When Memphis City Schools board member and part-time University of Memphis student Stephanie Gatewood first considered the idea of surrendering the MCS charter and unifying the school district with Shelby County's, she was hesitant to vote "yes" — until she began digging for details.
The Reconstruction-era document, authored in 1869, contained many passages Gatewood found troubling, perhaps the most notable of which hailed back to a part of Southern history that many would like to forget.
"Said board of education shall provide and maintain separate schools for the use and accommodation of the white and colored youths of the city entitled to admission in the public schools of the City of Memphis, subject to all respects, to the same rules, regulations and treatment," reads Section 1000 of the charter, passed under Private Act 30.
Though many factors played a role in Gatewood's ultimate decision to vote to surrender the charter — taxation equity for Memphis residents who also pay county taxes contributed significantly — she said she believes race relations play the biggest role in the current debate on school consolidation, which she calls "unification."
"Economics is a secondary issue; however, first and foremost is race," she said. "I've seen it personally in every (way) you can imagine."
The segregation provision in the MCS charter is not only illegal, Gatewood said, but also "detrimental" to the state of education.
"When the charter was first written, it was never as much about kids as adults," she said.
Gatewood said that although the isolationism expressed in the 1869 document is now contrary to federal law, she has seen that same sentiment in modern-day Memphis.
"It appears we're back where we started 142 years ago," she said. "People have moved outside the city for several reasons — I call it ‘elitism syndrome.' It affects whites and blacks (who) don't want their children to go to school with poor, black kids. Never in my life have I seen an education system so separate. Classism is the worst kind of discrimination (in my book)."
Otis Sanford, holder of the chair of excellence in The University of Memphis Department of Journalism, said he thinks class maintenance is more central to the debate than pure racism.
"I think (race) is an issue, but not the No. 1 issue," he said. "I don't want to say class (is No. 1), but I do think (some opponents of the merger) feel … a disdain for all things Memphis. That goes beyond race, that suburban-versus-urban mentality. Some does go back to race."
Sanford's primary concern in the potential merger, he said, is the limited time the public has had to process the concept.
"It was only mid-November (when the idea of surrending the charter arose), so the public was totally caught off guard," he said. "They had to be thrust into it — just dumped into it. The school board probably could have seen this coming and could have started some conversation so the community could have gotten engaged with it."
The motivating factor in the school board's decision to surrender, Sanford said, came from a push by the newly elected Republican majority in the Tennessee legislature to re-allow the creation of special school districts, which ceased in 1982. If passed, the law could allow Shelby County Schools to make its district's borders permanent, ruling out the possibility of uniting with the city in the future.
"(Some wanted to) wall off Shelby County from Memphis so they could have what they have now, and the Democrats thwarted them at every turn in the legislature. (When Republicans gained) a clear majority, the hubris started to go," Sanford said.
Gatewood said she has been fighting against the looming possibility of special district status since she first stepped onto the board seven years ago.
"It wasn't until (SCS board chairman David) Pickler became chairman-elect that we saw a push to get that status," she said.
Though details of how the administrative turnaround would work are still uncertain, Gatewood said that the most vital components of educating students and running schools would not be harmed if Memphis citizens passed the referendum, currently in the early voting stage and set for a final vote March 8.
"A lot of people are saying, ‘Well, we have all these monumental questions' … well, we'll never be able to do this again," she said, referring to the possibility of SCS closing its doors permanently to city schoolchildren.
Gatewood pointed out that businesses regularly merge, often without clients feeling significant effects from the changing of the guard. When her bank was bought out, she said, her day-to-day operations were untouched.
"It could be a seamless transition," she said. "All it is is changing the management. It's a business."
Gatewood suggested that regional superintendents or a chancellor system could help ease the weight of such a large system on John Aitken, Shelby County Schools superintendent, whose contract was recently extended to 2015.
She said the notion that some personnel lower on the totem pole, such as custodians, could be lost completely is "ludicrous" and that the school system's budget is allocated in fiscal years running from July 1 to June 30, so students' learning experience would not be harmed or their schools' operation disrupted.
Both Gatewood and Sanford said there was no reason to believe that bringing MCS students, whose average test scores are lower than those of their SCS counterparts, into the county system would "drag down" the better-performing pupils.
"A lot of great things are going on in MCS," Gatewood said. "Unification would make for a much richer system — it could be a very seamless transition."
Sanford said he thinks MCS tends to be painted in an unnecessarily negative light.
"I think we can get this done," he said. "I think unification can happen."
But Sanford added that the process will likely not be easy, even if the referendum passes.
"It will be unbelievably painful … just because of personalities, with the city versus the suburbs versus the state. There may be too many cooks in the kitchen, and I can't see how the soufflé will rise — not without some Pam."
Though he wishes the situation had played out differently, Sanford said he is likely to vote for the surrender and for unification.
"I said, ‘Why are we doing this when we don't have a plan?'" he said. "But the more I thought about it … I don't like how the state legislators have responded. I don't like the way the suburbs have handled it. I don't like the way it got done. And I reserve the right to change my mind, but I'm (probably) going to vote for it."
Gatewood encouraged Memphians to vote on the referendum and take a stand in ensuring state and federal funding for Memphis public school students is uninterrupted.
"I'm hoping everyone will go vote. I think they are excited to have a voice in what happens," she said. "Citizens deserve the opportunity to vote in the referendum, regardless of what I want."
