Water Damage Restoration in Clarksville, TN

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) - A former student is suing a school system after he says he graduated with a 3.4 GPA but is unable to read or even spell his own name.

The student, who is referred to as “William A.” in the lawsuit, did not receive a “compensatory education” from the Clarksville Montgomery County School System, according to a ruling by the judge.

“William A. is dyslexic and graduated from high school with a 3.4 grade-point average. Yet even then he could not read. The school now challenges an order that it provides him with compensatory education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We affirm the order,” the ruling states.

In 2023, the parents of the student said that the school system failed to provide their son with a free appropriate public education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

In the complaint filed on Aug. 25, 2023, it stated that in June of 2023, Judge Phillip Hilliard awarded a substantial compensatory education to William A. due to the school system’s long-standing denial of FAPE.

William A. was awarded, “888 hours of compensatory education in the form of 5 sessions per week, at 1 hour per session, of Dyslexia tutoring from a reading interventionist trained to provide Dyslexia tutoring through the Wilson Reading and Language System.”

The parents wanted the Clarksville Montgomery County School System to pay for William A.’s contained education services.

In the complaint, it was stated that the Clarksville Montgomery County School System provided an individualized education plan for William A., but he showed no improvement in his reading ability throughout his middle and high school education. In the complaint, his parents said that through private tutoring, William A. was able to progress.

Following an appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit filed its judgment on Feb. 3, 2025, against the Clarksville Montgomery County School System. The court ruled that the school system did not provide the student with a FAPE, as his IEP did not help him overcome his particular obstacles to learning.

“Apart from his dyslexia itself, William’s most salient ‘circumstance’ for our purposes was that—with proper instruction—he can learn to read. See L.H., 900 F.3d at 795-96. The school has not even tried to prove that finding wrong, yet William graduated from high school without being able to read or even to spell his own name,” the ruling reads.

It was found that the student often used AI software to write papers.

“To write a paper, for example—as the ALJ described—William would first dictate his topic into a document using speech-to-text software. He then would paste the written words into an AI software like ChatGPT. Next, the AI software would generate a paper on that topic, which William would paste back into his own document. Finally, William would run that paper through another software program like Grammarly, so that it reflected an appropriate writing style,” the ruling states.

The judges ruled that William A.’s accommodations helped him learn the regular curriculum, but the workarounds given “simply did the work for him.”

The appellate court ruled that the Clarksville Montgomery County School System failed to provide an education tailored to the student’s needs as required by the IDEA.

“There is still pending litigation, and we cannot comment on pending litigation. Additionally, I would not be able to discuss specifics of the allegations due to state and federal student privacy laws,” Clarksville Montgomery County School System said in a statement to WSMV.

Copyright 2025 WSMV via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Some families in Clarksville and Montgomery County have been displaced because of flooding from this weekend’s heavy rain.

Nyrie Soto and her family had to abandon their home in the Woodlawn area after she said the first floor of their house flooded with water about 7 inches deep.

“We’ve never had to go through anything like this before,” Soto told News 2.

Soto, who is six months pregnant, said she took her kids to safety while her husband stayed behind with their dogs on the second floor.

“It was really scary and just having to be there with my four kids and trying to stay strong and trying to make sure they know that Daddy’s going to be okay, the dogs are going to be okay, we’ll get them out. It’s just going to take a little bit,” she said.

News 2 met Soto at Yaipak, a Clarksville-based nonprofit helping flood victims from all across the Southeast. Yaipak CEO Shery Nicholson estimates the organization will eventually provide services to about 60 to 80 Clarksville families.

“Over the course of the next few days and with the cold weather, we’ll deploy whatever is needed to make sure these families are safe and have what they need immediately,” said Nicholson.

Yaipak is currently helping flood victims by equipping them with essentials like clothes, food, and baby supplies to get by while they stay in temporary housing. If you have any questions, you’re asked to email info@yaioutreach.org or call 615-559-8272.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross has set up a shelter at Clarksville Seventh Day Adventist Church on Northfield Drive, according to Montgomery County officials.

All weekend, the Montgomery County Highway Department has been out monitoring roads, managing traffic, and assessing damage. Officials warned the Red River and the Cumberland River are expected to rise even higher, so residents are urged to avoid those areas and limit travel if possible.

Don’t forget to take the power and reliability of the WKRN Weather Authority with you at all times by downloading the News 2 Storm Tracker app.

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – For years, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System has made strides toward their goal of a 100% graduation rate. In November, CMCSS announced a 95.1% graduation rate, and in January they saw significant improvements to their state report card. But one of those graduates has come forward after slipping through the cracks: He received his diploma with a 3.4 GPA but cannot read or write.

According to court documents obtained by Clarksville Now, in 2016, the student referred to as “William” moved here with his parents who were active-duty servicemembers. William began attending 5th grade in CMCSS.

During that 5th grade year, CMCSS identified William as eligible for special education through reading assessment screening and placed him on an Individual Education Plan (IEP). During these screenings, William tested in the 8th percentile for reading comprehension, and the 2nd percentile for oral reading fluency – well below the 25th percentile for reading deficiency. In subsequent years, he would continue to score below the 10th percentile.

William participated in a Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA) that showed he could write only 40 words in three minutes, spelling 28 correctly. From 5th to 8th grade, the CBA showed minimal improvement, and by the 8th grade, in 2019-20, the small improvements he was making came to a stop.

On Jan. 13, 2020, CMCSS psychologist Brad Wooten reevaluated William to determine if he still had a disability under Tennessee standards. This evaluation showed that not only was William not improving, he was “regressing in the number of words he reads correctly per minute.”

On Jan. 29, 2020, the same day his new IEP was created, William’s teacher, Dr. Candice Leaverton, emailed a different school psychologist, Megan Christensen, asking her to “Please take a look at (William). I am very concerned.” When Christensen asked why, Leaverton responded, “I will have to talk to you later. This kid can’t read.”

NEWS TIPS: Do you have a local news tip? Email news@clarksvillenow.com or call us at 931-648-7720.

During the next school year, when William was in 9th grade, his average score on the eight English class tests in the first semester was approximately 65%. However, he routinely received scores of 100 for his classwork, homework, and “other” graded assignments, a trend that repeated in the second semester.

According to court documents, the average 9th grader reads 151 words a minute. William was reading only 59.

By the time William was in the 11th grade during the 2022-23 school year, he was doing everything he could to stay in good academic standing and achieve his goal of one day joining the Army. But by this point, William had screened in the “high-risk” category in only the 1st percentile of reading fluency nationally.

When filling out his 2022-23 IEP documentation, William misspelled his own last name twice, and he scored poorly on his final exams, even when he was assisted by an in-person reader.

He continued to score poorly on in-class testing and assessments and could have failed were it not for his “other” graded assignments that he was able to work on at home. William was able to get high scores on these take-home assignments by using a combination of ChatGPT and Grammarly. He would then have a software program read to him out loud and would make changes if it “didn’t sound right.”

Unfortunately, AI was unable to assist him when taking the ASVAB, a military entrance exam. In order to join, a student must score a minimum of 31, and William scored only a 7.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Sign up for our free Clarksville Now app

His teacher, Bethanie Hargett-Slack, told William’s mother, “(William) has a reading problem, he cannot read,” according to the court documents. On Nov. 3, 2022, William’s family began to pursue “outside resources.”

On Jan. 9, 2023, in 11th grade, William received an outside evaluation by psychologist Dr. Rebecca Townsend. By Jan. 26, 2023, Townsend had diagnosed William with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD and autism. “William thought he was struggling to read, but he did not know he was functionally illiterate,” court documents state.

Townsend concluded that William’s results were significantly below grade level and, “These scores are indicators that (William) has had academic difficulties for a significant amount of time without adequate remediation.”

When an additional evaluation was performed by a CMCSS psychologist, they found William only met the criteria for autism and ADHD. Townsend’s report is the first and only mention of William having dyslexia.

“Without using the word (‘dyslexia’), CMCSS grossly failed to deliver dyslexia-specific interventions from 5th grade to 11th grade,” the complaint states. All of the IEPs that William received from 5th to 11th grade remained virtually the same.

DON’T MISS A STORY: Sign up for the free daily Clarksville Now email newsletter

At the 2023-24 IEP meeting, for William’s 12th grade year, Dr. Sara McAfee, director of the Clarksville Center for Dyslexia, recommended implementing a 12-step program to teach reading to a dyslexic person, but it was refused.

Despite this, William began working in this program, known as the Wilson Reading and Language System. But the process takes three years minimum to complete for William become a functional reader.

William graduated from CMCSS in 2024 school year with a 3.4 GPA, a regular education diploma and functionally illiterate.

On July 28, 2023, the court awarded William 888 hours of compensatory education.

Appeals have been filed, including one from CMCSS on Feb 3, 2025, arguing that since William had passed with a 3.4 GPA, and they had provided accommodations during his attendance, that the ruling for compensatory education should be overruled. The court stood by their original order.

When contacted by Clarksville Now, CMCSS declined to comment, saying that litigation is still pending.

One of William’s attorneys, Justin Gilbert, declined to comment.

LATEST NEWS: Check out the most recent Clarksville news articles

An appeals court has decided that the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System did not provide a graduate with dyslexia proper education while he was a student in the district.

On Feb. 3, the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the ruling made earlier this year by district Judge Phillip Hilliard, awarding the former student's family with compensatory instruction hours post graduation. The lawsuit refers to the student as "William A." and uses the initials of his parents.

The previous ruling states that the school district would provide “888 hours of compensatory education in the form of 5 sessions per week, at 1 hour per session, of dyslexia tutoring from a reading interventionist trained to provide dyslexia tutoring through the Wilson Reading and Language System.”

The lawsuit states that William A., who graduated with a 3.4 grade-point average, could not read even though he had an individualized education plan (IEP).

Court documents detail Williams A's struggles in school despite having an an IEP, being diagnosed with dyslexia, and in one instance, being denied changes to his IEP for extra help, concluding that the school system did not provide an adequate education.

Documents outline struggles during school career

According to court documents, William A. enrolled in CMCSS in fifth grade and was determined to have a learning disability that impaired his skills in reading, writing and math.

William A. was set up with an IEP that included language therapy with a speech pathologist and six hours a week of one-on-one instruction with reading, writing, and math. He also received other accommodations, such as additional time to take tests.

Court documents say that each year, the school and William A.'s parents reviewed the IEP and made adjustments, but throughout middle school, the plan and his reading skills remained largely the same. Court documents say he tested below the 10th percentile in reading fluency and didn't meet any of his IEP fluency goals.

According to the appeal court, when he was in high school, a special education teacher expressed concern that his IEP wasn't helping him make progress, and the teacher emailed school administrators and said, "This kid can't read."

In 11th grade, a teacher suggested to William A.'s mother that he might have dyslexia and was evaluated by a school psychologist who concluded that he did have dyslexia, court documents say.

Outside help for dyslexia denied

During the winter of his 11th-grade year, William A.'s parents arranged for private tutoring from dyslexia specialist, Dr. Sarah McAfee, who focused more on basic skills like alphabetic sequencing and syllable recognition, rather than the reading fluency instruction he received in school.

That February, McAfee recommended that William A. continue the program as part of his IEP for the upcoming year, which was rejected by the school, who instead proposed that William continue with his existing plan.

The document continues to say that William A.'s parents signed his IEP, expressing concern that he wasn't "receiving all of the support he needs to be successful," as recorded in the IEP.

In March 2023, his parents filed an administrative complaint under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which offers federal money to states to help educate children with disabilities.

Three months later, a due-process hearing was held with 10 witnesses testifying, including three of William A.'s teachers, three school administrators and two special-education teachers, including McAfee.

'Free and appropriate education' questioned

The appeal document says that their main concern was that William A. was being denied the "free and appropriate public education" the IDEA entitled him to, also raising claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

"The ALJ and the district court alike found that William A.’s IEPs were not tailored to his circumstances—because those plans focused on fluency, while bypassing more foundational skills necessary for him to read," the document reads.

"William did not receive that education here. Apart from his dyslexia itself, William’s most salient “circumstance” for our purposes was that—with proper instruction—he can learn to read," the appeals document read. "The school has not even tried to prove that finding wrong; yet William graduated from high school without being able to read or even to spell his own name. That was because, per the terms of his IEPs, he relied on a host of accommodations that masked his inability to read."

'Workaround' enables student to pass requirements

The document explains that to write a paper, William A. would use speech-to-text software and paste written words into an AI software like ChatGPT, which would generate a paper on whatever topic, running the paper through a program like Grammarly for accuracy in spelling, grammar and style.

Although not specifically said in his IEP, the process was enabled by allowing 24 extra hours to complete his assignments, allowing him to do it at home, using whatever technology.

The "workaround did the work for him," the court decision said.

"The school is right to point out that the IDEA does not guarantee any particular outcome, such as learning to read. But when a child is capable of learning to read, and his IEP does not aim to help him overcome his particular obstacles to doing so, that IEP does not provide him the 'free appropriate public education' to which he is entitled. Such was the case here."

School district responds

"There is still pending litigation, and we cannot comment on pending litigation," said Anthony Johnson, CMCSS communications director.

"Additionally, I would not be able to discuss specifics of the allegations due to state and federal student privacy laws (FERPA). For CMCSS’ grading policy, click here. For CMCSS’ promotion and retention policy, click here. For CMCSS’ dyslexia resources, click here."

The school district has screenings for dyslexia with the following processes to address the issue, according to the district website:

• Observation/checklist forms will be provided to parent(s) and teacher(s)

• Administration of an early literacy skills (diagnostic) measure

• Results gathered and reviewed with parent(s) to inform instruction and intervention needs.

Kenya Anderson is a reporter with The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper.

Robert Briggs // Shutterstock

Highest-rated Mexican restaurants in the Clarksville area by diners

Just like cuisine from any country, Mexican food is not monolithic. It isn't just combo plates and tacos. (Not that there's anything wrong with that style of food; it's delicious and is responsible for popularizing Mexican food in the United States.) But Mexican food means more than that.

It reflects Mexico's diverse population—shaped by waves of immigration—and has proliferated throughout the U.S., showcasing the cuisine in all its complexity and regionality. Mexico has 32 distinct regional styles of cooking, and thanks to immigrant chefs and the rise of promising culinarians of Mexican descent looking to share their signature dishes, Indigenous foodways, and ingredients from various regions, diners are reframing their idea of "Mexican food."

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center analysis of SafeGraph data, 1 in 10 restaurants in the U.S. serve Mexican food, and nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. counties have at least one Mexican restaurant. The analysis also reveals that California and Texas are home to a majority of the Mexican American population and together host 2 out of 5 Mexican restaurants in the country.

These findings serve as a testament to the influence Mexican cuisine has had and continues to have in America. Which begs the question: Where does one go for the best old-school Mexican restaurants, loncheras slinging tacos out of a half-window, and innovative modern Mexican food pushing culinary boundaries?

To help you out, Stacker compiled a list of the highest-rated Mexican restaurants in the Clarksville area based on diners' reviews on Yelp as of February 2025. Restaurants with at least 20 reviews tagged as "Mexican" on Yelp within a 10-kilometer radius of Clarksville were included. As a result, some restaurants featured may serve other food items besides Mexican food. Also, in an effort to highlight independent businesses and local chains, those with more than 50 locations nationally, based on the Yelp data, were not included.

Keep reading to see if your favorite Mexican spot made the list or to discover a new restaurant to try!

You may also like: Highest-rated barbecue restaurants in the Clarksville area by diners