City and County Share School Visions — Needs and Outlooks Might Be Different but Structure for SE County is a Common Goal

By Halimah Abdullah abdullah@commercialappealcom

The spirit of improvement in area public schools is in the air. Just take a look at Arlington High School.

A grand rotunda. A 2,000-seat gymnasium. A 647-seat theater.

In many ways, the Shelby County School Board’s meeting Thursday at the brand-new, $30 million, 320,000-square-foot school symbolized the district’s hunger to show what it can do when given the opportunity and resources to address the county’s growth issues.

It is a message the county board hopes the Memphis city school board hears loud and clear.

“This is the school we want to build in the southeast area of the county,” said newly re-elected board chairman David Pickler, gesturing at the two-story building.

The county school board and the city schools’ capital improvement committee discussed much needed building upgrades for their respective districts at separate meetings Thursday.

For Shelby County Schools, those enhancements include more than $4 million worth of construction-related costs at Bailey Station Elementary School and $8.1 million worth of construction at Bon Lin Elementary School.

Meanwhile, Memphis City Schools is trying to figure out how best to stretch $54 million to meet the more than $163 million worth of improvements needed to make some schools handicap accessible and take care of other long overdue repairs.

“We need desperate help,” said Michael Goar, the city district’s interim chief operations officer. “Some of this equipment might fall apart today.”

But despite different needs and outlooks, both the city and the county district agreed they need to sit down together and discuss their next shared project: a high school for the southeast area of the county.

In June, both boards agreed to sidestep existing funding formulas and jointly build the $49 million project .

In recent weeks, several city school board members have complained that the county board jumped the gun in selecting a site, violating the joint agreement. The county countered that it has involved the city and that both systems must move quickly to secure a site in time for an August 2007 opening.

“We’re extending an invitation to Memphis City Schools to meet at their earliest convenience to get on the table any concerns they have about site selections and any other concerns about anything that might not reflect the joint agreement,” Pickler said.

City school board president Wanda Halbert thinks that’s a capital idea.

“Maybe it is time for the Memphis city schools team and the county schools team to meet,” she said.