Fairley High at a Crossroads: Students and Alumni Rally to Keep Charter School Alive
Fairley High School in Memphis’s Whitehaven community has seen a resurgence under Green Dot Public Schools, which took over the school a decade ago as part of a state-led turnaround effort. Now, as the school's charter term nears its end, students and alumni are fighting to ensure its doors remain open and its progress is not lost tnfirefly.com. This week, heartfelt pleas echoed through a Memphis-Shelby County Schools board meeting as the Fairley community urged officials to keep the high school operating as a public charter.
A Charter School’s Rise from the ASD
Fairley High was once a traditional neighborhood school chronically struggling with low performance. In 2014, it became part of Tennessee’s bold experiment to improve failing schools: the Achievement School District (ASD). The state removed Fairley from local control and “matched” it with Green Dot Public Schools under a ten-year charter contract tnfirefly.com. Green Dot – a nonprofit network known for turnarounds in California – assumed management of Fairley, making it the first school the organization ran outside of California tnfirefly.com. Over the next several years, Fairley saw substantial changes in school culture and academics. Alumni and educators describe a “rebirth” at Fairley after Green Dot’s arrival, replacing apathy with passionate teaching and a renewed sense of purpose. “I got to see a school go from just a handful [of passionate educators] to a school full of individuals…excited [about] why they’re here,” said Patricia Adams, a 1989 Fairley graduate who later joined Green Dot’s staff tnfirefly.com tnfirefly.com. The turnaround brought pride back to the hallways, with rising enrollment and a safer, more disciplined learning environment.
Academic outcomes at Fairley also began to trend upward. According to Green Dot, the school reduced suspensions by 88%, and student growth in reading and math dramatically increased by over 200% on internal assessments actionnews5.com. “I came in a standard sophomore student and I am now an honor student with over a 4.0 GPA,” said senior Xavion Clark, one of many students crediting Fairley’s new leadership for their success actionnews5.com. Another senior, Kayla Crawford, touted Fairley’s “college-focused curriculum, small class sizes, and emboldening staff,” noting that with her teachers’ guidance she had secured over $3 million in scholarship offers for college tnfirefly.com. Such testimonials highlight the school’s progress since its ASD days – progress the community is determined to protect.
Closure Threat Sparks Community Outcry
That determination was on full display at a recent Memphis-Shelby County School Board meeting. One by one, Fairley students, parents, and alumni stepped up to the podium to plead for the school’s future. They knew the stakes: Green Dot’s state-run charter contract for Fairley expires at the end of this school year, and without a new charter authorized locally, the school could face major changes or even closure. Fairley was one of five ASD charter schools in Memphis that applied this year to return to district oversight as public charter schools tnfirefly.com. The community made an impassioned case that Fairley’s turnaround should be allowed to continue under Green Dot’s hand. “Green Dot took a chance on Fairley and it was successful, giving more opportunities to kids who need a chance to excel…so why not Fairley?” senior Xavion Clark implored board members, drawing cheers from classmates tnfirefly.com actionnews5.com. Alumni echoed that sentiment, with Tamika Young – president of Fairley’s Alumni Association – testifying that she had “witnessed firsthand the transformation” at Fairley and a “healthy culture to support every need of the students.” Continuing Green Dot’s model, she argued, was “not only the best move for current students, but also for the future” of the school tnfirefly.com.
The emotional testimonials underscored how much Fairley’s identity has changed in the past decade. “Why Green Dot?” Young asked rhetorically – and answered by describing a newfound Fairley pride among students and staff that didn’t exist before. Current students lauded the school’s extensive sports programs, improved safety, and college-prep curriculum, crediting the charter operator for creating an environment where “greatness is in you, not on you,” as one student put it tnfirefly.com. Facing the prospect of losing Green Dot, many in the community fear a return to the old status quo. “This is our home,” one alum told the board, “and we want to keep it that way.”
Denied by the District
Despite the outpouring of support, Memphis-Shelby County Schools officials have been cautious. At that board meeting, members voted to deny all five ASD charter transition applications – including Fairley’s – following the recommendation of the district’s charter review committee tnfirefly.com tnfirefly.com. District evaluators cited concerns that Green Dot’s application did not provide sufficient evidence of academic growth or a clear plan for the transition out of state oversight tnfirefly.com. In the eyes of MSCS, Fairley’s improvements under Green Dot were not enough to justify a new 10-year charter term. The denial left Fairley’s community stunned and uncertain. “We were disappointed at how politics played out in front of our students and families,” Fairley principal Julius Blackburn said after the vote, suggesting the decision was driven by more than just data actionnews5.com. Still, Blackburn was not ready to give up. “This is not over…they saw the support and they know that we will be back,” he asserted, vowing to revise and resubmit Fairley’s application in hopes of a different outcome actionnews5.com actionnews5.com.
Under Tennessee law, a denied charter applicant has two avenues: propose an amended application for the local board to reconsider, and if that fails, appeal to the state’s Public Charter School Commission tnfirefly.com. Green Dot committed to pursuing both. Fairley’s team adjusted their plans – even drafting contingency arrangements like a new facility, as requested by the district actionnews5.com – and returned to MSCS later in the summer. But the school board held firm, ultimately refusing again to authorize Fairley as a charter school for 2024-25. That meant Green Dot’s last hope was an appeal to the state commission.
Taking the Fight to the State
In late August, Fairley’s supporters carried their fight to Nashville, where the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission held a hearing on the school’s appeal tnfirefly.com. Students, parents, and alumni made the trip to testify, mirroring the passionate scene in Memphis. They told commission members about Fairley’s rising graduation rates, plummeting suspension numbers, and robust career and college prep courses achieved under Green Dot’s management tnfirefly.com. “Fairley has accomplished many things such as a high graduation rate, fewer suspensions...and a wonderful safe learning environment for students to grow,” current student Aliyah Spencer said, praising the campus as a place that taught her “greatness is in you” tnfirefly.com. Green Dot Tennessee’s Executive Director, Jocquell Rogers, also urged the commission to recognize the progress at Fairley. “We are proud of the work we’ve done at Fairley High School, and we look forward to continuing to grow,” Rogers said, noting significant academic strides since Green Dot took over tnfirefly.com.
However, Memphis-Shelby County Schools officials stood by their assessment. At the hearing, a district representative argued that Fairley’s application “failed to provide enough evidence with specific historical data” to prove the current academic model’s success tnfirefly.com. The district also questioned whether Green Dot had a solid plan to handle the logistical challenges of leaving the state-run ASD and integrating into the local system tnfirefly.com. In their view, the amended proposal “lack[ed] details to demonstrate confidence in…an effective school exit plan” and did not prove Green Dot’s “capacity to operate high quality schools in Tennessee” tnfirefly.com. It was a starkly different narrative from that of Fairley’s supporters. The commission’s job was to weigh these arguments and decide if Fairley’s charter deserved a second life under state authorization.
A Community in Limbo and a Changing Charter Landscape
The fate of Fairley High became part of a much larger story playing out in Tennessee’s education system. As the state’s Achievement School District experiment winds down, several Memphis schools like Fairley are at a crossroads chalkbeat.org. This summer, Memphis-Shelby County’s board considered nine charter applications – four new startups and five ASD school transitions – and approved only two, denying the rest chalkbeat.org. That left roughly 2,000 students from the ASD schools in limbo, unsure where they would attend in the 2024-25 school year if their schools didn’t find a path forward chalkbeat.org. Without charter authorization, a school exiting the ASD could either be absorbed back into the traditional district or be shut down entirely chalkbeat.org. Fairley’s neighbors, for instance, saw both scenarios: one former ASD high school, MLK College Prep, is slated to close after its charter was denied, while another school won its appeal and will continue under state charter oversight chalkbeat.org chalkbeat.org.
Tennessee established the Public Charter School Commission in recent years to serve as a check on local decisions, especially in cases where politics or philosophy might trump school performance. In its first two years, the commission overturned several local denials, allowing five charter schools to open or remain open despite objections from districts tnfirefly.com. For Fairley’s supporters, this offered a glimmer of hope. But on this occasion, state officials were not convinced. The commission’s executive director, Tess Stovall, recommended against Green Dot’s appeal, finding that the operator had not shown “a clear path to tangible growth, achievement and success for Fairley students” to merit a new charter term chalkbeat.org. She noted that if the charter were denied, Memphis-Shelby County Schools had pledged to keep Fairley open under the district’s own turnaround program (known as the Innovation Zone, or iZone) rather than abandon the students chalkbeat.org. In October, the commission voted to uphold the MSCS board’s decision and deny Fairley’s appeal – effectively ending Green Dot’s tenure at the school.
For the Fairley High community, the outcome is bittersweet. On one hand, their beloved school will not be shuttered; district leaders have assured families that Fairley will remain open as an MSCS-run school next year chalkbeat.org. Students are expected to stay in the same building, and efforts are underway to transition Fairley back into the local system without disrupting educationscsk12.org chalkbeat.org. Yet the departure of Green Dot Public Schools marks a profound change. Alumni and parents worry whether the hard-won gains of the past decade can be sustained under new management. Many are grateful that the district chose to preserve Fairley rather than close it – a relief not all ASD communities have enjoyed – but they lament that their campaign to keep the charter operator was unsuccessful. The fight for Fairley highlighted the tensions in Tennessee’s charter school landscape: the balance between local control and state intervention, and the question of how best to serve students in chronically underperforming schools.
As Fairley High School charts its next chapter back under public district oversight, the voices of its students and alumni continue to resonate. They remind all involved of what’s at stake beyond test scores and governance debates: a school that has become a safe haven and launching pad for hundreds of young lives. “We are Fairley,” one student declared at the hearing, “and we’re not giving up on our school.” Whether under a charter or district banner, the community’s hope is that Fairley will remain the supportive, opportunity-rich school they fought so hard to save chalkbeat.org tnfirefly.com.
Sources: Fairley High School charter meeting coverage and testimony tnfirefly.com tnfirefly.com; Tennessee Firefly reports by Sky Arnold and Brandon Paykamian tnfirefly.com tnfirefly.com; Chalkbeat Tennessee reporting on ASD charter transitions chalkbeat.org chalkbeat.org; WMC Action News 5 interview with Fairley High’s principal and students actionnews5.com actionnews5.com.
