Memphis-Shelby County Schools moves on strategic plan, closing, merging schools under new district name

Newly dubbed Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the district has started to make good on its proposed Reimagine 901 plan's facilities changes unveiled last spring, with the first major facility changes receiving required board vote Tuesday.

Shady Grove and Alton Elementary Schools will both close at the end of the school year, impacting about 600 students and their families and teachers. Other schools will relocate to new buildings.

Board members voted unanimously to change the name of the district and close and merge its schools as part of a consent agenda with more than 30 items. There was no board discussion during the business meeting.

The district's plan, unveiled last April, includes the school facilities plan as well as an academic plan, both impacted by the district's infusion of hundreds of millions of federal funding in the three rounds of COVID-19 stimulus.

From April: SCS proposes building 5 schools, closing about 15, adding on to 13. Here are details

"We can’t wait to dismantle systems that perpetuate inequities in education,” Superintendent Joris Ray said in his report Tuesday evening when discussing the facilities plan. He told board members about sleeping in the board auditorium for a seat in an optional school when he was a student in Memphis.

“We want to create high quality seats for all of our children,” Ray said. “...It starts tonight.”

The plan is the first from Ray, who inherited a a "footprint" consolidation plan left by former Superintendent Dorsey Hopson in the final weeks of his tenure. The district had planned to share a long-term plan with the county in 2020, but never did. The new plan builds off Hopson's consolidation plan, which called for 28 school closures, 10 new buildings and additions to five buildings, an effort to address hundreds of millions in deferred maintenance projects and thousands of open seats for students.

Ray's plan, as unveiled in April, proposed five new schools and closures for about 13 to 15 others, mostly through consolidation. The plan proposes additions to at least 13 existing schools. Changes would occur via board votes through 2031.

The board's approval Tuesday on the school consolidations follows a slate of hundreds of millions of dollars in HVAC updates and paving voted upon in November, efforts from the district to pay down a deferred maintenance bill of half a billion dollars. The board also voted at the time to add classroom additions to six schools.

School closings: SCS poised to close two schools, combine and expand others in first steps of new plan

Below are the changes M-SCS proposed and the board approved Tuesday night:

• Students who go to Shady Grove Elementary will instead be split between White Station Elementary, about 2 miles away, and Dexter K-8, a proposed combination of Dexter Elementary, about 7 miles away, and Dexter Middle School.
  

• Students who go to Alton Elementary will instead go to A. B. Hill Elementary, just under 2 miles away, a school that is part of the iZone, a district program with additional student supports.
  

• Relocating Maxine Smith STEAM Academy, a middle school in midtown, to operate about 2 miles away in the same building as East High School, which also has a STEM program. The relocation alleviates space for seats for Maxine Smith STEAM Academy as well as Middle College High School, a high-performing optional school with dual enrollment options at Christian Brothers University that is sought by district's families
  

• Relocating Northwest Prep Academy to the Airways Middle School building
  

• Relocating Airways Achievement Academy to the district's Norris Elementary building
  

• Expanding Mt. Pisgah Middle School to a middle and high school by adding a new grade of about 100 students. The school will have a STEM focus in a "Middle College theme," per the district, a reference to the optional school offering dual enrollment courses with Christian Brothers University.
  

• Rezoning some Ridgeway High School students to White Station High School, a move the district says will "increase district enrollment and recruitment of non-SCS students."
  

• Creating an agri-STEM program for Bolton High School, which will require an application process for students who want to participate

During the April presentation, the district proposed developing or selling the Shady Grove Elementary and Northwest Prep properties, among four others. Alton Elementary would become an early childhood headquarters, the district proposed at the time.

Those next plans for the facilities were not part of the presentation to the board or the board's vote.

In a prior work session, Ray again invoked Martin Luther King Jr. as he told board members the plans were focused on equity for students, and that changes couldn't wait. He said Tuesday the district doesn't "make haphazard decisions."

Some spoke in support of the changes, but others were critical.

Several Shady Grove community members spoke at a previous board meeting, urging the board to reconsider. Critics of the Maxine Smith and East High merger have said they are supportive of the plan but wanted to board to delay a year to sort out the logistics of the parking and traffic in the area, as well as the classrooms.

Board impact reports show 341 students attend Shady Grove, but most travel outside of the zone to attend the school. The building has $1.6 million in deferred maintenance costs. Alton has 256 students, a drop in enrollment from just over 300 last year. The building has $2.2 million in deferred maintenance compared to $850,000 in deferred maintenance at A.B. Hill, where the students will go instead.

Projected cost savings in the first year come mostly from eliminating duplicate staff, the documents show.

Ray told reporters after that meeting that "if you're a teacher, you're going to have a job. I can assure you that."

The district is currently hiring for vacancies.

As for academics, Shady Grove and Dexter Elementary, where most Shady Grove students are zoned, performed similarly, documents show. A.B. Hill has higher academic outcomes compared to Alton, according to district documents for recent school years.

More: Renaming SCS: District wants 'Memphis' back, eight years after merger

While the facilities changes will take place at the end of the school year, the district's name change is immediate, as part of a 5-year plan. The change will include new email addresses and a new website.

The name change won't cost additional funding, communications chief Jerica Phillips has said, explaining costs were baked into the most recent budget. The district's budget book mentions the name change but does not specify costs. It is not immediately clear how marketing costs for the district fluctuated year to year.

Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools: closings, merging schools