Griffin bringing Penny-level excitement to ASD

Two days after being named the head of the state-run schools in Tennessee, Sharon Griffin made her first appearance Thursday in front of community members with the most on the line for the Achievement School District.

“I feel like I’m actually coming back home,” Griffin said at the meeting in Frayser, the Memphis neighborhood saturated with charter schools overseen by the state.

Griffin was a teacher and an assistant principal at Frayser High School, now an ASD school, for 13 years.

“Yes, I was 12 when I started,” she quipped.

She’s lived in the 38128 zip code, which neighbors Frayser, for 22 years, she said, and she plans to stay. Griffin is in her 26th year in education, and is currently the chief of schools for Shelby County Schools.

Despite a death in her family this week, Griffin met Thursday morning with charter operators who run schools within the ASD, and then spoke briefly at the weekly meeting of the Frayser Exchange club at Impact Baptist Church.

“I see a former student,” she said looking out into the crowd. “I see parents of former students.”

Despite friendly faces in the audience, Griffin used her brief speech to introduce herself.

“I want to make sure that I am accessible, I am visible, but most importantly, I want you to know I’m on the front lines with you,” she said.

The state legislature created the ASD in 2012 to take over schools performing in the bottom 5 percent in the state and outsource their operation to charter schools. It’s now tasked with educating 12,000 of the state’s neediest students, and operates 30 of its 32 schools in Memphis. The organization has never had a leader from Memphis — until now.

Bobby White, CEO of Frayser Community Schools within the ASD, said her hiring has energized schools in the area.

“Right now there’s this type of Penny Hardaway excitement going on,” White said, comparing Griffin to the new University of Memphis basketball coach whose hiring set off a mania of renewed enthusiasm for the program.

White said he has historically tried to separate his schools’ brand from that of the state-run district. Those days are over with Griffin’s appointment, he said, and he believes it will lead to gains for so many schools that have long struggled.

“We’re going to become legendary in our own town,” White said.

No one seems to have minded, he said, that the state did not publicly disclose that Griffin was in the running for the job, despite releasing a list of purported finalists in March. The state had promised transparency and community involvement in the process, and invited Frayser residents to meet with a candidate at White’s school. Griffin was a surprise, he said, but a welcomed one.

“I do trust Dr. Griffin and believe in her work,” White said.

Bob Nardo, the head of Libertas School of Memphis, a Montessori school within the ASD, said he was impressed with Griffin’s track record with turning around struggling schools in Memphis. She’s focused on accountability, Nardo said, and respects that the ASD has a diverse group of school operators with different approaches.

The Innovation Zone turnaround program under SCS, which Griffin oversaw, is famous for its one-size-fits-all structure. Schools in the iZone all have a longer day, they pay stronger teachers and school leaders more to work there, and offer coaching for teachers.

The ASD approach is more hands-off from an oversight perspective, with schools having the autonomy to make those kinds of decisions themselves.

Nardo said he doesn’t fear Griffin changing that, but rather offering up her expertise and helping schools find what works best for their students.