Memphis-Shelby County schools merger team has a smooth beginning
Posted by | Posted in School Paragraph | Posted on 23-09-2011
MCS board president Martavius Jones (from left), MCS Supt. Kriner Cash and SCS Supt. John Aiken wait for the start of the Wednesday night’s meeting at the University of Memphis FedEx Institute of Technology.
Let it be noted that on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 5:55 p.m., Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell informed those charged with guiding merger of the county’s public schools that they had already achieved something remarkable — they almost all were seated ahead of time for a public meeting.
“I think that’s a first,” Luttrell said.
Members of the 21-person schools merger transition commission and what will be the 23-member unified county school board convened at the University of Memphis’ FedEx Institute of Technology, along with many of the key administrators with both Memphis City Schools and suburban Shelby County Schools.
Luttrell, whose staff organized the event, set forth what he described as the “challenge” and “opportunity” facing the group. The greatest challenge may be the deadline for creating and then implementing a merger plan.
By statute, Luttrell said, an actual plan must be ready for examination by August 2012, leaving about one year for its implementation in time for MCS to be merged into the county system for the beginning of the 2013-14 school year.
“We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there,” Luttrell said.
Other speakers in the hour-plus presentation were MCS board president Martavius Jones, SCS chairman David Pickler, state deputy education commissioner Patrick Smith and Shelby County Attorney Kelly Rayne.
Rayne gave a quick primer on the state’s strict open-meetings law and laid out the education statutes guiding merger; Pickler, Jones and Smith went heavy on motivational phrases and anecdotes.
Pickler said they “have no option but to do this right” and that “it will impact generations of leaders of this community and the future of this community.”
“We must be all in on the process,” Pickler said.
Jones talked about basing every decision, no matter how contentious a debate may get, “on what is in the best interest of the children.”
Smith, too, alluded to potential for “the waters to get a little choppy and skies to get a little dark,” but emphasized the work that will be done “is not just vital to Memphis and Shelby County but vital to the state as a whole.”
“I know personally there are many good things going on in both districts,” Smith said. “We feel ultimately the whole can be better than the sum of the parts.”
The transition commission will be asked to choose a chairman at its first official meeting next Thursday at the Shelby County Code Enforcement offices at Shelby Farms.
Luttrell, who said the next 30 days will be “crucial,” was pushed by MCS Supt. Kriner Cash to allow his staff to soon present to the transition team what he called MCS’ “significant national reform work now underway that now needs to be considered on a county level.”
Luttrell, Jones and Pickler are also members of the transition team, and though considered “ex-officio” members they will in fact have a vote, according to an opinion from Rayne. Luttrell announced that Methodist Healthcare executive Cato Johnson would be serving as a representative and adviser to him throughout the process.
The 23-member unified school board will be comprised of the seven current SCS members, the nine current MCS members and the seven people appointed by the Shelby County Commission last week to new seats created by a federal judge as part of last month’s consolidation lawsuit settlement.
The swearing-in for the unified school board will be Oct. 3, and orientation sessions are tentatively set for Oct. 10 and 13.
When philanthropist and mutual-fund manager Staley Cates asked if the transition team was merely advisory to the unified school board or whether it “has more teeth,” Rayne deferred to SCS chief counsel Valerie Speakman and MCS chief counsel Dorsey Hopson.
Speakman said the transition team’s role “is to provide strong advice to the board although I think at the end of the day there is nothing that says the board has to agree with what the transition committee says.”
The transition plan also must be approved at the state level.
Luttrell said his executive assistant, Diane Brown, was being appointed as staff coordinator for the transition team, and Rayne said several lawyers have been identified to provide counsel on potential issues.
As well, funding for a special court “master” to referee legal issues, to be appointed by U.S. Dist. Judge Samuel “Hardy” Mays, will be funded equally by MCS and SCS.
One of the transition team members, former county commissioner Tommy Hart of Collierville, said he’s been asked by some if he’s due “congratulations or condolences.”
“See me in 18 months and I’ll tell ya,” Hart said.
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