At Thursday's Shelby County Schools meeting, many members felt the need to explain their decision to agree to a settlement that moves schools consolidation forward. The short version -- even though it's a 23-member consolidated boad with 14 Memphians and 9 suburbanites, that was absolutely the best deal we could hope to get. Today's story looks at some of those comments, but it's worth teasing it out some more -- because what went unsaid is that the settlement agreement is likely much better than what might have happened if SCS had pushed an appeal and made the judge go with a unilateral ruling.
The longtime chairman of Shelby County Schools, Germantown attorney and financial advisor David Pickler, said that the Aug. 8 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Samuel "Hardy" Mays was essentially the end of the fight against consolidating Memphis City Schools with SCS. Once Mays demonstrated in his meticulous ruling that a) Memphis had properly and legally surrendered the MCS charter so that B) Shelby County had ultimate responsibility for public education of Memphians, the game was over. Or, to use a football analogy, it was 4th down and about 99 yards to go for SCS. So SCS could have appealed, but getting an appeals court to issue a stay was unlikely and the very real risk was that consolidation could have gone forward with a much diminished suburban voice.
I talked to Pickler after yesterday's meeting, in which he continued his unadorned pivot from consolidation opponent to proponent of the new process, and asked him to explain to suburbanites why SCS chose not to keep fighting.
But SCS had already spent well in excess of $500,000 in legal costs -- why not keep going?
Pickler looked like a man who may have missed some sleep over the last few weeks, but his usual energy and focus for advocating his position to the max was undiminished:
The longtime chairman of Shelby County Schools, Germantown attorney and financial advisor David Pickler, said that the Aug. 8 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Samuel "Hardy" Mays was essentially the end of the fight against consolidating Memphis City Schools with SCS. Once Mays demonstrated in his meticulous ruling that a) Memphis had properly and legally surrendered the MCS charter so that B) Shelby County had ultimate responsibility for public education of Memphians, the game was over. Or, to use a football analogy, it was 4th down and about 99 yards to go for SCS. So SCS could have appealed, but getting an appeals court to issue a stay was unlikely and the very real risk was that consolidation could have gone forward with a much diminished suburban voice.
I talked to Pickler after yesterday's meeting, in which he continued his unadorned pivot from consolidation opponent to proponent of the new process, and asked him to explain to suburbanites why SCS chose not to keep fighting.
Pickler: "When the judges ruling came out, the nature of the way he did that it virtually ended any realistic possibility of any appeal or any further legislative action. It became very clear, in consultation with our attorneys, that the path before us was very clear. We were moving toward a combined school system. At that point, we needed to insure the voices of suburban Shelby County, the voices of all throughout this community were given the most weight as we move forward with the process."
But SCS had already spent well in excess of $500,000 in legal costs -- why not keep going?
Pickler: "At that point, an appeal would have simply been a waste of taxpayer dollars. I do believe the dollars that were expended did provide an opportunity for all of the parties to come together with what I believe is an incredible opportunity. When was the last time you had the City Council, the County Commission, the city school board, the county school board all come together with a combined voice and a combined focus looking for the best interests of education for every child in this community."
Pickler looked like a man who may have missed some sleep over the last few weeks, but his usual energy and focus for advocating his position to the max was undiminished:
"I think the outcome was fantastic for everyone. Now, the real work is whether or not we can come together, bring all of our resources together and develop that world class school system that everyone knows this community is capable of."
I sincerely hope he means it. This IS an opportunity to really make changes for the positive.