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Memphis City Schools (MCS) was the school district operating public schools in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It was headquartered in the Frances E. Coe Administration Building. On March 8, 2011, residents voted to disband the city school district, effectively merging it with the Shelby County School District. [1] The merger took effect July 1, 2013. After much legal maneuvering, all six incorporated municipalities (other than Memphis) created separate school districts in 2014. [2] Total enrollment, as of the 2010-2011 school year, was about 103,000 students, [3] which made the district the largest in Tennessee.
MCS served the entire city of Memphis. [4] Some areas of unincorporated Shelby County were zoned to Memphis City Schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Some unincorporated areas of Shelby County were zoned to schools in Shelby County Schools for elementary and middle school and Memphis City Schools for high school.[ citation needed ]
As of August 2014 there are six new municipal school districts. Collierville Schools, Bartlett City Schools, Millington Municipal Schools, Germantown Municipal Schools, Arlington Community Schools and Lakeland School System. Shelby County Schools serves the city of Memphis and as well the unincorporated areas of Shelby County.
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In the mid-1960s, the district had about 130,000 students. The numbers of white students and black students were almost equal. [5]
In the mid-1960s, the district still segregated its schools. Daniel Kiel, a law professor at the University of Memphis who had authored publications about school integration in Memphis, said that the efforts to desegregate were, as paraphrased by Sam Dillon of The New York Times , "subterfuge and delay". [5] Desegregation first began with the Memphis 13, a group of first graders. [6] In 1973, the federal government ordered desegregation busing in Memphis. As a result, massive white flight occurred in Memphis City Schools. In 1973, the school district had 71,000 White students. In a period of four years, 40,000 of the White students left. [5]
In July 2011, the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners voted to postpone opening Memphis City Schools indefinitely until the Memphis City Council provided money set aside for the school system. [7] The incident was reported in national news.
In 2011 Marcus Pohlmann, a Rhodes College political science professor, wanted to study the Memphis schools to compare performances of schools with low income student bodies and schools with higher income student bodies. He concluded that he was unable to do so because "There are no middle-class black schools in Memphis. They’re all poor." [5]
All MCS students were required to wear school uniforms from the fall of 2002 until the district was dissolved in 2013. [8] Students could wear oxford shirts, polo shirts, turtlenecks, and blouses with "Peter Pan" collars. Colors varied, depending upon the school. In general, all white shirts were acceptable. Sweatshirts had to be white, black, navy blue, tan or any other colors approved by the individual campus. Trousers, shorts, skirts, and jumpers had to be black, tan, or navy blue. Denim clothing was not allowed. [9] When MCS and SCS merged in 2013, the former MCS schools kept this uniform policy while the existing SCS schools did not, since the suburbs planned to form their own districts and leave SCS within a year. [10]
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Seven Memphis City Schools have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which honors schools that are academically superior or demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. [33] These schools are:
Memphis City Schools was headquartered in the Francis E. Coe Administration Building, [34] [35] It was shared with the pre-merger Shelby County Schools. The building has two wings, one for each district. As of 2013 the corridor linking the wings had a double-locked doors, and the glass panels had been covered by particle boards. Irving Hamer, the deputy superintendent of Memphis City Schools, described the barrier as "our Berlin Wall." [5]
Shelby County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 929,744. It is the largest of the state's 95 counties, both in terms of population and geographic area. Its county seat is Memphis, a port on the Mississippi River and the second most populous city in Tennessee. The county was named for Governor Isaac Shelby (1750–1826) of Kentucky. It is one of only two remaining counties in Tennessee with a majority African American population, along with Haywood County.
Collierville is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. With a population of 51,324 in the 2020 census, Collierville is the third largest municipality in the county after Memphis and Bartlett. It is home to the Carriage Crossing shopping mall and is served by Collierville Schools.
Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,333 at the 2020 census.
Downtown Memphis, Tennessee is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south and I-240 to the east, where it abuts Midtown Memphis.
Frayser is a neighborhood on the northside of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is named after Memphis physician Dr. J Frayser, who owned a summer home near the railroad. Frayser's boundaries are the Wolf River to the south, the Mississippi River to the west, the Loosahatchie River to the north, and ICRR tracks to the east. The population of Frayser is 45,000.
Central Gardens is a historic Memphis neighborhood in Midtown. It has been named one of North America's best "Old House Neighborhoods."
Cordova High School is a public high school located in Cordova, Tennessee, United States, within unincorporated Shelby County, to the east of the city of Memphis, and is also part of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools district.
Raleigh is a community in north-central Memphis, Tennessee, United States, named for a formerly incorporated town that used to be at its center. Raleigh is bordered on the west by the community of Frayser, on the east by the incorporated suburb of Bartlett, on the south by the Wolf River and Interstate 40, and on the north by the Memphis city limits. The former town of Raleigh was the first county seat of Shelby County, Tennessee.
Raleigh-Egypt High School (REHS) is a secondary school located at 3970 Voltaire Road in Raleigh, a section of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Shelby County Schools district. It shares a campus with Egypt Central Elementary School and Raleigh-Egypt Middle School. The high school has an enrollment of 595 as of school year 2019–2020.
Bartlett High School is a high school located in Bartlett, Tennessee. It is part of the Bartlett City Schools. It was formerly operated by the Shelby County Schools system. Bartlett has two campuses, the main campus and the Ninth Grade Academy which is located at the former Shadowlawn Middle School campus on Shadowlawn Rd.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools(MSCS), previously known as Shelby County Schools (SCS), is a public school district that serves the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States, as well as most of the unincorporated areas of Shelby County. MSCS is the 23rd largest school district in the United States and the largest in Tennessee.
East Memphis is a region of Memphis, Tennessee with several defined and informal subdivisions and neighborhoods such as Colonial Acres, White Station-Yates, Sherwood Forest, Normal Station, High Point Terrace, Belle Meade, Normandy Meadows, St. Nick, Pleasant Acres, Balmoral, and Ridgeway. The general boundaries are informal:
Craigmont High School is a public high school located in Memphis, Tennessee, in the Raleigh community. It was part of the Memphis City Schools district before consolidation with the Shelby County Schools district, beginning with the 2013-14 school year. It is home to the city's only International Studies Program. The school first opened in 1974 for only 7th through 10th grade students, but each subsequent year, added a grade higher. The first graduating class was the class of 1976. In 2001, the 7th and 8th grade students, along with the 6th grade students from Brownsville Road Optional Elementary School, formed the new Craigmont Middle School at the opposite end of the same block. This was done both to help overcrowding and to reduce the extreme age and maturity gaps present in a single building. Before the physical split between junior and senior high schools, junior high students remain relegated to the north end of the building for classes while those senior high students attended the majority of their classes in the south end of the school building. Beginning with the 1991-1992 school year, students from grade 9 would become a part of the senior high section of the building. Former principal, Dr. Ada Jane Walters, would go on to become the Tennessee State Commissioner of Education.
Carolyn Jean Chumney is an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. She served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1991 to 2003 and represented the fifth district on the Memphis, Tennessee City Council from 2004 to 2007. Chumney came in second place in the Democratic primary for Shelby County mayor in 2002 and within 7 points of being elected the first woman Memphis mayor in 2007. Chumney was a leading attorney taking the fight for election security to the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress. She is also the author of "The Arena: One Woman's Story" [Lady Justice Publishing 2021] which has won national recognition, including First Place At-Large Autobiography by the National Federation of Press Women. Chumney is now an elected Shelby County Circuit Court Judge and took office on September 1, 2022 after winning the countywide election.
Hyde Park is a neighborhood in the Hollywood community on the north of Memphis, Tennessee.
Ridgeway High School is a public high school in east Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and is operated in the Shelby County Schools district.
Cordova is a community in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. Cordova lies east of Memphis, north of Germantown, south of Bartlett, and northwest of Collierville at an elevation of 361 feet.
Messick High School was a public high school in Memphis, Tennessee, established in 1908 and operated from 1909 to 1981. The main building was demolished in 1982, but Memphis City Schools uses some other former Messick facilities to house the Messick Adult Education Center.
The Lakeland School System (LSS) is a municipal school district serving the city of Lakeland, Tennessee, United States, within Greater Memphis. Lakeland Elementary School and Lakeland Preperatory School are within the district.