Shelby County Schools leaders and supporters gathered Wednesday, April 7, for a look at what they hope will be the future of SCS campuses during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Alcy Elementary School in South Memphis. 

Students weren’t able to inaugurate the new $29 million school at the start of classes in August 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but 128 students entered the school for the first day of in-person classes last month. That number is up to 305 students attending in-person classes now. 

SCS students return to classrooms for first time in a year

“It’s been a long time coming,” Superintendent Joris Ray said. “We are moving in a direction that allows us not to only succeed, but to excel. But please know, this is only the beginning.” 

The three-story school is what the district is referring to as a 21st century school, featuring up-to-date technology, lots of natural light, an amphitheater and spaces for teachers to take their students outside the classroom. It is the second 21st century school established under Ray’s direction, following Parkway Village Elementary School in southeast Memphis. 

“We want this school to represent a beacon of hope in the Alcy-Ball community,” said the school’s principal, Laquita Tate. “I want you all to know that I don’t take this role lightly as being the building leader. It’s a role that I honor and have the privilege of being, so you have my word that I’m going to lead to the best of my ability, coupled with the best teachers, the best leadership team and the (best) staff in this city so that we can ensure our scholars are successful.”

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School leaders and district employees filled the school’s white- and-blue brick library, adorned with matching balloons, to commemorate the opening, followed by a walk-through tour of the building’s brightly colored hallways and classrooms. 

Alcy students stepped up onto a stool behind the podium to welcome the guests into their new school building in English and Spanish. 

“It was just 6, 7, 8 years ago we were just fighting to be open. I get emotional thinking about that because it just reminds us how good God is,” board chair Miska Clay Bibbs said. 

Bibbs is a product of South Memphis. She said she has several family members and friends who attended the old Alcy. Her father attended Magnolia Elementary, one of the three schools that merged to form the new Alcy Elementary.

She expressed her pride and gratitude for the investment in a community she said is often thrown to the side or forgotten. 

Construction began on the school in May 2019. It houses students from Alcy, Magnolia and Charjean Elementary Schools, all previously located in South Memphis but consolidated in a district effort to reconfigure and “right-size” the district that started under previous Superintendent Dorsey Hopson.

The year Hopson proposed his plan, SCS started with 22,000 open seats, distributed among more than two-thirds of the schools operating at the time.

When Ray took the helm in 2019, his administration developed a Reimagining 901 plan that not only includes new school buildings, but also academic improvements. Ray said he will address what that plan will look like and whether there will be more 21st century schools in his state of the district address April 16.