A Memphis academic program that linked schools in Whitehaven and offered more autonomy to school leaders in the neighborhood could return after a several-year hiatus.

Community and school leaders involved in the program have the support of Tennessee Rep. Mark White, the East Memphis Republican who chairs one of the two House education committees. 

White told The Daily Memphian Tuesday, Aug. 27, that he is encouraging Memphis-Shelby County Schools to restore the Whitehaven Empowerment Zone, which began in 2016 as a low-cost school improvement program.

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MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins and the school board can implement the Whitehaven Empowerment Zone, or WEZ, framework, White said, but he’s leaving room for a “plan B” if that doesn’t happen. 

The bottom line, White said, is that current efforts at MSCS are not “moving the needle.”

“We must now be innovative,” said White, who is up against teacher Noah Nordstrom in the November election. “Strong community leadership and engagement can be the answer.” 

White’s comments clarify and soften a position he took during a meeting of Whitehaven Republican Club last week, when he suggested the neighborhood may become its own school district.

Complications with owning facilities and creating a school board make the proposal impractical, White said Tuesday. But he said a district as large as MSCS could benefit by being broken up into smaller zones.

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Leaders in Whitehaven have had a vision since 2016, when the WEZ began. Documents show it expanded from a six-school cohort in the 2016-17 school year to 13 schools in 2017-18. Longtime Whitehaven High School Principal Vincent Hunter led the coalition.

Shelby County Probate Court Clerk Eddie Jones heralded the program’s success, and said it generated dramatic academic improvement before the pandemic.

But the program fizzled out by 2022. Many of the group’s ideas never got to take hold, Jones said, but live on through the continued meetings of the Whitehaven Leadership Council, a school-community group that Jones chairs.

Among the group’s ideas, he said, is to reshuffle enrollment at the neighborhood’s schools. One school may focus on kindergarten only, another grades 1-3, and another grades 4-6, in a new structure that he believes will improve literacy. 

“I think the autonomy should be left down there in the Whitehaven area so we can show y’all how to do this stuff, and how to do these kids right,” Jones said. 

“Not to show anybody up,” he added. “If I can bring you something that could improve it all over the district, why would you not even give it a try to see how it would work?” 

School board documents suggest Tennessee law enabled the existence of the program, which also offered a shield from state takeover. That law requires state involvement, White said, and he wants to see MSCS implement changes to the district’s structure on its own.

MSCS did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. 

Beverly Davis, who is the president of the parent organization within the Whitehaven council, praised the WEZ. Davis also said she would be supportive of a separate Whitehaven school district. 

Davis envisions Whitehaven as a model for the rest of the state, she said. She wants all of the neighborhood’s schools to receive high marks on state evaluations. 

“I would love that,” Davis said Tuesday. “That would be joy.”