NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — At their Tuesday night meeting, Metro Nashville Public Schools approved a $6.5 million settlement with five former employees.

The settlement is connected to a December 2023 court filing that claims in March 2020, MNPS asked then newly-appointed director Dr. Adrienne Battle to cut $100 million from the budget. While MNPS approved the reorganization, five "high-performing employees lost their positions and sued."

The filing also alleged that MNPS retaliated against employees who exercised their First Amendment rights, discriminated against at least one employee on the basis of age, retaliated against an employee on the basis of sex and violated Title VI laws that protect employees from forms of hiring discrimination.

Metro Councilmember for District 12, Erin Evans, spoke during the public participation portion of Tuesday night's meeting and said it was "disheartening" that the settlement is "almost a percent of COLA," or the cost of living adjustment, especially as MNPS came off what Evans called a "really difficult budget cycle." Evans pointed out this settlement exceeds the previous five years of settlements in aggregate.

"Consider: what are the actions that we can take improvements on as a city related to how we're handling things like challenging authority [and] having difficult conversations?" Evans said. "It is a similar discussion that we're having on the Council side related to departments, so you are not alone in thinking through how that should work."

The settlement was unanimously approved.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/mnps-settlement/