Tennessee State University President Portia Shields and her team have submitted an application to launch a K-8 charter school as part of Metro Schools' push into alternative structures. Twelve other groups, including Randy Dowell's KIPP Academy, have thrown their hat in the ring.

The charter school, governed by a board that would include TSU's deans, would allow the university to live up to a "responsibility for helping our neighborhood," she said. "You should see loving arms wrapped around the children in the neighborhood and supported by our students, our faculty and staff, and the community ... ," Shields said.