How strongly does Shelby County Supt. John Aitken feel that, when it comes to effective education, bigger is not better? He sought me out to answer the question I posed about why Houston High stayed excellent while he was principal even while it was among the largest high schools in the state. Aitken had told a small gathering of the Northeast Shelby County Rotary Club that when educational institutions become too large and unwieldy, the "personal touch" he feels is so important can get lost.
Yes, Aitken said, he and his staff were able to manage continued high performance at Houston High despite it going to overcapacity before Southwind High and other zoning changes lowered attendance. But that experience, he said, only deepened his conviction that the educational experience is put at risk if schools and/or districts grow too large. "When it was so large, it was a whole lot harder," Aitken told me last week. "I can assure you." Aitken said "just the little things" become huge issues -- like lunch scheduling -- that could be disruptive.
Aitken said he goes along with the idea that an ideal high school size for public education is 1,700 to 1,800 students, because it still allows efficiencies but without sacrificing effective management and that "personal touch" that Aitken believes is part of what has kept SCS among the best school systems in Tennessee.
One of the interesting -- and challenging -- issues the unified system will face involves school size. Many of Memphis's schools are under-utilized (not to mention in need of modernization), and a merger might make it easier to close more schools. With the school district's zones no longer fixed by city-suburban boundaries, there may be ways to find more ideal mixes of attendance, capacity and even socio-economic makeups.
Yes, Aitken said, he and his staff were able to manage continued high performance at Houston High despite it going to overcapacity before Southwind High and other zoning changes lowered attendance. But that experience, he said, only deepened his conviction that the educational experience is put at risk if schools and/or districts grow too large. "When it was so large, it was a whole lot harder," Aitken told me last week. "I can assure you." Aitken said "just the little things" become huge issues -- like lunch scheduling -- that could be disruptive.
Aitken said he goes along with the idea that an ideal high school size for public education is 1,700 to 1,800 students, because it still allows efficiencies but without sacrificing effective management and that "personal touch" that Aitken believes is part of what has kept SCS among the best school systems in Tennessee.
One of the interesting -- and challenging -- issues the unified system will face involves school size. Many of Memphis's schools are under-utilized (not to mention in need of modernization), and a merger might make it easier to close more schools. With the school district's zones no longer fixed by city-suburban boundaries, there may be ways to find more ideal mixes of attendance, capacity and even socio-economic makeups.
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