Merging the Shelby County Two School Systems (Melba Wynn)

The Shelby County school system has operated as two separate entities for several years, one being the Memphis City school system and the other being the Shelby County school system. The city school system operates in the rural parts of the city whereas the county school system operates in the suburban part of the city. School board leaders have fought over this debate for quite some time about whether or not to merge the two school systems to improve student test scores and the overall school experience for all students that reside Shelby County Tennessee. Just recently, the decision was made to merge the two school systems with a fourteen member board the citizens were able to apply for these positions. Before the decision was made to merge the school system, there was a lot of drama that evolved with both school board members, the superintendents and citizens alike. The suburban community was against this merger because of the reputation that the city schools have. The city schools have made a grade of an F on the statewide report card for several years and test scores have been extremely low. The county schools on the other hand, have made a grade of an A statewide for years. The biggest problem is that if the merging of these two school systems have caused citizens to feel overlooked because they have fought for better education and better trained teachers will are willing to take that extra step with their children to push them to their highest potential, all of which the state report card shows for the Shelby County school system. Sad to say, but some of the suburban citizens have looked into hiring a consultant who could give them on the path of opening up a city limit school district for cities such as Bartlett, Germantown and Collierville. The fact of the matter is that the public administrators have made a decision and that decision being to merge the two school systems in the very near future. This merge has been the talk of the city and other surrounding areas. The question is now that the decision is final, what next. To be honest, I am not a supporter of the school merge, but I do know that the merger is going to happen and all I can do is be prepared for it. I have pondered on some pros and cons of my own. The teachers who will teach in the merged school system will be the same teachers that teach or have taught in the city and county school systems, whether these are good teachers or bad teachers, they will still be a vital part of the child's educational curriculum. The administrators, whether good or bad, new or old, they will still be in the position to make the decisions that affect the children either positively or negatively. I hope that administrators make they feel will benefit the children and not for any personal gains. The administration that is overseeing these amendments have a serious and meaningful task to contemplate on. I also think that everyone, the citizens of these counties and the administrators should want the best for the children of Shelby County anyway because they represent our future. To me, the only big change is the entire Shelby County school system will be under one entity. The zoning and transfer rules will probably stay the same. Which guarantees that the students will attend the school school their neighborhood is zoned and if parents want to transfer students to optional schools they will still have to go through the procedures for requesting a transfer. I hope that all the schools will offer an optional program and even if they do not all schools should be held up to the highest standard to achieve their goals. In the end, I think the school merge differences will be ironed out and set aside and the administrators will put their focus more on cleaning each school up and making sure the required educational standards are met and if not there should be repercussions that are taken seriously. Everyone needs to put their personal feeling aside and work on improving the schools with low grades and low test scores to prove that the children of Shelby County are able to conquer any challenge as a whole. We are a team and there is no I in team. And when I say team that does not only mean that the administrators are fulfilling their job requirements, but the parents are as well. Parents are their children first teacher and with that being said, a parent must remain focused and determined to help their child succeed. As adults we have to realize that we cannot always get what we want, hence the attitude of some of our children, but we have to adhere to change and do our part as leaders of our children. The more parents become involved in the education of their children, then the more improvement we will see in our children and the teachers and administrators who make the important decisions. Let's make a change, a change to make the best out of a bad situation.