SCS plans buildings, higher pay for teachers
‘Reimagining 901’ sets many long-term goals for district
Shelby County Schools plans to increase teacher salaries and close, consolidate and build new schools in the coming years as part of its “Reimagining 901” plan.
The plan also proposes a new logo for the district, which could become known as Memphis Shelby County Schools.
Proposed changes at its schools could include more K-8 schools and 6-12 schools, a later start time for high schoolers and a reduced student-to-staff ratio for the district’s youngest students, something the district requested funding from the county for last December.
“We’re no longer going to be a school district of intervention,” Superintendent Joris Ray said. He told the room full of district officials and community leaders at the Hilton in East Memphis that the district would not be defined by the “merger” of the legacy city and county
school systems, by the “demerger” of six new municipal school districts, nor by achievement gaps.
“We are rewriting our history,” Ray said, “and it starts today with student achievement.”
The plan includes proposed changes for each grade band. Those changes are listed below by school, paraphrased from the district’s presentation:
Possible elementary school changes h Reduce the student-to-adult ratios in kindergarten, first and seconds grades from 1:25 to 1:13 h Offer preschool to all Memphis four-year-olds h Increase honors courses, coding and robotics h Expand outdoor learning spaces h Create theatre or visual and performing arts programs in all schools h Developing emotional intelligence h Creating service learning projects
Possible middle school changes h Increase class offerings for honors courses, coding and STEM courses
h Create “social action programs” of leadership, conservation, international studies
h Create theatre or visual and performing arts programs in all schools h Developing emotional intelligence h Creating service learning projects h Creating more K-8 schools h Create “6th grade transition academies” that include counselors and early career support
h Offer college, career and technical education certifications and apprenticeships
Possible high school changes h Increasing the number of students “prepared to compete in the global economy” h Consider later school start times h Expand access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses h Create an AGRI-STEM high school h Open a new high school in the medical district h Create theatre or visual and performing arts programs in all schools h Developing emotional intelligence h Requiring service-learning community hours for graduation
COVID-19 paved way for plan updates, ‘game changer’ plan funding
Ray began his address to the full hotel ballroom with a reflection on the last year.
Exactly six weeks after his first state of the district address, in January 2020, he announced SCS school buildings would close due to COVID-19.
His message of community support for the public school district strikes a different tone a year later, as the community and district supported one another — from student meals, to learning materials, to virtual learning locations, to utility assistance.
Ray quickly adopted a mantra — “Coronavirus will not defeat us” — that he retired on Friday.
“Today will be my last time repeating that phrase, as we reimagine our district in this normal time,” Ray said. “We are stronger together. We are resilient.”
The district was slated to deliver a “Reimagine 901” plan to the county commission about a year ago — it was also the theme of the first state of the district — but what was shared Friday has been impacted by the realities of COVID-19. Ray stressed the importance of teachers — “angels” of the district — and funding for the plan can be jumpstarted with some of the hundreds of millions of dollars the district will receive in federal relief funding.
John Barker, deputy superintendent of finance and operations, described the federal relief funding, which guidance allows to be used for some school building updates, as “game changing.”
“What we’re hoping to do is to be able to make a major investment on HVACS, roofs, windows, water quality projects to really get us to a place where we may be able to cut it (the remaining $400 million in deferred maintenance) in half or so,” explained John Barker, deputy superintendent of finance and operations.
The details of the facilities portion of the plan will be brought forth next week to the district board and county commission.
The academics side of the plan proposed new student initiatives and opportunities and the creation of a teacher salary schedule.
The district’s two teacher unions have been advocating for a “step-and-lane” schedule that provided salary increases for advanced degrees, but concluded conferencing without agreeing on the schedule. Plans to consult the unions in the new schedule were not immediately clear.
SCS says it wants its teachers to be the highest paid in the state. The proposed schedule would bump the minimum salary up to $45,965 and the maximum salary up to $80,635.
To measure the success of the academic initiatives, including new course offerings, expanded STEM and arts programming, and lowered student-teacher ratio for the district’s youngest students, SCS is proposing a new set of goals. The goals are set for 2030, and are in addition to the district’s other strategic plan, Destination 2025.
“As we were thinking about Reimagining 901, we came back and we looked at those (Destination 2025) goals, and now we have another set of goals not far off from where we were,” explained Angela Whitelaw, deputy superintendent for academics.
The goals are: h Improving graduation rates to 90% from 77.7% in 2018-19
h Having 80% of students designated as a Tennessee Ready Graduate, up from 20.9% in 2018-19
h Having 74% of students reading on grade level before entering middle school, up from about 24.1%
h Having 84% of students with math skills on grade level before entering middle school, up from 34.2% Ele
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-5123763. Find her on Twitter: @Ldtestino.