More news on the ASD front here in Memphis. Chalkbeat reported this past Thursday that Green Dot public schools is pulling out of their agreement to take over Raleigh-Egypt High School (REHS), citing “lack of community buy-in.”

Green Dot joins Freedom Prep and KIPP in a growing group of charter organizations who have pulled out from their agreement to take over schools here in Memphis. This leaves the ASD with only half of the twelve takeover schools that they announced last month with a potential charter operator.

Lots of great quotes from the article. First is Chalkbeat’s take on how this impacts the ASD’s overall matching process:

Today’s development delivers another blow to the ASD’s “matching” process. Under that process, the ASD coordinates get-to-know-you meetings and informational events between charter schools and some of the lowest performing schools in the state to help the ASD and a board of community members decide how and whether to intervene in particular schools. Shelby County Schools board members, parents, and teachers have described the matching process as confusing, demoralizing and destructive to schools.

Second, REHS’ new principal had some choice words to say about the ASD’s takeover process and Green Dot:

“I don’t really understand it as a first-year principal [at REHS],” Griffin said about the takeover process. “I know the governor believes in it but I still believe it’s the people, not the programs that make a difference in schools. If there were one program, we’d all be doing it.” Griffin also took issue with Green Dot being an out-of-state charter network, saying its staff wouldn’t understand the particular challenges of the Raleigh neighborhood, including gang violence and intense poverty.

Third, Chalkbeat also notes the success of another Green Dot takeover, Fairley High School, pointing out that it was able to garner community investment:

Last year, Green Dot took over Memphis’ Fairley High School and immediately set up a task force made up of parents, teachers and community members to make decisions at the school about budget and extra-curricular activities. Despite its costs, Green Dot Schools officials retained the school’s famous high-stepping marching band and added some sports programs back that had been dormant for several years.

Lastly, the district has suggested the possibility that REHS might be eligible to join the iZone this next year, which some community members have asked for in recent weeks. If they don’t join the iZone or improve their academic outcomes, they could be back in the matching process next year.

A Few Thoughts

What’s this mean for REHS? Give that Supt. Hopson pushed back against the ASD’s takeover of REHS, I would be surprised if the district didn’t iZone REHS. For those not aware, the iZone is the district’s local answer to the ASD and is designed to keep schools in the district while still improving them. It gives them many of the same freedoms as ASD schools but keeps them in Shelby County Schools (no charters as of yet). Many parents and community members have asked for schools to be iZoned rather than taken over by the ASD.

Perhaps more importantly, this anger and resentment carries with it important implications for the education that kids receive here in Memphis. Its good to see communities organizing around their schools, but it’s a net loss for kids if these efforts don’t also translate to fixing what was broke about these schools in the first place. My biggest fear is that these protests may lead to no ASD takeover, but also no improvement in the quality of the school in question. I hope the people organizing these protests recognize this fact and work to channel this new found energy into efforts to improve our city’s lowest performing schools, regardless of who runs them.

I also hope that this serves as a wakeup call for the ASD. As shown at Fairley, it is possible for communities to work with ASD authorized charters and have a positive experience. But the opposite has happened with Green Dot. Chris Barbic, the ASD Superintendent, said in the chalkbeat article, “We’re going to go back and do an autopsy once we’re done with all this.” Lets hope that autopsy helps the ASD identify how it can create more situations like Fairley and less like REHS moving forward.

By Jon Alfuth

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