Preliminary hearings with school officials sounded the alarm that Frayser’s charter school, Memphis Business Academy (MBA) may be facing closure, along with two other charter schools.
But parents, students, staff and community supporters packed out Tuesday’s school board meeting. And when the board unanimously voted to keep all three schools open, the crowd erupted with deafening cheers and applause.
“Although we faced a real possibility of closure, I knew our total body of work,” said Rev. Anthony Anderson, CEO of MBA. “This is a very volatile season of accountability, and we are in a space where everyone is trying to find amazing answers to moving students forward.
“We were the first charter school in Frayser because no one wanted to come to Frayser,” Anderson continued. “There were inconsistencies coming out of the Office of Strategy and Performance Management. Comparatively speaking, I knew we had made great strides and deserved the opportunity to retain our charter.”
The other two charter schools being threatened with closure were Veritas College Prep and Memphis College Prep. Had the three schools been closed, more than 2,800 elementary and middle schools students would have been displaced next fall.
Administrators disputed their schools being designated as “troubled.”
“We were measured against other middle schools,” Anderson said of the label. “But everyone expects charter schools to be leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. While we are not where we want to be, significant progress is evident.”
Charter operators made the case that academic improvement didn’t tell the full story of how the schools are improving the lives of their students and families.
“While meeting with the board, we evaluated our data in a different way,” Anderson said. “We applied another lens to student performance numbers, and MBA was not deficient as first assessed.
“Academics is critical, certainly, but we are molding students to be young people of character and integrity,” he said. “We address the need for building up young people to be creative, well-rounded individuals. Our school is a complete K-12 charter program. We are excited about our future prospects.”
Charter renewals were approved for 10 years. However, state law empowers the school district to intervene sooner if improvement is not deemed satisfactory. The board’s decision for the three charters was historic since renewal votes are the first under the negotiated new charter school policy.
“School board members agreed with us that other factors should be considered when evaluating the charter schools in question,” said Dr. Menthia Bradley, MBA’s COO. “State test scores over the last 10 years were the only criteria for closure recommendations.”
And having a raucous, fired up room of parents and supporters certainly helped. About a dozen parents, staff, and students from the schools addressed the board. “I believe the total show of support from all the schools proved very effective,” Bradley said.
If it’s confidence that MBA is trying to build in its students, it’s working with Brandon Robinson.
“We heard people talking about the middle school possibly closing,” the 9th-grader said after the vote. “They were talking about it in Ms. Wilson’s choir class, but I knew we weren’t going to be closed.
“And I wasn’t surprised about the unanimous vote,” he said, “because when you talk about schools, we’re that school.”
In a separate vote, the board of Shelby County Schools stuck with staff recommendations in approving 10-year renewals for four other charters: Southern Avenue Elementary, Promise Academy Hollywood, Soulsville Charter School, and Memphis School of Excellence. These charters had no threat of closure.
