Schools’ future remains in limbo

Germantown board seeks talks with SCS

There continues to be a lot of jockeying, a lot of lobbying and a lot of posturing as Germantown works to wrestle away control of Germantown elementary and middle schools from Shelby County Schools.

The Germantown Municipal Schools Board of Education voted Wednesday night to establish a negotiating team focused on making another run at convincing SCS to transfer the two schools to the suburban district. The suburb has wanted the namesake schools since Germantown opened its own district in 2014, leaving the county schools.

Despite sitting in Germantown’s city limits, the county said they needed the campuses, including Germantown High. The trio is known as the 3Gs, but the school leaders say they don’t have any need for the high school anymore since Houston High is serving the suburb and is not at capacity.

Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson, in the wake of the Germantown Municipal School District’s purchase of a site for a new school, said he’s not worried about competition in the district.

“No, I think that, again, Germantown elementary and middle are full, basically,” Hopson said. “Their academic performance is doing well, and we’ve put a lot of money in there in terms of the optional programs. So, I’m not worried about competing. It just brings up high quality options… in the area.”

Education reporter Jennifer Pignolet caught up with Hopson during an appearance at the Frayser Exchange Club this week and posed questions regarding the potential talks.

Reporter Jennifer Pignolet contributed to this story.