MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Here is something that should have happened long ago. This community’s largest public school district will finally undergo a name change to better reflect the city and families it serves. So pretty soon, Shelby County Schools will become Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
It’s all part of a rebranding that will also include renaming some school buildings and increasing teacher pay.
After the forced merger of Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools nearly a decade ago, the name Memphis disappeared. And yet, almost all of the schools within the district are inside the city limits. Plus, the county’s suburban municipalities, including Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, and Arlington, went their separate ways with individual districts. Which means the county district is really incorrectly named since virtually all of its 110,000 students come from Memphis.
SCS superintendent Dr. Joris Ray calls the name change progress, and I agree completely. It makes no sense to hide the Memphis name from our largest school system. Plus, it will cut down on confusion when out-of-towners refer to the various local districts.
Despite being maligned by some during its final years of existence, Memphis City Schools had a proud history for more than a century and a half. The 2013 merger was more about politics than academics. But that’s beside the point. It is simply long past time to call the district what it is – Memphis-Shelby County Schools.