Chattanooga Schools (Memphis, Midtown: sales, layoffs, neighborhoods)

[Tigertate]

Here in Memphis, the city school board has voted to surrender the school charter which would effectively turn control of the city schools over to the county school system. This has been a very contentious issue down here and people in the suburbs are up in arms because they do not want their smaller, better performing, system (approx. 47,000 kids) combined with the huge and poor performing city school system (approx. 105,000 kids). The media here has brought up the school merger that happened in the Chattanooga area in the min 90's. I wanted to come over here and get you alls perspective on how the merger in Chattanooga affected the schools. Do you all feel they are better or worse today? Did the merger lead to more children leaving the public school system and going to private schools? Did the merger lead to any population flight out of Hamilton County? I know Memphis and Chattanooga are very different cities as far as size and demographics and things here might not follow the same path, but I wanted to get your perspective.
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[SPLIT]

T.T: Was not around in Mid 90's & did not have any kids in the county system. However yesterday I read very nice mag article that will try & post LInk. One of our monthly city mags is called Chatter & I see the web link already has the Feb issue, BUT on the right side one can FLIP (Lower right corner arrow cursor),,thru the JANUARY issue to page 56 - 63 for article called " WHY PRIVATE Schools.? . . http://www.chatterchattanooga.com/
... The school system is in the nightly news a few times a week. Recall hearing the non graduation rate about 25%. KNow economy , single parents, meth drug use puts pressure on students. . MOney woes, thought all states would do well with lottery sales funding, (?). MOre state budjet cut backs seem to make more troubles & teacher layoffs. . Chattanooga city growing ,in different towns, some aging schools wsere closed , & seems a new one built every year.! But even the board members fight among themselves. Local newspaper link to read each day also ... www.timesfreepress.com

[Blue502]

I did not have children in the school system during the merger. I do believe as a taxpayer, the merge , years later, has benefitted the school system. Our city admin couldn't run a dog and pony show at this moment, so I am glad they don't have control of the system. If the school system took control themselves (which is highly unlikley because they keep finding the most ill fitting supers and admin) we , as a county/city would be in deep doo doo. They could vote to raise taxes instead of finding ways to cut money and budget. I think things, at a "building" area, the county has been great for the school system. As far as the rest goes, ie the education, too many chiefs and not enough indians.
We do have one of the highest rated counties in the country as far as budget and controls goes, so it is hard to compare to other counties.
As far as an education goes, I have realized with my daughter being an AP , straight A student, she benefitted because she wasn't lumped into the "general" category. With my son, it has been a nightmare with the school and the system. I won't go into this, but I feel sorry for parents who have no idea, because I had no idea until my son went into high school.

In my opinion, a school system operated by a county government is much better off with the checks and balances. I would think you would still have a school board who would vote on issues within the school system.

[knucklehead_vol]

Originally Posted by Tigertate

Here in Memphis, the city school board has voted to surrender the school charter which would effectively turn control of the city schools over to the county school system. This has been a very contentious issue down here and people in the suburbs are up in arms because they do not want their smaller, better performing, system (approx. 47,000 kids) combined with the huge and poor performing city school system (approx. 105,000 kids). The media here has brought up the school merger that happened in the Chattanooga area in the min 90's. I wanted to come over here and get you alls perspective on how the merger in Chattanooga affected the schools. Do you all feel they are better or worse today? Did the merger lead to more children leaving the public school system and going to private schools? Did the merger lead to any population flight out of Hamilton County? I know Memphis and Chattanooga are very different cities as far as size and demographics and things here might not follow the same path, but I wanted to get your perspective.
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My family is moving to Chattanooga from Memphis (Midtown) this March, hopefully. One of the neighborhoods we are looking at has the Normal Park Magnet School which had been voted the number one elementary school in the nation.

[pioti]

Originally Posted by knucklehead_vol

My family is moving to Chattanooga from Memphis (Midtown) this March, hopefully. One of the neighborhoods we are looking at has the Normal Park Magnet School which had been voted the number one elementary school in the nation.

I think this is a bit more accurate;

Normal Park Museum Magnet is a Pre-K–8th Hamilton County public school, was named the number one magnet school in America in 2005