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Our Students Matter Now Legal Fund

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Our Students Matter Now is a coalition of teachers, parents, and community leaders who are currently fighting to keep their schools open in South Memphis. Even though the Shelby County School District is continually losing schools to the State mandated  Achievement School District, its School Board is still charging ahead to close and consolidate the remaining  schools. Presently, the Shelby County School Board has voted to close two South Memphis schools and merge them with nearby Innovation Zone schools in the hope that this will increase student achievement.

We, Our Students Matter Now, oppose the decision made by the board to close South Side Middle School and Lincoln Elementary Schools because we know that it will be detrimental to the emotional and social well being of the students in those schools. We also oppose the decision because it is damaging and destructive for  the neighborhoods because the schools are an integral part of a flourishing community. In addition to that, these closures also bring extreme hardship to the parents because they do not take into consideration the parents lack of transportation and the effect it will have on their inability to have access in reaching their children if necessary. There is no doubt that the decision made by the school board is driven by the District’s primary agenda of recovering its financial deficit and populating its already under-enrolled Innovation Zone schools.

We are currently raising money for a legal fund with the intention to legally stop the closures and force the district to provide the students with the necessary resources to remain at their current location in order to close the achievement gap. Removing the students from their current location and enrolling them in rival neighborhoods will increase the achievement gap which all schools are committed to decreasing. In the case of South Side Middle School, the closure will force students to attend Riverview Middle School which is located in an area labeled a Public Nuisance by the District Attorney, Amy Weirich. We believe it is unsafe to transport these students out of their community and place them in an area were they would be exposed to danger. More than 65% of the parents at South Side Middle School signed a petition stating that they will not send their children to Riverview Middle School if the closure goes through. The school board passed the proposed consolidation despite the objections  of the parents. As it now stands, Lincoln Elementary will be merged with A.B. Hill,  a school slated to become an I-Zone school at the beginning of next year. We would like to point out that A.B. Hill was one of the schools on the state take-over list that was given I-Zone status after a charter operator pulled out. This means that there is no established and proven track record to ensure that the students will get better services when placed there. Furthermore, Lincoln Elementary already houses students that were relocated from Orleans Elementary,  another South Memphis school forced to close in 2012 and still remains empty today.

We are encouraging you to donate to this cause so that the students in South Memphis can receive the services they deserve without being forced to enroll in new schools outside of their community. Research demonstrates that the main priority for students in urban schools is stability and consistency, which this board decision totally obliterates. These students deserve the opportunity to learn without any hardships put on them or their parents. In addition, the community must keep its school to continue developing and flourishing. The students must be the district’s first priority and must be given the necessary resources to succeed  without being shuffled around to other schools.
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Donations 

  • Derrick McIntosh
    • $10 
    • 9 yrs
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Organizer

OurStudents MatterNow
Organizer
Memphis, TN

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