Nashville School District presents annual report highlighting enrollment, safety upgrades and funding totals

The Nashville School District presented its annual report to the public, reviewing enrollment and staffing, facility upgrades, safety measures and funding totals.

Mister Evans, principal of National Primary, told the board the primary school currently has kindergarten at 112, first grade 100, second grade 119 and third grade 115, supported by 43 certified faculty and 16 classified staff. "We have 24 of them have master's degrees," he said, and noted one National Board–certified teacher and additional staff pursuing advanced training. He also described summer projects including floor refinishing, new playground borders, a new sandbox and partial fence work, and said a new campus sign is up with window wraps to be installed soon.

Evans highlighted parent communication work with a vendor, Apogee, to give families streamlined access to classroom and behavior updates through a district mobile application and portal. He said the district will issue regular written communications and use the portal to keep families informed.

The principal described a new state requirement affecting third graders: "Beginning this year, all third grade students must demonstrate proficiency in language arts in order to be promoted in fourth grade," Evans said, adding that the requirement is based on the ATLAS summative assessment. He said the district will notify families starting in second grade for students performing at the lowest level and will provide interventions and monitoring; exemptions include English learners with fewer than three years of intervention, students previously retained, and students with documented good cause such as traumatic injury.

Finance and demographic figures came from Mister Gordon, who reported preliminary state approval for federal programs (Title I–V, Title I migrant) totaling $1,011,979.52 and a current federal balance of $807,550.74. He said preliminary state categorical funds (Act 59) are $2,093,990.62 and that the district had spent about 15% of that allocation so far. Gordon also gave a student-ethnicity breakdown: 53.8% white, 24.5% Hispanic and roughly 20% African American, with the remainder including Native American and Pacific Islander students.

On safety, Gordon and other presenters described districtwide investments: commissioned school safety officers (14 active CSSO members with two in training), weapon detection systems, a Hall Pass visitor management system, upgraded camera coverage, an upgraded intercom and a panic-button alert system that routes alerts to local law enforcement. The district also uses an anonymous tip reporting system for students and parents.

The board was reminded that written reports on dyslexia, gifted and talented programs, ESL and special education are included in the board packet and that oral presentations on those topics will follow.

The meeting closed with the board chair thanking district staff and praising the work of teachers and support personnel.