Amid shrinking enrollment, under-utilized buildings and annual budget shortfalls, school closures have become an annual event in Memphis in recent years.
Carver High School became the latest casualty when Shelby County’s school board voted this week to shutter the South Memphis school, which has served the Riverview community since 1957.
Many of the impacted schools were built to serve once-thriving Memphis neighborhoods. But the effects of factory closings and economic decline during the last 40 years have taken their toll, challenging Shelby County Schools to shrink its facility footprint to fit an enrollment of just over 109,000 students in 2015-16.
In some cases, charter operators have moved into the closed buildings, but others are left empty and become an eyesore to already blighted neighborhoods.
Below is a list of district-run K-12 schools closed since 2012. The list excludes district-authorized charter schools whose charters have been been revoked, as well as schools taken over by the state-run Achievement School District.
Click on the tabs in the top bar to sort the list alphabetically by school or by final year of operation, location or other factors.
*Approved for future closure
NA = not available
Corrections: Aug. 18, 2016: This version removes Klondike Elementary, which was taken over by the Achievement School District. It also corrects the multiple dates for final years of operation.