John KlyceMemphis Commercial Appeal
Wednesday morning, Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education member Mauricio Calvo posed a rhetorical question to The Commercial Appeal: What would the response of the Tennessee government be if the U.S. president tried to appoint representatives to the state legislature, because of problems the state hadn’t been able to fix?
“How would they feel about that?” he said. “How would they feel if an executive on a higher level was to impose that?”
Calvo’s point came amid news that a Tennessee lawmaker wants to add state-appointed members to the locally-elected board.
The proposal
State Rep. Mark White of Memphis plans to introduce legislation that would allow Gov. Bill Lee’s administration to appoint up to six members to the MSCS board, news that was first reported by Chalkbeat Tennessee. White told The CA he's "at least another month" from filing legislation. Under his proposal, the nine current board members would remain in office and the additional board members would be appointed later this year. They would be Memphis-based and already working in the education sector.
"They'd all be local," White said. "They'd be Memphis and Shelby County people who are really in the system and really know what's going on... We'd have we have highly qualified people get there, and make sure the train runs on time."
But why does White, who also chairs the Tennessee House's education administration committee, feel the need to introduce legislation that would add state-appointed members to the local school board?
He's grown frustrated by what he's seen coming out of MSCS, pointing to literacy rates and the graduation rate as examples. In the 2022-23 academic year, 23.6% of third graders earned proficient results on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program English Language Arts tests, a slight improvement from the 2021-22 academic year. It has set a goal of growing that number to 52% by 2030. And MSCS posted a graduation rate of 81.5%, a slight increase from the previous rate of 80.1%, but below the state average of 90.6%.
"As as chair of the education committee, and as a citizen of Memphis and representative of Memphis... it's really my obligation to make sure that our schools are performing at the level that our community needs," he said. "I get calls all the time from our business community that our Memphis-Shelby County Schools are not producing the quality of students that we need for our workforce... We're not hitting the mark the way we should."
And he believes the school board is where productive additions can be made.
"It's the school board's responsibility to put in place the measures for the academic performance of students in that particular school district," he said. "This particular legislation I've had on my desk for a couple of years. I just keep putting it off, keep thinking that things will get better, and they don't."
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He also is displeased with the way the superintendent search process has played out, and he isn't happy with the three finalists the board has selected: Yolonda Brown, the chief academic officer for Atlanta Public Schools; Marie Feagins, Ed.D., Chief of Leadership and High Schools for Detroit Public Schools Community District; and Cheryl Proctor, Ph.D., Deputy superintendent of instruction and school communities for Portland Public Schools.
He'd prefer for a local candidate to be chosen.
"My personal opinion is that we've got some highly qualified people in our own community, that know the culture of our schools, that know the issues in our schools," he said. "And for us to go to Atlanta, Portland, and Detroit, for a superintendent, when we have so many issues locally in our schools, we're wasting another year of a student's life."
'The people have spoken'
White told the CA he's hoping to continue to work with the MSCS administration and board going forward, noting that it's his job "to work with all parties." He also alleged that he's received a "tremendous outpouring of a positive response" since his plan was unveiled. But Calvo and other school board members sounded off on White’s proposal and pushed back against his criticisms of the superintendent search process.
For Calvo, the proposal to add state-appointed members to the school board potentially infringes on the rights of local voters, as the body of current school board members is made up of locally elected officials. Calvo was appointed to the board by the Shelby County Commission ― but only after Sheleah Harris unexpectedly vacated her seat before her term expired.
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“Am I frustrated with the board? Yes, a lot of times, and I’m very vocal about that,” Calvo said. “But this is a democracy, the people have spoken, and they have elected these nine individuals… If the state legislature is appointing people, it’s a way of saying, ‘Hey, Memphis, you don’t have the capacity to elect your own officials,' and I think that’s disrespectful.”
Amber Huett-Garcia, another member of the MSCS board, expressed reservations about the proposal as well, admitting that the board and district have faced difficulties, but maintaining that there are more effective ways to work with the state.
“I think it's ideal when local communities govern themselves,” she said. “I’m the first to recognize where we have challenges, so, I prefer to focus on solutions to the structural challenges we face. In partnership with the state, we could make a lot of headway on things like literacy, infrastructure, and youth violence. I believe in our kids and focusing on solutions would be my preferred route.”
She also noted that five school board members are up for reelection in August which, she said, is “the ultimate accountability metric.”
And in a statement, Althea Greene, chair of the MSCS board, blasted White’s plan and pointed to the Achievement School District, a state initiative to take over low-performing schools that many have seen as ineffective.
“This is absolutely not needed. We may have had some challenges, but more interference from the general assembly is not warranted at this time,” she said. “We have to stop experimenting with our children. Case in point, the Achievement School District, generated by the state legislature, has not lived up to the expectations set out when it was formed… We are going to respectfully ask Rep. White not to move forward with this recommendation and we look forward to discussing this matter at his earliest convenience.”
The superintendent search
Greene also criticized White’s assertions about the superintendent search process and his comments about the three finalists.
The roughly year-and-a-half-long search for a superintendent was initially turbulent, and board members paused it in the spring amid questions about the selection methodology and public accusations of a lack of transparency. But ever since the search was relaunched the search in August, the process has been relatively smooth. The board has been praised for involving the community in the search, and in mid-December, it landed on three finalists.
“The Board went through a robust search process to find the right candidate with input from members of our community,” Greene said in her statement. “We find Rep. White’s comments egregious, and we are confident that these three finalists are highly qualified and are capable of being our next superintendent.”
There are others, besides White, who would like to see a local candidate ― rather than one of the three out-of-state finalists ― take the permanent superintendent post. During the public comment portion of a school board meeting on Jan. 30, John Bush, the principal of Southwind High School and representative of the local principal’s association, said that principals wanted a “candidate who has worked and lived in this community.”
“We would like someone who has a vested interest and awareness of what’s taking place in our community,” he said.
And on Tuesday, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition sent out a release calling for the board to award the permanent superintendent role to interim Superintendent Toni Williams ― who was one of the original finalists for the posts before withdrawing her name from consideration in June.
Calvo, however, expressed his confidence in the three finalists that the board has selected.
“I think we have three strong candidates to choose from,” he said, “and I am optimistic that my colleagues and I will reach a consensus.”
The CA reached out to MSCS about White's plan, and a spokesperson for the district provided the following statement:
"We are monitoring pending legislation and if it becomes law, we will assess its impact on MSCS."
