Although the ASD is only taking over four struggling SCS schools next year, Anderson said the ASD needed updated information on all students zoned to or enrolled in a priority school. She said this allows parents, even of children enrolled in schools already absorbed into SCS's turnaround model, the Innovation Zone, to understand all their options. ASD schools, per state law, must have at least 75 percent of its enrollment from students who are zoned to priority schools. That means a student zoned to an iZone school could choose to go to an ASD school.
But without contact information, Anderson said the ASD can't communicate those options to parents.
"We can't determine enrollment eligibility to comply with the law unless until we have information about every student and where they are zoned and where they previously were enrolled," she said. "For that reason, in order to be able to deal with communications, enrollment eligibility, planning for our schools around the numbers that are coming, we need to have the entire list."
In its letter to the ASD rejecting the request, SCS cited concern that the ASD was leaking confidential student information to people from Memphis Lift. SCS leaders and board members have long accused the group of being pro-ASD despite claiming to be neutral between the two districts.
Barbic previously confirmed the ASD fulfilled a records request from Memphis Lift for student information, and gave it to the group out of legal obligation.
In the formal rejection letter from SCS to ASD's attorney, the local district raised concerns about Memphis Lift members using student data from the ASD to go door-to-door.
"At a time when the security concerns of our citizens and our school students have been heightened due to the acts of terrorists, as well as other random acts of violence, it seems especially irresponsible to share information bearing the addresses and telephone numbers of students and parents," the letter stated.
Anderson said she hopes the pressure from the state backing the ASD's request does not inflame tensions between SCS and ASD. The state's follow-up request will come just weeks after SCS leaders and a handful of state legislators called for a moratorium on new ASD takeovers until test scores improve in the 29 schools the state already controls.
"Folks who are supportive of families getting what they need would be supportive of us being able to communicate with them and for them to be able to communicate with us," she said. "And for that reason I am not just hopeful, but expecting that we will receive the contact information without incident."