The reason I was still up at 2:30 this morning is that I listened to the Memphis City School Board meeting on streaming radio. At least I tried. I got most of it, but it kept going in and out - why is that? And it was extremely annoying, to say the least, when the signal crapped out completely just as they called the vote. So I had to wait until this morning to see what happened. Anyway, I was wired.
What happened is that the MCS Board voted, 5-4, to surrender the city school charter. This is big. This is momentus. This is an opportunity for us to finally end the ongoing and tedious discussion about city schools vs. county schools. This is an opportunity for us to finally have more transparency about where our education dollars go and who is paying for what. This is an opportunity for us to concentrate on a good education for all of the children in Shelby County. The Board's resolution will come to a vote before city voters within 45-60 days, by state law. During this period we'll have lots of fear mongering and lots of misinformation. Please do your best to become informed with real facts and make a thoughtful decision. And don't be swayed by the argument that things are moving too fast and we don't have a plan and we don't know what will happen. As one of the speakers last night said, there wasn't a plan when the Supreme Court handed down Brown v. Bd of Ed and we didn't know how it would turn out. But it was the right thing to do.
As Al Pacino said in Scent of a Woman, "When you get tangled up, sometimes you just have to tango on."
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