MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Bellevue Middle School students and their families tried to set the tone at the beginning of Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
“I am hurting. My son just asked me. ‘why don’t we have that at my school? the orchestra the STEM,’ and I don’t have an answer for him,” said Patience Maxwell.
She blamed board members for not giving Lincoln Elementary enough resources to help it succeed and forcing students to change schools.
It’s a practice board members admit has been happening since the district merged with Memphis City Schools.
“What’s going on you guys? This is organized chaos. You guys are moving these kids from school to school to school. Remember Where’s Waldo? Where’s our Kids? What school are they going to go to next year? she added.
Lincoln students will go to A.B. Hill and Southside Middle students headed to Riverview.
That’s what alarms Charlotte Smith, who says she’s worked hard to keep her son on the right track.
“It’s a code orange, gang infested. It’s not the place I want for my child. That’s why I live where I live and not over on Riverside,” said Smith.
“It worries me I’m going to get caught in the middle of gang violence. I want to grow to be something in life, said her son Curlandus.
Board members kept reminding parents that without the changes, the state could have turned the schools into charters, something else unpopular.
The school board took another unpopular move, by making changes in the Woodstock area.
Northaven goes back to an elementary school and Woodstock, a true middle school.
Some students will go to Bolton for high school, others Trezevant, despite public outcry.
