This was a wild week for the Achievement School District here in Memphis. Operators pulled out, parents and students protested, and the school board took steps to dissociate themselves from the ASD by ending co-location agreements and even attempted to pass legislation that would put a halt on the ASD’s acquisition of new schools until they have demonstrated their effectiveness with the schools they have (it was not passed).

Through it all the ASD ran its first round of community meetings. The purpose of these meetings was to give communities a chance to give people a chance to meet their prospective charter operators. Operators will be selected in December of this year.

The goals of the meetings aren’t stated on the site, and as far as I can tell they are really in place to serve as a first point of contact between the community and potential operators. From the meeting I attended, the majority of the meetings seemed to be oriented towards a Q&A portion between the operators and the community, with the ASD also on hand to answer questions.

To close out my coverage this week, I wanted to give a brief summary of each meeting and what happened. I wasn’t able to find information for several (Florida-Kansas, A Maceo and Denver Elementary) and would appreciate any first-hand accounts if you attended and are willing to provide them.

For each day I’ve included a summary of where the data comes from (me, someone else or other journalistic sources) and a short description of what transpired at that meeting to the best of my knowledge. Most sources preferred to speak on background and in such cases names will not be mentioned. Summaries have been supplemented with pictures where possible, with sources noted.

Monday, October 27^th – REHS, American Ways and Southside

Where the Information Comes From: I was not able to attend either meeting on this date, but was able to speak to individuals who attended about their experiences there, as well as glean a significant amount of information from other print and online journalism.

Raleigh Egypt High School (REHS)  (ASD and Green Dot) – This meeting went very poorly for the ASD and Green Dot. Multiple accounts shared with me the hostile atmosphere at this meeting. A school board member, Stephanie Love, termed it a “hostile takeover” in our conversation.

Those present also relayed to me that they were unimpressed with the organization of the meeting. Apparently teachers and community members sat in the auditorium for an extended period of time (almost an hour) with nothing occurring. This resulted in building frustration that spilled over into  the 30-45 minutes of questioning that took place.

All in all, first-hand accounts suggest that the Q&A displayed very angry and frustrated community. People shared their frustration with the selection process and questioned Green Dot’s performance at other schools. Chalkbeat reported a similar outcome, noting the anger and frustration present in the crowd by calling them “fired-up teachers, parents and community members.”

Post meeting, I was forwarded a piece of paper that recorded Green Dot’s test scores with its other schools. This document seemed to indicate that REHS had actually grown more in the past two years in math than any of Green Dot’s other schools. I haven’t been able to independently verify the information, but I’ve started to see a lot of these types of flyers expressing anti-ASD or charter messages floating around the past few days and as such wanted to report it for those purposes.

American Ways Middle (ASD and Yes Prep) – By far the worse meeting overall for the ASD and Yes Prep, neither organization was able to get its message out. Parents, teachers and students surrounded the auditorium and the stage. According to the Commercial Appeal, Yes Prep and the ASD tried for an hour to present their information, but eventually had to leave the auditorium midst pleas form the school’s principal to remain calm as they exited.

 

South Side did not hold a meeting as its operator has pulled out of the ASD matching process for next year.

Wednesday, October 29^th – Wooddale, Denver ES and A.Maceo Walker

Where the Information Comes From  – Again, I was not able to attend either meeting myself, so what I’ve learned I’ve gleaned from first-hand accounts of those who were there and what has been written in print and online journalism.

Denver Elementary (ASD, Libertas Montessori and Cornerstone) – The only information I have on Denver Elementary is a comment that it was a heated meeting and with a crowd that was clearly not pro-ASD. State Rep. Antonio Parkinson put out several tweets about the event, most notably this one (though I cannot independently verify whether or not this question was answered, I think it speaks to the type of atmosphere at the meeting):

She asked for data that shows the #ASD making progress. #NoAnswer http://t.co/1qdBdlrNUF

— Antonio Parkinson (@TNRepParkinson) October 29, 2014

 

 

A Maceo Walker (ASD and Yes Prep) – This meeting was described to me as a charged up meetings, but

also one that opened up the communication between Yes Prep and A Maceo Walker. Those who were there report frustrated parents but also parents looking for answers as to how they got there. Tajuana Cheshier from Chalkbeat did post this picture of a series of questions being passed around at the meeting (author unknown), which gives us a sense of what was likely discussed there. Unfortunately I don’t have any more particulars for this meeting at this time. If you were there I would love to get your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Wooddale Middle – Wooddale did have a meeting, however I have no knowledge of how it went as nobody that I know was able to attend.

Thursday, October 30^{th –} Florida-Kansas Elementary and LaRose Elementary, Airways Middle

Where the Information Comes From: I was able to attend the Airways Middle meeting first hand, and you can read my account from last night here. I was unable to attend the Florida-Kansas Elementary meeting for obvious reasons and would appreciate thoughts and experiences from anyone that was present at the meeting.

Florida-Kansas and LaRose Elementary (ASD and Scholar Academies) – From what I’ve been able to gather, it sounds as if the Florida-Kansas/LaRose Elementary meeting closely resembled my experience at Airways last night. Some anger and confusion, but mostly a lot of talking.  No major outbursts or disruptions.

Airways Middle (ASD and Yes prep) – probably the best meeting by the standards of the past three days and the only one that I had the chance to attend. Turnout was lower than what was reported at other meetings (I estimate between 80 and 100 compared to “hundreds” at the REHS meeting) but it got just as heated at times as had other meetings. Parents were angry and confused about what was happening. More than anything wanted answers about what was happening and why. More than once people in the audience stood up to vent their frustration at the process and at both the ASD and Yes Prep. However, we rarely saw anyone being overtly disrespectful to anyone. Mostly a lot of passion.

Questions focused primarily on why Yes Prep was only taking over one grade at a time, to which Yes Prep responded that this is the way their implementation model works. Overall I felt that Yes Pre and the ASD did a good job of answering those questions calmly and collectively. I was very impressed by Yes Prep’s superintendent, who did a great job of trying to respect everyone’s questions and deliver a straight answer. The meeting didn’t get terribly emotional until the end, when groups of teachers started standing up to directly challenge Yes Prep about its plans.

It was also good to see two state representatives present as both Reps. GA Hardaway and Raumesh Akbari were on hand to ask questions.

Contingents from other schools were also there to protest the ASD, notably a group of teachers at Southside that seem to be trying to organize a cross-school collaboration against the ASD. They left a flyer on the front of everyone’s car as we were leaving questioning the entire process (I’ll post a picture of it later).

Summary

The week began with a bang and ended with a simmer. These forums were the first time since the takeover announcement for people to express their frustration and discontent with the ASD and the process, and in many cases it boiled over into what I believe can be realistically termed a revolt, notably at Airways. However, this level of emotion did not carry through to other meetings throughout the week, at least not as strongly. That said it was still present, even at what was described to me as the best of the meetings at Airways. It will be interesting to see if this anger spurs any type of local anti-ASD organization or if it will fizzle and die much as it has in the past two years. Thoughout the week, I felt as if I was seeing signs of organization going on behind the scenes, but it remains to be seen what shape this organization will take, if any.

Readers, please also reach out to us if you have any on the record comments to contribute. [email protected]. Thanks to Chalkbeat for the great coverage this week.

Correction 11/1: an earlier version of this article said that there was no meeting at Wooddale on Wednesday. However, a meeting was held, but I have no information on that meeting.

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