The idea of a new public high school in Frayser could blur the distinction between traditional public high schools, charter schools and charters operating in the state-run Achievement School District.

The general proposal by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris for a new $50 million high school in Frayser, along the lines of the $90 million Collierville High School, adds to the possibilities being proposed by different entities already educating children in Frayser.

“The sweet spot for Frayser would be a comprehensive high school that encompasses both Trezevant and MLK,” said Bobby White, the founder, CEO and president of Frayser Community Schools, the charter operator that runs MLK Prep for the ASD as well as two other charter schools.

Trezevant High School is Frayser’s second high school and is an Innovation School within Shelby County Schools – a designation for turnaround models in low-performing schools similar to the ASD designation. The difference is that I-Zone schools remain part of SCS and do not use charter school operators. But like ASD scholars, they have access to the same additional state funding and autonomy that ASD schools have.

Frayser is also home to the Memphis Business Academy high school that is a charter school approved by SCS but not a part of the ASD.

“Just the pride that we could build with a large high school there it would be amazing,” White said on the WKNO Channel 10 program “Behind The Headlines.”

“I think it’s a drop-the-mic moment for all of us,” he said. “Right now, the Central High Schools of the world and the White Stations, with their number of course selections and offerings they can have, many of the students who are currently in the 38127, 38128 (ZIP code) area, they wind up at those schools. We can’t offer, we don’t have what they need and what they are really wanting to take.”

Frayser could get new high school, Harris says in State of the County address

White envisions a comprehensive high school of 1,300 to 1,400 students which would make it a little less than half the capacity of Collierville High School, which opened in 2018 with a capacity of 3,000 students.

Shelby County Commissioner Michael Whaley, chairman of the commission’s education committee, says such a high school should be a part of a SCS systemwide facilities plan the County Commission is awaiting.

“We’ve got to have a long-term plan on how we are investing in infrastructure so that we get away from spending money on very old buildings that really are under-enrolled and invest in better facilities that are better enrolled,” he said. “I think the school in Frayser would be a component of that. It wouldn’t just be of itself.”

Proposal for new Frayser high school raises questions

White argues that although he is a charter operator who is part of the state turnaround district for the state’s bottom 5% of schools in terms of student performance, MLK Prep’s place in the Frayser community is more basic than that.

“No one sees this as an ASD school. We’re the neighborhood school. We are in Shelby County and we operate a school within Shelby County,” said White.

He is a former principal of nearby Westside Middle School and is an alumni of Frayser High School, which was renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep when it became part of the ASD as a charter school.

“Unless you just know they were authorized by the ASD, no one really cares about that in our community,” he said. “They are all our kids and we serve them all. … I think we’ve really moved past any of the adversarial conversation that may have been years ago to where we are all now really moving forward to do what is best for the students in the community we serve.”

“Behind The Headlines,” hosted by Eric Barnes of The Daily Memphian, airs on WKNO Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m. The audio portion of the show can be heard on The Behind The Headlines Podcast.