 2012 in Crossing Plaza, across
from the Chevy place on Hickory Hollow Parkway. Situated outside of
Nashville, the charter school network moved into empty strip mall space
with a burger joint, dental care and gem store as its neighbors and a
public library less than a mile from its doors. The school started out with
fifth and sixth grades, then gradually ramped up each year. Taking up
more and more of the strip mall space, KA is expected to use 125,000
square feet next year when the enrollment of 625 is projected to bulge
to 850 students. It’s not a small school.
What’s got KA and its community partners so excited is the potential
impact the school could have on economically-challenged families.
Fuller, who comes from a family of educators, said he decided on
building a charter school after seeing that many communities “didn’t
have access” to choices. “Education is the pathway to get the best
opportunities in life,” he said. “Families play an important, critical role.”
Ninety percent of the KA students are eligible for free and reduced
price lunch. Enrollment is open to anyone who lives in Davidson
County, and students represent a diversity of cultures: 42 percent
African-American, 34 percent Hispanic, 20 percent Arabic, 3 percent
Caucasian and 1 percent Asian. English is a second language for many
students’ families, which complicates their helping children with
homework and speaking with teachers. But KA, in partnership with
Nashville Literacy, is helping those families by holding language classes
on campus twice a week for family members. “In some countries, the
teacher is given full authority,” said Cheryl Hadley, manager of the
English for Language Learners class. “It’s been really cool to watch
(parents) become more empowered and engaged.”
Also complicating involvement is the complexity of what students
are being asked to learn these days, Fuller said, thus, it is harder for
parents to help with homework. KA tries to bridge the gap by making
the school a welcoming place that family members feel they can visit
and ask questions. The school also has provided information to adults on
how they may further their own education. At Family Council Meetings,
held the third Thursday of each month, 100 or more families are
typically represented. Fuller says that’s a significant show of support and
not a one-time event. “We see our level of engagement is a lot higher
than the norm,” Fuller said.
Adults also connect to the school through cultural celebrations
held from time to time and “Saturday school” events like a walk for
breast cancer awareness. School leaders work on inserting “real things
happening in the community” into the atmosphere of the KA campus.
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM SPRING 2017 | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 19