After deciding this month to close one of two state-run charter schools soon to be without an operator, leaders of Tennessee’s Achievement School District announced Tuesday that they’ll keep the other school open under new management.
Humes Preparatory Academy Middle will be run next school year by Frayser Community Schools, a Memphis-based network that already operates one ASD school. Frayser was the sole applicant to take over when Gestalt Community Schools, another local operator, exits this spring.
Robert White, chief of external affairs for the ASD, said the application was approved by the Humes transition team after a review process that included a public hearing earlier this month. Final approval came from ASD Superintendent Malika Anderson and Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen.
The decision signals that the ASD, created in 2010 to turn around the state’s lowest-performing schools, is digging its heels in North Memphis where low enrollment has hindered recent school improvement efforts, both by the ASD and Shelby County Schools.
Gestalt leaders said a shrinking pool of students, and the accompanying decrease in per-pupil funding, had prevented them from providing the supports necessary to catapult Humes from one of the state’s lowest-performing schools to the top tier. And Shelby County Schools, which is Tennessee’s largest school system, has been working to “right-size” its own footprint by closing and consolidating schools, including several in North Memphis.
The state-run district has only recently considered shuttering schools as an option. It will close Gestalt’s other ASD school, Klondike Preparatory Academy Middle, at the end of the school year — a decision that came after its own operator, Achievement Schools, declined to apply for either Klondike or Humes.
KIPP Memphis, which is part of a national network, also plans to pull out of one of its four ASD schools this spring because of low enrollment. ASD leaders have not yet announced whether the school will be shuttered.
Bobby White, the CEO of Frayser Community Schools, has said he believes his organization can grow Humes’ enrollment while also making academic gains.
“We are extremely excited to be given this opportunity to serve the Humes community,” he said in a statement after getting the nod from the ASD.
During the application process, White said his organization would focus on recruiting students at the neighborhood level, similar to what it has done at MLK College Preparatory High, which has grown by 24 percent since taking charge of the Memphis school in 2014. He added that Humes Principal John Crutchfield would stay in his role to help ease the transition, but that all teachers would need to reapply.
White has said he expects Humes to stay small, even losing some enrollment initially, with a targeted student population of around 300 within five years. While Gestalt wasn’t able to operate with that number, Frayser plans to cut costs and seek philanthropic support to stay afloat. (Read Frayser’s application here.)
Frayser Community Schools was founded in 2014 by White, a Memphis native who is no relation to the ASD’s Robert White. A graduate of Frayser High School, White was a 12-year teacher, coach and administrator with Memphis City Schools before the district merged with Shelby County Schools in 2013.
Humes is a historic school, opening as a high school in Memphis in 1925 and becoming a middle school in the 1970s. Elvis Presley was the high school’s most famous alum, graduating in 1953 during the days of school segregation.
As part of their makeover plan for Humes, leaders of Frayser Community Schools plan a renewed focus on music.