Parents, educators and community members gathered Thursday, Sept, 4, at a Memphis-Shelby County Schools town hall meeting to voice concerns about the proposed state takeover of the district. The event, held in partnership with Stand for Children Tennessee and the Equity Alliance, drew a large turnout of families eager to ask questions and share frustrations.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Roderick Richmond led much of the conversation, joined by members of the Shelby County Board of Education. The evening was facilitated by therapist Pametria Brown, who ensured every participant was given space to be respectfully heard.
Richmond began by offering a sweeping overview of Memphisโ and Shelby Countyโs complex education history, underscoring how decades of shifting policies, reforms and funding challenges continue to impact schools today.
โPeople talk a lot about school accountability, but school accountability has really only been around for about 25 years,โ Richmond said. He walked parents through milestones including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which set a goal of 100% student proficiency by 2014; the 2007 BEP 2.0 funding changes that introduced Memphisโ first school turnaround model; and the 2008 city decision to withdraw its funding for education, which triggered a structural deficit that lasted nearly a decade.
Richmond noted that constant changes to standards and accountability measures created instability that schools, teachers and families were forced to absorb.
โEvery time new standards are created, students are not going to perform well at first,โ he explained. โThatโs not failure, itโs the natural adjustment that happens when expectations are raised. But what happens in urban districts like ours is that it gets painted as dysfunction, when often itโs manufactured by systems far beyond our classrooms.โ
He also reminded the audience of the history of school mergers, the creation and eventual collapse of the state-run Achievement School District (ASD), and the billions invested with little proven improvement in student outcomes. โThere will always be a bottom five percent,โ Richmond said. โThe research is clear: State takeovers do not improve student learning. In fact, they create instability and erode trust in local communities.โ
Instead, Richmond urged investment in sustainable, community-led solutions. โTrue progress requires stability, community trust and investment in local leadership,โ he said. โWe cannot do this work with people from the outside. It must be done by those who love and care about this community.โ
Parentsโ voices take center stage
While Richmondโs context resonated with many families, the town hall revealed that the community is far from unified on the question of a state takeover.
โOur district stands at a crossroads,โ one parent said. โFor too long, decisions about Memphis schools have been shaped by forces outside of our community. Stability, trust and equity are not optional. They are essential if our schools are to thrive.โ
Many parents in attendance echoed that sentiment, urging the district and the board to protect local voices and prioritize stability for students. Parents also vented frustrations about the lack of resources available to families and the limited opportunities for meaningful involvement between parents and the school board. Above all, they said, they wanted to be seen, heard and valued.
Still, not all parents opposed the idea of state involvement. Some expressed deep frustration with the districtโs leadership and board, arguing that outside control might be necessary.
โThey donโt have nobody governing them,โ said parent Anthony Warr. โThe school board has been doing what they want to do, and theyโre going to continue to do what they want to do. They donโt have the budgets, but theyโre spending all kinds of money. Then theyโll come to us during elections and say they need to raise taxes again. Weโre 65% black in Memphis, and we get pimped by blacks. Iโm tired, and itโs time for a change. Maybe the state board takeover is a good idea.โ
Warrโs comments underscored the frustration some parents feel not just with state politics but also with local leadership and accountability. The evening reflected both a strong defense of local control and a raw sense of disillusionment with the current system.
Community advocacy and organizing
Local advocacy groups, including Stand for Children Tennessee, the Equity Alliance and Memphis For All, also stressed the importance of community-led solutions.
โWe are in a moment where the state is unfairly targeting our school district in order to dismantle it,โ said Aris Newton of Stand for Children Tennessee. โPoliticians want to take away local control. They want to tie our hands so itโs impossible for us to create solutions here at home. But we believe that true, open and honest discussion can bring us together instead of dividing us.โ
Newton highlighted how the listening sessions offer a space for stakeholders โ parents, teachers, board members and administrators โ to collaborate and โsupport our public schools in a way that hasnโt been done before.โ
A history of manufactured instability
Richmond also walked families through the broader policy shifts that have shaped Memphis schools over the past two decades. He explained that many of the stateโs โfailuresโ were the result of shifting benchmarks and manufactured dysfunction.
โIn 2010, when Common Core came in, schools bottomed out,โ Richmond said. โBut people should understand that was manufactured. National standards were raised so high that nearly every district would fail. That created room for testing companies, curriculum developers and outside reformers to step in. Itโs a multi-billion-dollar industry built on manufacturing dysfunction.โ
He reminded families that this pattern has repeated itself. Every time new standards or accountability measures are introduced, schools initially show drops in performance โ not because students suddenly learned less but because expectations shifted.
โSometimes what you have is people manufacturing dysfunction,โ Richmond said. โIt will appear that urban school systems are failing, when in reality theyโre being held to moving targets.โ
Richmond also tied these shifts to local events: Memphis City Schoolsโ decision in 2011 to surrender its charter, the 2013 merger with Shelby County Schools, and the six suburban districts that seceded a year later, taking with them additional tax revenue streams. All of this, he argued, left MSCS with a disproportionately high concentration of low-income students and long-term financial obligations.
โThis history matters,โ Richmond told parents. โBecause every time we adjusted to new rules, new tests, new funding models, it was our children who bore the cost.โ
Looking ahead
For many parents in attendance, the fear is less about the politics of education and more about their childrenโs daily experiences in classrooms. Some left the meeting more convinced that local control is essential, while others, like Warr, felt that the districtโs entrenched issues demand outside intervention.
Although dozens of questions were raised throughout the night, Shelby County Board of Education members said they could not yet provide full answers. Instead, they pledged to continue the dialogue at another town hall event scheduled for late October.
The evening closed with a reminder from both community leaders and families that the conversation is far from over. As one parent summed up: โWeโre not against accountability. We just want solutions that work for our kids, not more disruption.โ
