Memphis Lift, a parent advocacy organization based in Memphis Tennessee, just finished their 2nd big trip to Nashville for this school year. On Wednesday, the group of between 100 and 200 parents stood in front of the state capitol and called for state officials to listen to them regarding “decisions made concerning their children.”
At the rally, a speaker stated that Memphis Lift parents are at the hill to “demand that our schools work for us.” Additional speakers clarified why they were there, which can be boiled down to two reasons. First, they were there to demand a continuing presence of the Achievement School District (ASD) in their community. Second, they support Governor Haslam’s BEP funding increase. You can watch their pep rally in front of the capitol here. The ASD demand starts around 2:40 and the BEP demand around 6:00.
MEMPHIS LIFT || ‘The Memphis Lift & Priority School Parents Visit Nashville’ from Memphis Lift on Vimeo.
It’s wonderful to see parents advocating for their kids in Nashville. We need more parents taking such an active interest in our public education system. And if you don’t take into account their organizational history, we could probably stop right there.
But the knowledgeable observer can’t ignore the history of allegations surrounding Memphis Lift and the ASD. In that context, the fact that Memphis Lift chose to only shout out one local actor in the fight to improve priority schools – the ASD – will raise some eyebrows.
This omission is significant not only because of their history with the ASD, but because of who was left out. Memphis Lift could have included the iZone in their advocacy. The iZone has been incredibly successful in its short run thus far as Shelby County School’s (SCS) turnaround mechanism and has struggled with funding in the past. Another actor left out include the city and state’s successful charter sector. And no mention was made of the recently proposed state voucher program.
Perhaps this is just a strategic advocacy decision and observers shouldn’t read too much into it. After all, iZone-ending bills aren’t being considered, the voucher bill is likely dead for this session and charter schools are thriving. So logically it would make sense for Memphis Lift to focus only on the ASD given these realities. And the increased funding to the BEP that they are advocating for would presumably help all the actors that I’ve outlined above.
But I think that Memphis Lift must also take into account the reality that they have been accused multiple times in the past 6 months of coordinating with the ASD, most notably by SCS. When they stand on the capitol steps to advocate for better schools and the only organization that they shout out happens to the organization that they have been accused of colluding with in the past, it will likely raise questions. Too often Memphis Lift’s public approach comes across as “verbally tear down SCS, lift up the ASD.” This comes across frequently in their public comments (check out their page on facebook to see what I mean). This trip to the capitol, which they made very public via facebook and an emailed press release, was a fantastic opportunity to shift the narrative about who and what they represent. And in my mind, it left us with the same questions as before.
I love seeing parents get involved. And I love the energy and enthusiasm they bring to the conversation around failing schools. But If Memphis Lift wants to be seen by the public as a group advocating for turning around all schools, they have some work to do on their rhetoric. We’re all in this together, and even if the ASD sticks around for years or decades to come, other turnaround efforts will still play a major role in turning around priority schools in Memphis. For better or worse, rhetoric matters. At best their current rhetoric makes them look naïve about the nature of their image and the nature of school turnaround, and at worst it feeds the claims of those alleging a connection between them and the ASD.
Note to reader: The ASD has repeatedly and publicly disavowed any allegations of coordination between them and Memphis Lift. We also concluded in a previous article that there wasn’t enough evidence to conclusively substantiate the claims of collusion between Memphis Lift and the ASD. lastly, for the sake of transparency here’s their entire press release about the event:
Almost 200 parents from Memphis, Tennessee stormed the Nashville Legislature yesterday, Wednesday, February 16 to make their voices heard in the decisions made concerning their children.
The City of Memphis holds 51 of Tennessee’s 81 failing schools. That means that Memphis, all by itself, has 63% of our entire state’s failing schools and parents say that is unacceptable. Parent, Sarah Carpenter states, “For far too long in the city of Memphis and around our country, poor people have been held back by a failing public school system. Some Republicans don’t want to increase school funding. Some Democrats care more about protecting systems and administrator jobs than they do about protecting children. We are here to demand that our schools work for us.”
Parents joined Memphis Lift, which is a public outreach organization that’s goal is educate, engage and empower parents of Memphis’ priority school areas. Alongside Memphis Lift, almost 200 parents will be supporting Governor Haslam’s BEP funding increase and the continuing presence of ASD in their community. Priority school parent Arthur Houston states, “As a parent of a child affected by a failing school system, I have seen the need for options and competition in public education. No one was concerned about education for decades before ASD came into our community. I commend the ASD for their efforts to better my child’s life.”
Parent Dianecia Fields says that she has seen “a dire need for more classroom resources” and asks that Governor Haslam’s increase in BEP funding be spent on the children instead of more oversight or administration costs. She says “Memphis’ schools have been neglected, ignored and failing for decades. Memphis parents are stepping up to make their voices heard and incite change for our children.”
Overall, parents received very positive feedback from legislators all over the state. It is their hope that funding increases for children in the classroom and that the ASD stays in their community.
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