Memphis-Shelby County Schools recommends approval for an all-girls public charter school

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools charter review team recommended school board members approve an application for the Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory STEAM School for Girls at Tuesday’s work session meeting. The proposed school would be one of three all-girls public charter schools in the state.

According to Superintendent Marie Feagins, district staff also recommended denying the amended applications for Journey Northeast Academy and for Wooddale Middle School, which has been seeking to transfer in from the state-run Achievement School District (ASD) into Memphis-Shelby County Schools. The three charter school proposals were denied by the board previously, leading them to submit amended applications ahead of Tuesday's meeting. Charter schools are free public schools operated by an independent contract or “charter” with an authorizing agency.

An email from the district noted that the recommendations are slated to be brought forward for a vote during next week’s school board business meeting.

“For general context, taking a look at the rubric that is used for all applications, certainly the applications fell a bit shy in terms of meeting the needs of students. We looked at enrollment and we looked at it in terms of quality, and sometimes that’s subjective,” Feagins said of the recommendations for Wooddale and Journey. “As we think about the district’s landscape and how we serve kids in general, looking at our charter schools is no different.”

District staff recommended approval for the Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory STEAM for Girls' amended application after school leaders made changes to include details of a "full rollout of a comprehensive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) focus integrated into the curriculum and the specific training that will occur for staff to support the school’s model," as well as a plan for philanthropic funds and start-up contributions for some expenditures moving forward. The proposed school would serve 525 female students in grades 6-8 if approved and would offer an education model that focuses on closing the gap for the underrepresentation of women of color in STEAM-related careers.

The district review team recommended a denial for Journey's amended application for a new K-8 school in the Sycamore View community, claiming the application failed to provide additional requested details related to its 5-year academic literacy plan. Charter review documents also noted "a lack of surrounding community support of the organization, with no clear actionable outreach plan included as a part of the application." In addition, the school did not include facility contingencies in its amended application.

The school was initially proposed partly due to the fact that many families in Northeast Memphis don’t have easy access to a public elementary or middle school. The two closest public schools are currently overenrolled, forcing students to either take a long bus ride or their parents to drive them outside of Sycamore View. Leaders envisioned that the new school would serve a predominately black and economically disadvantaged population of students to close achievement gaps in areas such as literacy.

District staff recommended denial for Wooddale's amended application to transfer the middle school into the district partly due to the fact that questions still remain around Green Dot Public Schools Tennessee's ability to operate a network of schools successfully throughout a 10-year charter term, and because the newly formed sponsor does not show a "set of consistently high-performing schools."

In other business, Feagins gave board members an update on efforts to hire more instructors and staff across the district. She said the district’s recent virtual hiring “blitzes” emphasized facility services and nutrition services. She said the district was able to give over 143 offers in those areas. Feagins added that they have identified potential candidates for more than half of the district’s vacancies.

“Our true vacancies, if we put all these numbers together, instructionally, are 185. Of those 185, about 84 of those are exceptional/special education and 31 of those are English language arts,” she said. “Another 26 of those, if my numbers are correct, are English as a second language.”

Overall, Feagins said the district has hosted hiring blitz events for over 1,500 attendees. Feagins noted that the district will host additional hiring blitz events on Thursday and Friday. The Thursday event, which will be held at the Teaching and Learning Academy from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be open to teachers and additional school support position candidates. The Friday event, dubbed the “Troops to Teachers” blitz, will be open to veterans and military personnel and will be held at the Tennessee Army National Guard Armory and the Millington Armory from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.