MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County Schools board members met with parents from Lincoln Elementary Thursday night.
Last year, students at Lincoln took a big tumble in test scores and are now performing among the worst schools in the district.
The district now wants to merge them with another school and work on improving scores, but parents had their own questions.
“How did we drop so fast?” one asked.
“We need to see what happened in one year’s time, we need to find out what the problem is,” another said.
Some parents blame another merger, when Orleans School was shut down in 2013. Those students were moved to Lincoln, and since that change, scores have dropped.
Parents say Lincoln’s good students are being punished for accepting poor performers from Orleans. Not to mention, the former Orleans students could move a second time in just two years.
Board members say no matter the cause, if they don’t do this, the state could.
Board members believe there way is better, but parents say they don’t trust SCS to bus their kids to new schools, either.
“The buses are not safe, you got drug dealers driving the buses,” one parent said.
They say no solution makes them happy unless the kids get to stay right where they are.