MSCS superintendent wants to turn closed charter school into STEAM-focused school

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of students attending schools run by Memphis Scholars, a charter operator, dropped significantly. By the 2022-23 academic year, the network had just 430 students spread across its schools, and only 101 students had enrolled for fall 2024, per a statement on its website.

Memphis Scholars faced a violation and potential charter revocation from the Achievement School District ― the state-led school district it’s a part of ― and its board voted to close its two campuses in late June, less than two months before the start of the new school year.

Because of this, control of the campuses shifted to Memphis-Shelby County Schools, which is planning to close one of them and keep the other open as a STEAM-focused school.

The new plan

Memphis Scholars’ two campuses are Memphis Scholars Caldwell-Guthrie, a pre-K-5th grade school in North Memphis, and Memphis Scholars South Campus, an elementary and middle school in South Memphis. The South Campus is poised to remain closed.

More district news:MSCS names district leader Janice Tankson the assistant superintendent of schools

Previous coverage:Memphis-Shelby County Schools board OKs sweeping job cuts, $1.8 billion budget

But according to a letter from MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins to board members, which was sent Tuesday night and obtained by The Commercial Appeal, Caldwell-Guthrie is expected to remain open and become a pre-K-8th grade STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) school.

A principal, she explained in the letter, “is being finalized,” and there is set to be a meeting between MSCS leaders, state representatives, and students and families of Caldwell-Guthrie at 6 p.m. on July 9.

“To support and expand our presence in the community, we will keep the school open and make it a pre-K-8 STEAM school,” Feagins said. “I have asked the team to support onsite registration beginning on Tuesday to ensure a smooth transition and give comfort to families as we welcome students back to MSCS.”

The new school is also expected to house students of Humes Middle School, another former ASD school that shut its doors at the end of the 2023-24 academic year. Previously, these students were set to shift to Booker T. Washington Middle and High School.

“This decision reflects a deeper consideration of safety, culture, and the opportunity to leverage a good building in a community that will benefit from a strong school,” she said.

Feagins noted in the letter that a transition plan is being finalized with the state and that it will be shared with students and families. A chance for incoming students to see the school is slated for July 23, and the district, she explained, will “follow the process identified in board policy to explore renaming the Caldwell-Guthrie building.”

Vacancies and deferred maintenance

Feagins’ plan to convert Caldwell-Guthrie into a STEAM school comes at a time when the district is grappling with major facilities issues throughout its footprint and looking to fill vacant teacher positions in its other locations.

MSCS is facing $1 billion in deferred maintenance, and to combat this, it's putting together a comprehensive infrastructure plan that could involve school closures. In April, Feagins said they were "highly likely." And as of June 25, the district had 463 classroom vacancies. That day, the district had held a hiring blitz, and it had offered another one on July 2.

The Achievement School District

The shift of the Memphis Scholars’ locations back to MSCS is the latest example of challenges faced by the Achievement School District.

When Tennessee created the ASD more than a decade ago, the intention was for it to dramatically improve the state’s lowest-performing public schools. A state-run turnaround district, it could take over local schools and put them in the hands of charter operators, which were expected to better student outcomes by significant margins.

But as time passed, a problem with the ASD emerged: the bulk of the schools under its jurisdiction weren’t improving. In 2019, research from the Tennessee Education Research Alliance found that the ASD hadn't "produced significant gains in student achievement in any academic subject, intervention year, or cohort of schools."

Five years later, the ASD’s outcomes hadn’t noticeably improved, and state lawmakers tried to dissolve it, but this effort didn’t make it through the Tennessee General Assembly in the latest legislative session.

John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at John.klyce@commercialappeal.com.