E.D. Nixon elementary begins year as a charter school — but with a twist

At the beginning of the school year, parents returned to their car line etiquette: knowing which way to turn into the school, making two lines, waiting patiently for their children to come out. At E. D. Nixon, one of the newest conversion charter schools in Montgomery, teachers with walkie-talkies coordinated which child from which grade needs to get in each car. 

E. D. Nixon is a conversion charter school. In other words, the school was a traditional Montgomery Public Schools elementary that now has a separate board of directors. 

"The main difference for us was that a conversion stays within the district,” Ann Sikes said, explaining a conversion charter school as opposed to the more publicized start-up charters. 

Sikes is president of the Montgomery Education Foundation, which partnered with Phalen Leadership Academy to bring Montgomery conversion charter schools to fruition.

E. D. Nixon and Bellingrath Middle are joining Davis Elementary, converted in 2021, as MPS traditional schools turned conversion charter schools. As conversion charter schools, the funding from Montgomery Public Schools remains the same and zoned students can attend, but the school has some formal oversight from a Board of Directors, including parents, and some specific goals that must be completed over the course of the contract.

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MPS withholds some of the funds, so there can be administrative oversight of the conversion. The charter schools are governed by a separate board of directors, of which parents make up 20% of its members. During the contract, the schools must also meet certain performance goals.

Any increased performance and enrollment from the charter school benefit the greater MPS district.

During the start of the school years, the halls in E. D. Nixon were adorned with construction paper and empty charts. The decorations would later be filled with data points that show students’ progress through the year. 

Principal LaDedra Frazier came from Davis Elementary, another conversion charter school from the Montgomery Education Foundation and Phalen Leadership Academy. Her goal for the year is to create an atmosphere of joy and safety for the students that attend and their families. She has a fish tank near the main entrance of the school to encourage students to slow down and look. 

“So being able to come back and give back to this particular community,” she said, "it is just everything to me. Literally, it means everything to me. So, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here. I'm grateful to serve our community. I'm grateful to serve our scholars.” 

The school is part of a plan to turn the Sidney Lanier High School feeder pattern into charter schools. Sikes said the Montgomery Education Foundation wants a pathway for students to go through their school years. Over 60% of the students entering Lanier would come from a charter school based on this pattern. 

“That's a transformative opportunity,” Sikes said. 

Over 60% of third-graders were not reading on grade level when it was a traditional MPS school last year, according to released ACAP scores.  

Bridesia Webb, who teaches at Nixon, said this year is different from her past years in teaching because she has never had such a focus on just math and reading. She has taught in private, public and, now, charter — and said that that’s the learning curve piece of the puzzle. 

“And as I'm learning, I'm gaining more knowledge from it, which has allowed me to, you know, take that knowledge I've learned and give it to those scholars,” Webb said. 

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Frazier said that it was important to work with parents and the community. She wants the parents to be able to trust them. 

She said one of the concerns she has heard most from parents is safety. 

"Parents will — I don't care what, how many years you go through, or how many ways you ask — they will always put safety first" in terms of what they want in a school, Sikes said. 

The mission is to create a safe learning environment with measurable results. 

"If we don't get the culture and climate first, we'll never get to the academics,” Sikes said. 

Jemma Stephenson is the children and education reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at jstephenson@gannett.com or 334-261-1569.