A charter school is a free, public school, run by an independent operator, which has been granted greater flexibility in return for greater accountability. In Tennessee, charter schools must be registered nonprofit organizations and operate under a “charter” as approved by the local school district or state.

Our schools are located in North and South Nashville. To see the location of each of our schools, please visit our school pages here

There are no entry requirements to attend LEAD Public Schools. Our schools are open to all students in Davidson County in grades 5-12.

LEAD Cameron— Grades 5-8

LEAD Academy High— Grades 9-12

LEAD Neely’s Bend— Grades 5-8

LEAD Southeast Middle— Grades 5-8

LEAD Southeast High— Grades 9-12

As a public charter school, we are able to enroll families throughout the school year. Once you submit an application, a member of our Family and Community Engagement team will follow up with you within 48 hours to confirm next steps.

Yes, we provide free transportation services to our LEAD Public Schools families. Transportation is provided based on availability, and the process is initiated by completing an application. Transportation will be based on your current address which you will verify during the registration process.

Yes! All of our schools have sports teams and a diverse array of clubs and sports. Check out each individual school page to see specifically what is offered.

Yes, as a network of free, public charter schools, we remain committed to serving all of Nashville’s families.

We know that parents and families want to be confident that they are doing what’s best for their child, so our dedicated family and community engagement coordinators at each campus ensure parents and families have open lines of communication with the school and know how to get involved. 

Parent participation is vitally important to success at LEAD! Our goal is to meet parents where they are and enable them to be meaningful participants and collaborators in their child’s success. At LEAD, we track family engagement by measuring the percentage of families that we are able to effectively engage through our family engagement efforts. We have a goal to successfully engage 80% of our families through our family engagement efforts. In maintaining a robust family engagement calendar, and in order to successfully engage our diverse student body, we host activities that engage all of our students and families at their engagement ability. Here are some examples of how our parents gain participation hours: 

1. Volunteering
2. Bi-Weekly family Possip survey  
3. Attendance at on-campus events
4. Attendance at off-campus events
5. Supporting your scholar on campus (e.g., birthday celebrations, parent meetings, parent teacher communication) 
6. Parent/teacher conferences and/or student-led conferences
7. Providing resources to benefit students and families
8. Parent experience support – Communication with the campus on how we can do school better. 
9. Supporting your scholar at home with assignments 
10. Engaging in meaningful and intentional conversations with teachers, faculty, and staff throughout the year around your scholar’s educational journey

We place a great deal of emphasis on our school culture and maintaining a school environment that is both safe and welcoming to all. Part of that includes how our students dress. Our dress code is:

1. Pants and skirts that are khaki or navy blue (no sweat pants, joggers, jeans, black, or shorts)
2. Shirts and blouses with a collar that are green, navy blue, or white.
3. Plaid skirts are allowed in combinations of our school colors (khaki, navy, and green).
4. Only LEAD approved outerwear may be worn during school hours and it must be worn with a dress code-approved shirt (if visible)
5. Hat, hoods, scarfs, and headwraps are not to be worn in school, except for religious purposes.
6. Sweatshirts, hoodies and t-shirts must be LEAD branded or have a college, university or military logo.
7. Hoods are not to be worn in academic spaces.

Families can order uniforms, polos, and sweatshirts online. Feel free to visit our front office if you need to try on merchandise for sizing. We will cover shipping costs on shirts during the “back to school” order period which runs from June 24-August 4. Shirts will be shipped to the schools during this order period, and you are able to pick them up at your convenience. If you have specific questions, you can contact JBD at 704-841-8140 or by email at admin@jbdesigns.com.

We follow the Metro Nashville School Calendar. See the latest school calendar here.