Alumni Edition

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The East High Alumni Page www.easthigh.org	September 24, 2024
In this issue: Interview with East High's Principal Dr. Pamela McKinley  (2024)

The East High Alumni Page has been privileged to occasionally interview some of the principals of East High School. On August 14, 2024, the editor spent an hour with Dr. Pamela McKinley as she began her third year as principal of the school. The following is an edited transcript of that interview.

"it's a difference between being city poor and country poor"

Editor: To the extent you care to, please tell us about your history, you can tell us about your education, if you care to about your family, where you grew up, what schools you went to, that kind of thing, to the extent you are comfortable in doing so.

McKinley: I am from Caledonia, Mississippi, very small town, humble beginnings, but truly a sense of family and community.

Editor: Where is Caledonia?

McKinley: It is between Aberdeen and Columbus, not far from Starkville. But if you blink you'll miss it. We've got one four way stop in the middle of town – they've grown a little bit since then, we've got a red light now... I went to Ole Miss. I have degrees in psychology there, I went to the University of Alabama which is where I started graduate school to get my masters in child psychology.

When I finished with that I knew I wanted to work with children. I knew I didn't want to stay in Alabama, so I came home and I went home, there were not many jobs in that field. So my Mom, who was an educator, said, "well just start substitute teaching until you find something." I said "OK," and that is how I got into teaching.

Then I went back to school to get my degree in education, masters, I got my specialist, and then my doctors in education and I've been in education ever since.

My husband is a Memphian, so that is how I landed in Memphis 17 years ago.

Starting a Cypress Middle School in north Memphis and I realized I was really able to, bring what I love working with children and a background in psychology to education. It was necessary and I felt I needed that level of training to really help students and to combat some of the things children were dealing with in the city.

It was very different for me, growing up as a country girl and then learning how to navigate the city and just – it's a difference between being city poor and country poor.

And so, helping children to really recognize everything you need you can do it – you can achieve it, you can have it.

We had a well at my home so washing clothes – and things were different. Whereas children here might say, "we might need to go to the laundromat." Well, no, let me see how you keep your clothes clean at home. You might have to take it home, wash it in the sink and then hang it up. But hey, if that's something you're concerned about, there are things you can do at home.

So, I just think I brought a love for children and a different perspective that kind of intrigued kids. They wanted to know about it. They wanted to know about, "you grew up on a farm?"

I said, "yep, had horses, pigs, cows.

"What did you do with them. Did you milk the cows"

I said, "no, we had beef cows."

They said, "what is that?"

"If you eat a hamburger, that's where it comes from, if you eat a steak."

Editor, "that's fun."

McKinley: It's fun. It's a different way of living but it was so much fun.

And so, I loved it here. Immediately I knew I wanted to stay here and I've kind of grown here. I worked at Cypress for three years. The school was subsequently shut down just due to low enrollment as things in that neighborhood were changing. I transitioned to Overton High School. I worked there for another ten years before moving to the district level where I worked as a special education supervisor. I did that for a few years then I went back to Overton as an assistant principal because I did love it there so much and I really enjoyed their performing arts program and what they were trying to do in the community even as it started to change.

Overton is where most of my roots are in the city. I got my first glimpse of optional programs there and kind of what they were all about. And an opportunity came and I said I think I'm ready to move to the principalship. Dr. Williams, who was still the principal at Overton at the time, he said "OK, tell me what I can do to help you get there." So I think he did a really good job of preparing me.

I first applied for Bolton Agricenter, Agri-STEM school because that's something I know. I know about agriculture. But the administration at the time, the superintendent and deputy chief, they really wanted to make sure principals were placed where they would be a good fit. So, in speaking to them they said, "I think you should go and check out East T-STEM."

I said, "OK." So I came over, I toured the facility. I met with Mr. Demster at the time and he gave me a tour.

"Man, this is a phenomenal place. I with we had all this at my high school when I was growing up."

I went back and spoke with Dr. Ray and ultimately was offered the position here and it has truly been a blessing. It was one I didn't see coming and I didn't even know was available but it was definitely what I needed.

"to see what great things could happen, not only within the school but what the school can do to move the city forward."

So my first year here was truly learning about the culture of East High School and just the legacy of greatness that come with that name, learning about the T-STEM program and what they were trying to achieve with a Transportation STEM program. Because it is quite different. There is no other school like it in the state or several states actually. California, I think, is the next state with a school that is comparable to ours – that has a focus on aviation, diesel. We're trying to build in waterway and railway as well as STEM. It truly is a unique school. We have a really diverse student population here. Because we are completely optional we have students from all over. But I believe in community. One of things people don't know is that students in the community get first choice. If they live withing a two mile radius we look at their applications first because we do want to continue to be a beacon in the community as it has always been. We're trying to bring that feel back to really get people and community organizations involved in the growth of the program. Our enrollment has gone up a lot since we have transitioned – not only with Maxine [Maxine Smith STEAM Academy middle school] being in the building we are currently at capacity. We've been over 600 [in the high school] last year and this year. When I first got here we were about 524, so that has been phenomenal. Just the growth of the overall program.

That's where I come from, that is how I got here. This is a large part of why I would like to stay here to see what great things could happen, not only within the school but what the school can do to move the city forward.

Editor: How long were you at Overton as assistant principal?

McKinley: Three years.

Editor: You were ten years as a teacher at Overton, three years at Cypress, how long were you special ed supervisor?

McKinley: Not very long, not quite two years there.

My official start date here was July, 2022.

Editor: What are the application requirements? Back when they were drafting them they actually lowered I think... I think they ended up with a C average as a minimum.

McKinley: Correct. Can't have Ds or Fs. No more than 15 tardies and/or absences or a combination of those two [in a year] and no Ns or Us in conduct. [An N in conduct means "needs improvement" and U means "unsatisfactory."]

Editor: I got from the graduation speaker that you had ten perfect ACT [scores]...

McKinley: Not ten, someone else told me that. Not ten.

Editor: That's what they said at the graduation.    [For a full explanation of the mistake, see the ACT 2024 correction]

McKinley: It was not ten. We did have a perfect score. There were not ten perfect scores. We did have several very high scores... We had a ... focus on ACT so while we did not have ten perfect scores I am very proud of the progress students have made with ACT. It would still be higher than most schools in the district. So, I'm proud of where we're going and what students are going They are really taking more of a aggressive approach to outside tutoring, Peer Power, things at the University of Memphis, so I know the scores will continue to go up. So we'll have those ten perfect scores soon enough, I do believe it.

Editor: One Merit Scholar [in the 2024 graduating class]?

McKinley: We did.

Editor: Did you have semi-finalists, too. How many?

McKinley: We did. Three.

Editor: I see when you started school [this year] you had one faculty vacancy. Still got a vacancy?

McKinley: Yes, a recommendation was made over the summer. He has not completed the hiring process. The recommendation was made in July.

Editor: Can you tell me what class or subject matter?

McKinley: Math.

"Book side, application side, but we're all one program working together to bring it to life for the students"

Editor: What are you doing with what I call the newer buildings, the separate buildings.

McKinley: One school, we have one vision, one mission we're all working towards. The way we like to package it is the book portion of it is learned over here [in the main building] and the application part takes place in the T-STEM building. So, our STEM coding, physics courses, aviation, A/V production, culinary, those courses take place in the STEM building. Diesel mechanics takes place over there, robotics. But the teachers work collaboratively. So the math teachers work very heavily with the STEM teachers because many of the same concepts are taking place. So the things they are learning about in the main building they then see come to life in the T-STEM building. It's amazing what students can do when they can truly visualize what they hear about or what they're saying in a book and they are more invested in it. I think it has made a great deal of difference in just our test scores, what students feel like they are able to do, and students who feel like math is not my thing or science is not my thing, they find out it really can be. You do it everyday, you don't even know it. Book side, application side, but we're all one program working together to bring it to life for the students.

Editor: So, what's wrong with your windows. There's a proposal for $6,930,000 replacement of windows here.

McKinley: They are a little bit old but they work well if you just think about up to date even windows. That's a part of something that needs to be updated. You think about the heat index sun that comes in and the way windows were made years ago compared to how they are made now, numbers that need to go on the outside of the windows for safety and security purposes. So [on] newer buildings you will see they are all labeled on the outside of the building so that if there was something to happen and someone needed to get to us and they couldn't get in, well, they could know which room is which because they see the numbers on the outside of the windows. So just being more up to date,. The building itself is historic and we love it. We try to keep the integrity of the building while making those advancements and changes that are necessary just to keep us with the times and make sure students are in classrooms and facilities they are used to having in this century. So just try to keep up the integrity of the building and make sure it is maintained.

Editor: Are the windows deteriorating such that they need to be replaced...

McKinley: Some of them.

Editor... or is it mostly environmental factors?

McKinley: A combination of both.

Editor: I was surprised by the renovation of the west end restrooms because there was a $12.8-million renovation 2005-2007 including the restrooms. So what's wrong with them?

McKinley: Again I wouldn't say – they function but most of the toilets are very close to the ground because a part of the facility was for kindergarten many years ago, those things haven't been updated. When you have much bigger children and a high school and middle school they are just updates that are needed.

Editor: I would understand that from the east end of the building, just what you're saying, and I questioned it when I first saw it at the [school] board because they said west end...

McKinley: If you're going to update for one side, right? All students in this building deserve updated facilities.

Editor: Like I said, nearly 20 years ago now that renovation occurred. They didn't still have elementary but they had junior high, which again, you [now] have middle school. OK.

Editor: What else needs to be done with the school facilities? You got any other or any significant issues?

McKinley: No significant issues. Things that are cosmetic: we'd like for the gym to be updated, painted, we have a few bleachers that need to be replaced. But it is functioning, students use it.

"we are proud of the mementos and the pictures and whatever alumni like to bring back to share with us"

Editor: I've heard rumors of a history room being created.

McKinley: Yes, we are trying. Several alumni sometimes bring things – I've got a Hoofprints record that someone dropped off [recordings by the senior class of 1967] --  that they think we should have here at the school. And we're trying to create a space to house all of those things here at the school. When people come back to tour the school just to see what's going on in their building, we want to be able to show them that we have kept these things and we are proud of the mementos and the pictures and whatever alumni like to bring back to share with us.

Editor: What's your progress on that?

McKinley: We are tight on space. The space we were going to use was close to one of the science labs but it was an entire room so now we're kind of consigned to, and I don't know if you remember on that side there's like a glass box, window box if you will, using that space for now since we don't have the entire room available because we are, like I said, pretty close to capacity with Memphis East and the Maxine students. But we are trying to make it as wonderful as we can and we want to make you all as proud, so it's in the works.

Editor: That's over in the T-STEM building?

McKinley: That's in the main building... the west side, you go down where the science labs are, right before the stairwell there is a science lab, so there's a glass window area that's where it is.

Editor: Alright. Here's a question I get all the time. What about the old trophies?

McKinley: They're still here.

Editor: Last time I saw them, which is two years ago a lot of them were down in the tunnels, in the basement.

McKinley: The newer ones we have displayed in the display cases in the front, when you walk up the steps in the foyer. We do have some housed in the T-STEM building in a closet. But we keep the most recent ones in the display case. As we continue to get more, and we recently got state championship hardware for track, we have placed that up there so we are rotating them out as we get new ones and we plan on continuing to get even more. As we find more space in the building, I think I find a new room every year, again, we want to make sure those things are housed in a place that it's respectful of what it took to earn those trophies but making sure that we're making room for new ones. It's a balancing game.

Editor: A lot of trophies over the years.

McKinley: Yes.

"The name of the school is Memphis East T-STEM Academy"

Editor: Branding. This is East High School, right?

McKinley: Memphis East T-STEM Academy.*

Editor: Is it? That's branding. Say that again.

McKinley: The name of the school is Memphis East T-STEM Academy.

Editor: So it's not East High, at least branded as East – the state shows it as East High so I think the state probably trumps branding. It's kind of like Memphis - Shelby County Schools but it's the Shelby County Board of Education. I guess it's kind of like "doing business as."

So, that's interesting. So you're telling me it's not East High School anymore? Memphis East T-STEM Academy.

McKinley: What I'm telling you is that when I came on board I was told the name of the program was Memphis East T-STEM Academy built on a legacy of greatness from East High School with a new twist. There's always been a CTE (career, technology education) program here for many, many years so that component was not new. But East High School was going to be taken over by the state which was the purpose for all of those community members and people from the education world coming together to create a program that was completely optional and they decided on the name Memphis T-STEM Academy and I think it is fitting for the program we have here. So yes, we have the history of East High School and the great legacy modernized.

[Some discussion here the editor chose to go off the record simply because he was reciting his recollection of the concerns about East High that inspired the change of it to an all-optional school.]

Editor: What are the East High School colors. Do you know?

McKinley: Cardinal red, gray, and white. What were the colors before?

Editor: Red and gray. And a non-authoritative source a few years back which the school used as an athletic web site the school used to post – [the web site] wasn't the school's, it was totally independent, didn't have anything to do with East High or the city of Memphis – they posted scores and schedules and they said red, gray, and black. In [the editor's day] it was red and gray.

"I don't think this is my stopping point"

Editor: What are your goals for the school?

McKinley: My goals for the school are to insure that every student here is afforded an opportunity where they can not only hear lessons but they see them. We try to make sure we have corporations and community organizations, CEOs from different companies come in to speak to students. We take them out into the community as much as possible because we do want to make those things come to life for them. I believe in going from aspiration to application and I think the only way, especially students today because they are exposed to so many things virtually and visually, it helps them to see it. They believe it more when they see it. And so, that is the goal, to make sure students are not only provided rigorous academic content and presentation of lessons but that we show them what they can do with those things – where they can go and what they can be. Every student in this building deserves that. Every student in this community deserves that. Every student in this city deserves that. That's what we're trying to do.

Editor: If you care to say, if I understand if you don't, what are your personal goals? Do you want to be superintendent?

McKinley: I do not want to be superintendent (laughing). I do believe education is my purpose. I don't think this is my stopping point. I not only have a passion for children but for adults that have a passion for children. So I do foresee myself growing in this career, not as superintendent but in some other capacity. But right now I'm perfectly happy here. I think the great things that we have are yet to come. We've done a good job so far but we're going to be first in the state and we're going to be in the top nationally. We're up there right now – we're in the numbers but we're not where I think we could be. I think we have the students we are ready for it. We have the teachers that are ready to push the students to even greater heights. That day is coming. I think we were, last year we were 25th in the state, we were second in the district behind White Station. I need to look at those numbers a little more closely but I'll take that for right now. But I think we could definitely be the top school in this state. I know we have the students to do it. I think they need to believe it and we need to continue to push it. And it's going to happen.

"We had 100% graduation rate"

Editor: Your data, of course, is fresher than mine because the state's so far behind on stuff. Your graduation, was it last year or this year, only three schools, I think you are third in graduation [rate], two or three schools were ahead of you and those were university related.

McKinley: We had 100% graduation rate.

Editor: You had 100% this year?

McKinley: We did.

Editor: The one I'm looking at must have been the year before because it was 98-point-something.

McKinley: We were at 100% in 2024.

Editor: And that's based on the 9th grade cohort?

McKinley: Correct.

Editor: That's great. I love it. As much as I ask you about trophies and alumni room, academics is what is all about.

McKinley: that's right.

[Some random conversation occurred here.]

Every room is being used

Editor: Do you know where the kindergarten used to be? You know those rooms...

McKinley: on the east side.

Editor: I know they closed off the stairwell to them. Are you all using that space for anything at this point?

McKinley: They are. Maxine [Maxine Smith STEAM Academy middle school] is using it. I think they even had to change what was the teacher's lounge [on the east end] to a classroom. Every room is being used.

Editor: How many students, total, both Maxine and here?

McKinley: We're at 615, I think Maxine is around 420.

Editor: This school, according to, I know when it had 1,500 students in it.

McKinley: Really?

Editor: It did have a 9 room addition classrooms which has now been removed, called the Annex.

McKinley: Then a couple of rooms, maybe where the [health] clinic is, is that what you're – because they took a few of the rooms when they put clinic downstairs, that took up several rooms as well.

Editor: That's true. There is a published, I think newspaper, it had more than 2,000 students at one time.

McKinley: Really?

Editor: Now I'm not saying that's accurate because that's not my – but I do know when it had 1,500. That was a pretty common [number describing East's student population].

McKinley: Whoo!

Editor: So you're telling me you're out of space and you have just a little over a thousand.

McKinley: Yes.

Editor: Thank you for your time. It's been great. I've really enjoyed talking to you.

McKinley: Thank you. I appreciate you. And I've learned several things so I appreciate it.

Editor: I appreciate you. I appreciate what's happening at the school. You don't know how delighted I am with the progress.

The East High Alumni Page thanks Dr. McKinley for the interesting and informative discussion.

* Editor's note:  In 2022, the Executive Principal of East High School and Maxine Smith STEAM Academy, Mr. Andy Demster, told The East High Alumni Page East had a problem of dual identity. It was called East High School and it was also called Memphis East T-STEM Academy. That dichotomy apparently still exists. In reports, the State of Tennessee lists the school name as "East High," as does the 2024-2025 Optional Schools Handbook, a publication of Memphis-Shelby County Schools district. The school's web site, however, hosted by the school district, prominently displays the name "Memphis East T-STEM Academy" while the 2023-2024 Student Handbook also lists it as "Memphis East T-STEM Academy (with the next line as) "East High School." The editor of The East High Alumni Page has closely followed the Shelby County Board of Education for the past 14 years and is not aware of any official renaming of East High School.The board of education is responsible for naming of its schools.

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