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MNPS outlines Grow Together early-childhood expansion, seeks capital support for employee child care
Summary
Metro Nashville Public Schools presented an update on its Grow Together birth-to-3 and prekindergarten expansion, including a care-bag distribution program, a text-messaging family service, inclusive 'Access for All' pre-K classrooms, and a proposal for employee child care that would require capital funding.
Metro Nashville Public Schools officials gave the board a detailed update on the district’s Grow Together early‑childhood initiative, including programs for birth‑to‑3 families and plans to expand prekindergarten offerings and employee childcare.
Deputy David Williams said the initiative uses five birth‑to‑3 strategies — a Grow Together website, play dates and child‑development courses, a text messaging service, family care bags and home/televisits — and aims to connect more families with resources before children enter preschool. "A young child's brain is growing and developing rapidly," Williams said, adding the program seeks to help families access information and supports at that early stage.
The district reported more than 300 families have signed up for the Grow Together newsletter and that staff distributed care bags at community events, including a Hispanic Family Foundation baby shower and Matthew Walker events. Williams said an initial round of “over 200” care bags was distributed and that the district received seed funding from PNC and included care bags in its state model‑school grant; staff said they plan to increase distribution “by 30” this year, as described in the presentation.
Director Lori Flemings described the pre‑K expansion plan. MNPS said it currently operates about 80 pre‑K classrooms across 65 school sites and plans to add classrooms and sites, including a new pre‑K program at Percy Priest and a proposed early learning center at Hillwood High School pending capital funding. Flemings outlined an "Access for All" inclusion model that places 4 students with individualized education plans (IEPs) and 16 general‑education students in a 20‑seat classroom, and said the district expects to include roughly 60 students with IEPs in gen‑ed pre‑K classrooms in 2025–26 under that model.
Flemings and Williams discussed a proposed Grow Together Academy offering employee child care. Staff said converting facilities for an initial four‑classroom site would serve about 45–50 children. They described a construction conversion ratio of three existing classrooms into two configured for employee childcare and said capital funding would be required; staff described the capital request as for retrofitting spaces, with operating arrangements to be determined (options include leasing to a community partner or operating a district program).
Board members asked about outreach to diverse family types, costs, licensing and timelines. Member Elrod asked whether the $2,500,000 figure referenced on a slide covered capital only; staff replied that amount was for capital and retrofitting and that operating costs remained under consideration. Member Young asked whether the district was reaching adoptive families; staff said they would add adoption agencies to outreach lists and noted Mary Shell Bonifacio, the district’s community outreach coordinator for kindergarten readiness, leads outreach work. Member O'Hara Block asked about enrollment and wait lists; staff said pre‑K enrollment was about 3,168 at the end of last year and roughly 3,080 as of March 7, with Southeast Nashville having the highest wait list.
Staff characterized Grow Together as a mix of district programming and community partnerships: the district maintains the website, newsletter and text service, distributes branded care bags and posts links to community home‑visit providers (Nashville Strong Babies, Nurses for Newborns, Nurture the Next). Williams said the district aims to expand the birth‑to‑3 text service beyond existing preschool families and to exceed 1,000 family signups for that service as part of an aspirational operations plan.
The presentation included several requests for board support: approve funding requests in upcoming capital or aspirational budget proposals, sign up and promote the newsletter, and advocate for community partnership and investment. No formal board action was taken during the presentation aside from questions and direction to pursue outreach and funding options.
