(MEMPHIS) The Shelby County School Board agreed to a settlement deal with the City of Germantown handing over five schools to the suburban city, but SCS members say they were working to give the suburb a sixth school.
“I was calling the superintendent to discuss so we need Germantown Elementary,” said Billy Orgel, SCS Board Member. “We were still crunching the numbers”
“I think six would have been a better approach for all of us,” said SCS board member David Pickler. “I was very surprised when the attorney for Germantown said they were going with the original deal.”
County leaders say Germantown’s lawyer proposed accepting the five schools and closing the deal Monday. B
oard members started reporting the news and Germantown’s mayor complained, saying no deal was reached.
County members say they didn’t force this on Germantown, they came up with the deal.
Germantown City Administrator Patrick Lawton said they looked at the numbers and there was no point in waiting, SCS would have decided not to give up Germantown Elementary.
Lawton said there was a deal on the table, and they wanted to close it and move forward with the task of creating a school district.
Still, the information didn’t appear to be apparent to all within Germantown.
School Board Chairwoman Lisa Parker said Monday night that the county had all the cords and wouldn’t work with them to even give six schools.
We tried to talk to her about what county leaders said about that claim Tuesday night, but she refused to speak with us.
Shelby County School Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said it’s time for everyone to move forward and begin the huge task of creating their school districts over the next few months and strive for student achievement.