Three proposed new public charter schools in Memphis may have a challenging road finding approval from school board members next week.
Tuesday night the Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ (MSCS) charter review team recommended a denial for all three including Blueprint College and Career Prep, Journey Northeast Academy, and the Memphis Grizzlies Prep STEAM School for Girls.
Board members are scheduled to vote on each application at its meeting next Tuesday.
Saturation a concern for Blueprint College & Career Preparatory
The district review team recommended denial for Blueprint College and Career Preparatory in part because they worry the school would further saturate the Oakhaven and Parkway Village communities where it would draw students. District reviewers also found issues with the school’s academic plan and curriculum, saying that both need further development.
Blueprint leaders argue that more schools offering a high-quality education with a focus on career and technical education (CTE) and college prep are in demand as the job market in the greater Memphis area continues to expand. They say this is especially true for students in low-income neighborhoods it would target in the Southeast Memphis communities of Oakhaven and Parkway Village.
If approved the proposed school would serve more than 700 high school students at capacity.
Journey Northeast Academy’s support questioned
District reviewers had another concern in mind in their recommendation to deny Journey Northeast Academy’s application. The district team cited a lack of surrounding community support, concerns regarding network experiences, support and services for English language learners and gifted students.
Reviewers also found a lack of evidence-supported data to bolster the need and demand of the school in the northeast Memphis’ Sycamore View community.
That community does not have an elementary or middle school in the area and the two closest public schools require students to take long bus rides or have their parents drive them outside of Sycamore View.
It’s a big reason why Journey Community Schools chose the neighborhood for its proposed K-8 school that would eventually serve more than 500 students if approved. The school model would be a replication of Journey Community Schools’ East Academy.
Grizzlies Prep STEAM School for Girls faces questions about rollout
The district recommended denial for the other proposed public charter school because of questions about its rollout. Reviewers said the application for Memphis Grizzlies Prep STEAM for Girls lacked information on the full comprehensive rollout of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) integration, along with hiring Director of STEAM, contracting STEAM electives, and the STEM designation.
District reviewers additionally had questions about enrollment plans and confusion related to outdated information in the application.
The proposed public charter school would be a sister school to the existing Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory Charter School that’s served middle school boys for more than a decade in downtown Memphis.
School board members denied a similar application to establish the all-girls charter school last year.
