Delayed report on future Memphis school closures coming in October

Memphians waiting to learn what schools might close over the next five years will have to wait a little longer.

Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson announced Tuesday that the district will release a long-promised “footprint analysis” at the end of October, about a month later than initially planned.

The analysis will outline plans to “right-size” the Shelby County Schools district in response to declining enrollment, which will include reducing the number of empty seats by closing up to 24 schools.

The exact date in October has not been finalized, Hopson said. But a district spokeswoman said a schedule of community meetings about the future of the district is set to be announced later this week.

See our full coverage of Memphis school closures here.

Those meetings are central to the district’s strategy to get communities on board with potentially wrenching changes to their schools after several rounds of school closures that came with little warning.

“We have a process we want to recommend so we have extreme community engagement around this issue,” Hopson said.