I have not written much lately, and I am beginning to wonder how much I have left to write these days, but I know this much: if the transfer referendum fails, Memphis dies.
It's that simple. We are walled off by Shelby County, with a shrinking tax base, left to our own devices despite the fact that we have paid for THEIR system for years, and we will die.
To those who cry that this will not help the children, what do YOU suggest? Doing nothing is only a solution if you want something to die. If Memphis dies, it takes the whole region with it, and that's the saddest thing of all.
Steve Mulroy explains here why you should vote yes, I have nothing more to say.
2 comments:
The first thing I suggest is laying off the hyperbole. Memphis will not die if you vote no. It might have to reinvent itself as a smaller city along the lines of a Chattanooga or a Jackson MS, but it will continue on.
The second thing I suggest is not using children to further your political aims and power-hungry selfishness. If you want to merge city and county governments, DO THAT, but don't use children as your pawns.
If you actually want to improve the school situation, your actions will be an example of it.
There are plenty of ideas already on the books for helping children. Get involved in your local school. Mentor. Donate. Make Memphis City Schools an example of success through your involvement and dedication, and Memphis will THRIVE. The people who fled to the county because of the county-city disparity will not flee again (as they likely will with your ill-considered and poorly-thought-out current plan) but will try to move INTO THE CITY to get their kids into the schools that you've made into a national program of excellence.
I know, I know. You don't care, you won't listen. I'm wasting my time.
While your comments suggesting more involvement on the part of everyone who lives here is on target, the rest of it is not.
This is far more than politics. People are not going to leave, A) because they can't afford to leave, and B) because their children will not be bussed, as is being rumored now.
Mulroy sums the process up extremely well in his piece, which I am presuming you did not read.
I understand, as we all do, that MCS is currently riddled with bureaucracy that is overwhelming, while nothing is done to help either students or teachers, and I know a great many of them.
This is going to require as many people as possible, and today is where we start the process.
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