One campus, two districts: Memphis Raleigh-Egypt navigates enrollment standoff

As the morning bell approaches, students file into Raleigh-Egypt High School, which last fall began accepting middle schoolers too. About 45 minutes later, the same drill happens just yards away at neighboring Memphis Scholars Raleigh-Egypt, a middle school operated by a charter network.

The Memphis campus is unique, serving two schools — and two districts. Raleigh-Egypt High is operated by Shelby County Schools. The middle school is run by Memphis Scholars through the state-run Achievement School District.

Both are low-performing schools. But the goal lately hasn’t been just about improving academics. Neighborhoods that feed the schools have turned into a battlefield for student enrollment in the city’s Raleigh community.

The new sign for Memphis Scholars Raleigh-Egypt is hung near the faded letters of the school’s former middle school name under Shelby County Schools. (Laura Faith Kebede)

Memphis Scholars, which previously was part of national charter network Scholar Academies, reopened the former Raleigh-Egypt Middle School in August with the goal of turning it around following a state takeover from Shelby County Schools. But in an unprecedented move to retain students and funding, the local school board voted last spring to reconfigure the neighboring high school to include middle school grades.

The decisions set the stage for a battle to recruit middle schoolers to both schools. At Raleigh-Egypt High, Principal James “Bo” Griffin and his team took to the streets by talking about the transition to civic groups, neighborhood pastors and elected officials. At the middle school, Memphis Scholars and the Memphis Lift school choice advocacy group hosted parent meetings and invited families to talk with administrators about the changes.

So far, the middle school is losing the enrollment battle. Memphis Scholars had expected to have 500 students at opening, but has only 200. Raleigh-Egypt High, meanwhile, registered 280 middle schoolers, increasing the school’s total enrollment to 900 in a building meant for some 1,250 students.

As a result, the charter operator’s turnaround challenge also has become an enrollment challenge — one being experienced by many of the ASD’s 13 operators. More than half of the state district’s buildings operate at 50 percent capacity or less.

Meanwhile, Shelby County Schools’ aggressive strategy appears to be working. The local district managed this year to keep some students from moving to the ASD, which has expanded annually since 2012 at the expense of the local district.

Parents are also getting more public school choices for their children.

But nobody seems to be particularly happy about the setup.

“The people who are losing are these kids,” said Griffin at Raleigh-Egypt High. “We all have good ideas but we all need to be on the same page.”

Jerry Sanders, director for Memphis Scholars Raleigh-Egypt, talk about the charter school’s academic offerings. (Laura Faith Kebede)

Jerry Sanders, who came aboard last year as middle school’s principal, is trying to keep his team focused. “I’m more concerned with the academics they’re receiving rather than who’s giving it to them,” said Sanders, a former Memphis City Schools teacher and instructional leader with KIPP Memphis Collegiate High School.

The unique arrangement has tested both districts.

When enrollment is down, it’s harder to fund the level of supports needed to turn around a school. Under-enrollment has been cited as the reason for impending pullouts of three ASD schools this year by two charter operators, Gestalt Community Schools and KIPP.

But Memphis Scholars Executive Director Nick Patterson said Tuesday that his organization has no plans leave the Raleigh middle school, even with the drop in enrollment.

“We were proactive in the way we forecast our enrollment,” Patterson said of projections made by Memphis Scholars after Shelby County Schools announced the high school’s reconfigured grades. “Doesn’t mean we’re content with that.”

Shelby County Schools, meanwhile, received a stern lecture from state officials for its chess move last spring.

“We are certainly disappointed in the implied reason behind the possible grade configuration change in the Raleigh-Egypt schools,” said a statement from the Tennessee Department of Education. “(Local districts) may, of course, expand school options for students, but considering a reconfiguration in an attempt to divert students from an ASD school is contrary to the intent of state school turnaround policy.”

For two districts to share a campus is not unprecedented in Memphis. Freedom Preparatory Academy, a charter network with schools authorized by both Shelby County Schools and the ASD, has one of each at its Westwood campus. But in that case, the schools are under the same operator.

At Raleigh-Egypt, things get a bit trickier with two operators. The campus has its auditorium in the middle school. And the two schools also must share sports fields between them.

Both principals agree that the relationship has been cordial, though.

“We’re able to communicate to get what the kids need,” Sanders said.