Five schools in the Memphis-Shelby County (Tennessee) district will close at the end of the school year, forcing more than 1,200 students to find new schools.
Chalkbeat Tennessee reports that board members voted unanimously to shut down three schools: Georgian Hills and Lucy elementaries and Chickasaw Middle. The vote to close Frayser-Corning Elementary was 7 to 2, and the vote to close and Ida B. Wells Academy was 5 to 3. Ida B. Wells, a K-8 alternative school, was the only recommended closure that received significant pushback.
Lucy Elementary will be taken over by Millington Municipal Schools, a suburban district, as part of a state-mandated transfer agreement.
The closures are the first in the district’s plan to shutter up to 15 campuses by 2028 because of chronic underenrollment and increasing building maintenance costs. Enrollment has been dropping, nd building upkeep costs have been climbing.
Chickasaw Middle, for example, would need $3.4 million in building repairs or upgrades in the next two years, including complete replacements of the HVAC and plumbing systems. Frayser-Corning Elementary would need $2.6 million for improvements such as a new electrical system.
