Memphis School Consolidation Means More Segregation, Privatization, and Charter Chain Gangs
When Wake County and Raleigh planned and executed a merger in 2000, they consciously adopted a socioeconomic integration plan with the goal of no more than 40 percent free and reduced priced lunch students per school. Without forced busing but, rather, with the creation of large numbers of magnet schools and with a public outreach program that welcomed the community into the planning process and with a professional development plan for school staff that taught about the strengths of diverse learning environments, Wake County created a system that essentially had no bad schools but, rather, a system where social capital was created and shared, where all boats were lifted as a result, where learning gains were large and widespread.
Contrast that to the secret and divisive and demonizing process going on in Memphis, where rumors of budget
Contrast that to the secret and divisive and demonizing process going on in Memphis, where rumors of budget