MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Northside alumni moved some school keepsakes out of the high school Wednesday, before its doors lock for good.
Northside Alumni Association President Eric Dunn cannot believe the fight is over.
“Of course, we know it’s a sad occasion for the community, a sad occasion for over 3,000 alumni that I oversee. Right now, we just want the best for the students, and we’re getting ready to just help them with a smooth transition,” Dunn said.
Last month, the Shelby County School Board voted to close Northside after one year.
This week, the board took up the issue again and voted to close it now, after all.
“The board realized that there were unintended consequences with the decision to delay the closure for a year, namely, it became incredibly difficult to staff the school,” said SCS Superintendent Dorsey Hopson.
The district said that so far, only 36 students had enrolled at Northside for next year.
“Given those unintended consequences, it just became abundantly clear that waiting a year was not going to be conducive to student achievement,” Hopson said.
Dunn said that before the vote, the school was already working on offering more vocational programs, like in mechanics.
He knows some Shelby County Commissioners have been critical of the board, when it comes to pulling the plug on schools with low enrollment and poor performance.
As the district wages its battle for funding for next school year, Dunn believes that was a factor.
“You was caught up in a rock and a hard place, so you really didn’t have nothing to do but to close the schools that were already on the list,” Dunn said.
The district is rezoning Northside students to attend Manassas High School when classes resume.
The district is planning to do a footprint analysis of its schools this fall in an attempt to rightsize the district. That means there could be more school closures in the next few years.
SCS said that if parents have questions, they may call the Parent Welcome Center at 901-416-5300.
