MSCS has a plan to help 7,800 more kids participate in sports, clubs, tutoring. Here's how
Late this school year, Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins met with “Legacy Builders,” students who were selected to help create solutions that could address challenges within the district and Memphis.
But when Feagins asked them to stay until 3 p.m., some of the students grew concerned, because the school buses that typically took them home were slated to leave at 2 p.m.
“[Their excitement] really started to wane on the other side of lunch,” she said during an MSCS board retreat. “They thought, ‘My bus is going to leave the school at two, so if we’re here at three then I’m not going to get home.’”
This is emblematic of a larger issue facing MSCS students. Many of them want to take part in after-school activities, like clubs, sports, and tutoring, but can’t. Their parents either don’t have a car or don’t have the flexibility to pick them up; and the activities can last until 5:30 or 6 p.m., well after their school buses depart to take them home.
So, as part of its proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, MSCS is planning to add an evening bus to each middle and high school, to allow more students to take part in extracurriculars. This is expected to allow an additional 7,800 students to remain after school; and the total effort is expected to cost about $14.6 million ― $10 million for transportation and $4.6 million for programming.
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The plan to add evening buses, Feagins explained at the retreat, is something that parents and students have asked for.
“If we expand after-school programs, then kids will stay if they can get home,” she said. “If you want to play on the team… what I don't want you to be concerned about is, ‘How am I going to get home?'”
The effort also goes hand-in-hand with a request Feagins made to principals ― she wants them to ensure that every one of their students is participating in at least one school activity. This, she believes, can help improve attendance and give students more pride in their schools.
“When we talk about culture, climate, attendance, it’s getting kids connected to their space,” she said. “I would go back to high school right now; and do it all over again, just the way that it happened, because I had a really good experience. We don't have enough students who have that experience. And the way through, [is to] find something that you want to do.”
John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools to expand evening school bus service