Memphis to Vote on Transferring School System to County

[onpatrol98]

Memphis to Vote on Transferring School System to County

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: January 27, 2011

MEMPHIS — Upon returning to his hometown after more than a decade away, Martavius Jones began spending his evenings at school board meetings.

A peculiar hobby, as he had no children, but Mr. Jones was bothered by the sorry reputation of the schools that produced him and, as a financial adviser, interested in the handful of pension plans in the system. Seven years later, he was a board member. In 2009, he served a term as president.

And this past Nov. 22, Mr. Jones proposed doing away with the Memphis city school system altogether.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/us/28memphis.html

[Kceres]

1. I came out of the Memphis Public School System.

Class of '75. It was a horrible experience then and sounds like it's still a mess. Mid-70s saw major white flight in the suburbs and the schools never recovered. I remember how racist some of the white teachers were back then, let alone the students. The black students were bussed to my high school and let out in the back of the school. Talk about demeaning. Then there was one bomb threat after another, fights, drugs, you name it. The school system needed to start over 35 years ago! Best of luck to 'em.