Tri-State Defender
Page 13
October 30 - November 5, 2014
COMMUNITY BRIEFS & THINGS
The power of pink…
Clarence Day Scholars to host Memphis Day at Rhodes College The Clarence Day Scholars at Rhodes College are hosting Memphis Day on Saturday (Nov. 1) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Live musical performances, photographs with the Rhodes mascot, food trucks, activities for children, community organization information tables, and an afternoon football game are among the highlights. All activities are open to the public and free with the exception of the items purchased from the food trucks. In addition, a number of organizations that engage Memphians at various levels will participate in Rhodes’ Memphis Day. There will be a “Puppy Petting Zoo” from Sunny Meadows, a performance by Co-motion Studios, live music from local and Rhodes bands, and appearances and programs by Ballet Memphis, Memphis Repertory Orchestra, Latino Memphis, The Exceptional Foundation, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Whole Foods, Opera Memphis, and The Urban Child Institute. Events will take place on the east side of the football field on the Rhodes campus. The public also is invited to stop by the Day Scholars information table where everyone receives a complimentary beverage, and the first 500 guests receive free Memphis Day Tshirts. The Clarence Day Scholarship program each year selects 10 incoming first-year students from Memphis and Shelby County who have already demonstrated a passion for the city and want to continue to make a difference. If admitted to Rhodes and selected as a Day Scholar, students receive scholarship benefits as well as have opportunities to participate in events related to the Day Foundation and Memphis leadership initiatives. Specific inquiries should contact Bud Richey at bud@rhodes.edu or 901-843-3847. Brew event to aid sickle cell fight A sampling of Memphis area brewers, purveyors and restaurateurs are contributing to the Taste the Flavors Brew Festival, a charity event benefiting the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee. The Foundation funds patient care, social services, medical research and promotes understanding of Sickle Cell disease, an inherited blood disorder. Local craft breweries High Cotton Brewing Co., Ghost River Brewing, and Memphis Made Brewing as well as local distributor AS Barboro are providing refreshments and Aldo’s Pizza, DeJaVu Restaurant, Just For Lunch, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Texas de Brazil are providing food. Tickets for the all-you-can-eat-anddrink event are $35 and are available online through sicklecelltn.org or the Taste the Flavors Brew Fest event page on Facebook. The festival is from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Just For Lunch, 3092 Poplar Ave. About 2.5 million Americans carry the gene and 100,000 live with the disease, one of the most common inherited diseases in America and the most frequent among African Americans. Sickle Cell disease prevents red blood cells from working properly and individuals with it can suffer a lifetime of debilitating pain and life-threatening symptoms. BRIEFLY: The Root of Violence Domestic/Teen will be the topic of the Whitehaven Kiwanis Club monthly Dutch Treat Luncheon on Nov. 4 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at BeRatas Restaurant & Grill. For more information: Calvin Burton 901-412-2757 or cburton615@hotmail.com. BRIEFLY: There will be class reunion meeting of the Manassas High School Class of ’78 on Saturday (Nov. 1) at the North Library, 1192 Vollintine, at 1 p.m. For more information, call Charles Anderson at 901568-1518 or Johnnie Blue at 901-3591263. BRIEFLY: Lakeland Elementary School will host its Annual Veterans Day Celebration on Nov. 7 in the school gym beginning at 9:30 a.m. Special guest speaker: Lakeland Mayor Wyatt Bunker. Musical performances by the Lakeland Glee Club, directed by Amy Greenburg, and the Arlington High School Wind Ensemble, directed by Philip Hughes. BRIEFLY: Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell Jr. will host a Military Appreciation Luncheon on Nov. 13 at 11:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn – University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave. The event speaker is Colonel Mark J. Devine, Tennessee Air National Guard Memphis. Limited space, reservations are required. Individuals and families interested in attending should call 901222-4200 to RSVP by Oct. 31. BRIEFLY: Napa Cafe presents the Heart Full of Soul Multi-Sensory Event! on Nov. 16-17 at the Napa Café at 5101 Sanderlin. The event, which will benefit the Stax Music Academy, will feature live music by Academy musicians. In addition, there will be a silent auction, food and refreshments. Reservations are $175 per person. For more information, call 901-683-0441.
The Komen Memphis-MidSouth Race for the Cure was held in Collierville on Saturday (Oct. 25), once again drawing thousands of breast cancer survivors and supporters. (Photo: Shirley Jackson)
ITEEN REPORT
Tennessee Promise saves dreams by Jasmine McGaughy Special to The New Tri-State Defender
Hundreds protest state takeover, charters Dissatisfaction voiced at Raleigh Egypt High, American Way Middle
KIPP, Freedom Prep out of ASD takeover process South Side Middle, A.B. Hill Elementary avoid takeover
by Daarel Burnette Chalkbeat Tennessee
Hundreds of fired-up teachers, parents, and community members at Raleigh Egypt High and American Way Middle schools shouted down state education and charter officials Monday night with chants and boos at two meetings intended to introduce charter school operators to the school communities they might absorb next year. Members of the crowd at Raleigh Egypt said attempts at taking over schools was not only ineffective and destructive, but amounted to a scheme to make money off children, a charge officials flatly denied. It was yet another flashpoint in what has become almost a ritual every fall in Memphis: tense face-to-face confrontations between community members and charter officials over the fate of chronically underperforming traditional public schools. “I’m with you,” Stephanie Love, a Shelby County Schools board member who has children that attend schools that have been taken over by the state, told the Raleigh Egypt crowd. “I will fight for our children. Our children will not be used as another failed experiment.” According to law, the state’s Achievement School District can take control of schools that fall in the academic bottom five percent of Tennessee public schools, and hand them over to privately-run charter operators. The charters can replace the staff, change the school’s name, and make dramatic change to curriculum and discipline proceedings. Almost a full third of Memphis’ schools are eligible to be taken over within the next three years. This year, the ASD has promised to hand over nine schools to one of seven charters. Two of those schools, South Side Middle and A.B. Hill Elementary, were taken off the list Monday when Freedom Prep and KIPP, decided against participating in the process because of capacity concerns. For many activists, the news only caused more confusion, distrust, and hope that their school could be next to be taken off the list. ASD officials say they will pair Raleigh Egypt High School with Green Dot Public Schools, a charter network founded in California and will consider pairing American Way Middle with Yes Prep, a charter network based in Houston. Last year, just over half of the students at Raleigh High School graduated and barely a fifth of students at American Way Middle School met basic state English standards. Across the city, ministers, teachers, parents students and alumni have spent the past week pulling school data to compare to charter schools, designing elaborate signs, launching social media campaigns, and signing petitions. Conspiracy theories have abounded about why the ASD is taking over mostly black and poor schools in Memphis and what charter schools’ true motivations are. Several community leaders and educators have questioned why the ASD is allowed to expand when its results to date have been mixed. The community meetings, which will take place throughout this week, are an attempt by the ASD, which has no locally-elected board, to incorporate community voice when it makes final decisions in December about which schools the district will take over, and which charter networks will receive which schools. For charter officials, these meetings are a chance to convince as many parents and teachers as possible to return next year. At American way Monday night, ASD officials served pizza and soda and tried to hold small-group sessions for the first hour before conducting a town hall style meeting. When Yes Prep officials suggested the group split into two groups to continue the discussion, attendees protested, demanding the group stick together. Students chanted “No Prep! No Prep!” while shaking signs that read “10 years and on, keep our name strong” and “We’re not going down without a fight.” Seventh-grader Kaiya Newsome wanted to know why the school couldn’t receive a second chance. Her mother, Keiva Newsome, had many questions about the takeover process since it would mean her daughter would attend a different school next year. “I’m satisfied with the education she’s received here,” Newsome said. “Of course anything can be improved,
by Daarel Burnette Chalkbeat Tennessee
Two charter operators on Monday pulled out of the state’s efforts to take over some of its worstperforming schools next year. KIPP Memphis officials said they would not take over South Side Middle School and Freedom Prep officials said they would not take over Florida-Kansas and A.B. Hill elementary schools next year, as the state-run Achievement School District had planned. Officials with both charters raised concerns about their own ability to take over more schools, a laborious and expensive process that includes replacing leadership, hiring teachers, and building a new curriculum. The development means South Side Middle and A.B. Hills Elementary schools will not be taken over by the state’s Achievement School District. Florida-Kansas could still be matched with Scholar Academies charter. Two weeks ago, to much fanfare, ASD officials announced that they would take over nine schools next year and hand them over to nonprofit, privately run charter schools. Over the next two months, they said, the charter operators would go through an extensive “matching” process with 12 schools in order for officials to determine which schools should be taken over. Several meetings with community members were set to start tonight. Three of those schools – including South Side Middle School – would definitely be taken over by vetted charter operators next year, ASD officials said. Nine other schools would go through a months-long “matching” process to help ASD officials make the determination whether the ASD should, in fact, take over the schools and to which of five charter operators they should match them. Of the three schools affected by Monday’s development, only one of them, Florida-Kansas Elementary, has another charter operator — Scholar Academies — named as a possible pairing partner. Teachers at South Side Middle School protested the takeover process last week, sending a letter to government officials and the media arguing that their scores had improved in the past year. KIPP said the protest didn’t play into its decision to pull out of the process. “We view the matching process as just that, a matching process,” said Jamal McCall, the executive director of KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools. “With me doing our reflection, I was looking at where we are as a network, and my focus right now is on the quality of our current schools and ensuring that we continue to commit to those we currently serve and serve as we expand grade levels.” Freedom Prep officials said they lack the capacity at the moment to expand their work to additional schools. “It’s really internal and external factors and changes that happened with our organization that effected our capacity to open a brand new schools and serve kids the way they need to be served,” said Roblin Webb, the executive director and founder of Freedom Prep. “We want to serve more kids but the last thing we want to do is serve kids poorly. We’re not doing that school any justice.” but they’ve given her extra help, they’re wonderful and our principal checks on her students.” “The community meetings are an important part of the process and we’re going to make every second available to hear every concern over the next six weeks,” said Bill Durbin who is leading up Yes Prep’s expansion in Memphis. (Tajuana G. Cheshier contributed reporting to this story.)
Service and leadership… Lois Stockton (seated) received The Caryl E. Carpenter Community Service Award at the Tennessee Primary Care Association meeting in Franklin, Tenn. last week. She was honored for her outstanding community service and leadership as Board Chairman for the Memphis Health Center, Inc. Stockton owns The Nail Station at 4646 Poplar Ave., Suite 111. Also pictured (l-r): Clifford Stockton Sr., Franklin Alderman Howard J. Demesma, and her son, Brian S. Stockton of Washington, DC. (Photo: Patricia A. Rogers)
Since the start of school this year there has been a lot of excitement about a new opportunity for high school seniors. This excitement is due to the Jasmine Te n n e s s e e McGaughy Promise. What is this Tennessee Promise that everyone is nagging about? It is a two-year scholarship program that opens the door to higher education for graduating seniors throughout the state of Tennessee. As part of the program, students will be paired with a partnering organization committed to supporting them during and after the college application process. At Hamilton High School, we have set a goal to have 100 percent of our seniors apply for the program. I am proud to say that we met our goal. Congratulations, Wildcats! Tennessee Promise is a wonderful opportunity. Attending college for two years FOR FREE, if you meet the requirements, is awesome! According to the Tennessee Promise website, Tennessee Promise participants must complete eight hours of community service per term enrolled, and maintain a grade point average of at least a 2.0. Being able to stay in your own city and still get a quality education is something that we all deserve. Participating in this program will cut down on tuition costs for families all across Tennessee, and after your two years are finished you can transfer your college credits to another college or university. Here at Hamilton High School, our preferred community college is Southwest Tennessee Community College. This simply means that most seniors who applied for the Promise program chose Southwest Community College as their college of choice. In the words of our principal, Mr. Curtis Weathers, we now have a Hamilton University. As young adults, we often struggle with the decisions of selecting a college, getting accepted and obtaining financial aid. Many teens around the Greater Memphis area say that they’re going to take advantage of the two-year program. “I think the Tennessee Promise is a great opportunity for teens across Tennessee,” said Hamilton senior Briana Stewart. Students from other high schools across the city expressed the same feeling. “I think it’s cool because they’re helping students get somewhere in life and also helping them get into college,” said Dejuan William of Christian Brothers High School. Kirby High School’s Derrick Crowley said, “It’s good for students who are trying to do something after high school, and for the students who are not, it’s giving them a chance to have options in life.” Parents are excited as well. “I’m glad that they have the Tennessee Promise, it’s a great opportunity for students to attend college for free,” Deborah Jackson, the mother of a Hamilton senior. College, for some, is a scary thought. As a high school senior, I, too, am unsure about paying for college and what the future may hold. Many teens aspire to attend college but are unsure. So they put their dreams aside, moving into the workforce, working a low-paying job and looking to make their way up the ladder. Tennessee Promise shines a light on the darkness that obscures many teens’ dreams. The promise gives us a chance at earning a two-year degree. When we thought that there was no way out, our state has developed an opportunity that many in the past thought could never be done. Tennessee has made a way for students to achieve their dream of a college degree. What a great state that we all live in! Thank you Governor Haslam, we PROMISE not to let you down. (To contact TSD iTeen reporter Jasmine McGaughy, email: inthemail@tsdmemphis.com.)