University of Memphis moves forward with plans to add Campus School junior high

Abigail Warren | Memphis Commercial Appeal

The University of Memphis is moving forward with plans to expand Campus School to add a junior high, President David Rudd announced in an email to the campus community on Aug. 13.

Rudd's email announced a seven-member "steering committee" will put the effort in motion. The members include community leaders and U of M professors and administrators.

"The steering committee is responsible for developing a vision statement to guide all aspects of the new school, including curriculum, student culture, facility planning and hiring," Rudd's email said. "The committee will also guide the implementation of the vision during the first year of the school’s operation."

Kate Schaffzin, interim dean and professor of law at the university's Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, co-chairs the committee with Remy Debes, associate philosophy professor. Schaffzin said the information about the school is limited at this time.

Earlier this year: University of Memphis considering adding a middle school

"Our committee is still in a very preliminary stage," she said in an email. "We plan to study the issue by hearing from a variety of constituents before settling on any specific plan."

In March, Rudd announced university officials were exploring the idea and said he hoped one day they could open a K-12 school.

University of Memphis won't charge tuition to students who lost a parent in Iraq or Afghanistan Alyssa Hill just graduated from the University of Memphis this month. Her father was killed in Iraq when she was 10. Starting this fall, students like her, who earn the Folds of Honor scholarship, will not have to pay anything additional to attend U of M.

The junior high school will operate inside the former location of St. Anne Catholic School near Highland Street and Spottswood Avenue. Private donations will be raised to renovate the building. Rudd said the school will be an asset to revitalizing the southern end of campus and bring together the "diverse" surrounding neighborhoods.

The university currently oversees Barbara K. Lipman Early Childhood School, grades pre-K and kindergarten, and Campus School, grades 1-5.

"(The university) has long aspired to build on the success of these programs by adding a middle school," Rudd said in the email. "The goal is to create a cutting-edge educational program that both capitalizes on the rich resources of the University of Memphis and stands as a model of innovation for middle school education. It will also aim to expand the idea of what a laboratory school can be."

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