Lawsuit: Metro schools removed students to inflate scores
A lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of a former Metro Nashville Public Schools student alleges high schools in the district removed some kids from class to help inflate the district's year-end exam scores.
The lawsuit, filed at about 4:15 p.m. by Nashville attorney Gary Blackburn, says former Pearl-Cohn High School student Toni Jones was pulled out of algebra by an assistant principal after taking a predictive test to take remedial classes despite having a passing grade. The Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County is listed as the defendant.
The lawsuit, with which lawyers are seeking class-action status, claims the credit recovery program used by the district has little supervision and the student fell behind in her studies. Jones was then not allowed to take the End-of-Course exam that accompanies the subject, the suit claims.
"The school did not inform (Jones) of the consequences of the practice exams, or that poor performance could lead to her removal from class, placement in a purported remedial program that lacked direct teacher instruction, or cause significant delay in promotion to the next grade level and in obtaining her high-school diploma," the suit says.
The next year, Jones was assigned to take geometry — which doesn't have a state year-end exam — and she struggled, according to the suit. She was then not given remedial classes, the suit claims.
The suit alleges Jones, and other students with a similar experience, had a "constitutionally protected property interest in her public education," of which she was deprived. The end result was a negative impact to Jones' education, the suit says.
A Metro Schools spokeswoman couldn't comment on the suit because she hadn't discussed the details with the district's attorney.
Blackburn said Monday evening the basic premise of the suit is that the student has a "property interest" in her education.
"You can't be deprived life, liberty or property without due process of law," Blackburn said.
Blackburn said the district did this to students for personal and institutional ambition.
"The students were all removed to try to enhance the scores for school authority, so they could brag over accomplishments they had not achieved," he said. "The lives of the children and their economic progress has been impacted."
The district recently asked its employees to report any practices that helped inflate test scores by removing students who administrators felt would score lower after allegations surfaced in a recent broadcast news report. WTVF News Channel 5 has featured sources alleging some Metro high schools used practices to help pad year-end exam scores.
Reach Jason Gonzales at 615-259-8047 and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.
This story has been updated to clarify that the lawyers filing the lawsuit are seeking class-action status.