There are 166 articles by Laura Faith Kebede :
If all the schools are approved, they eventually would enroll about 2,100 students, which would make a small dent in the district’s need for 44,000 more “high-quality” seats in various neighborhoods, according to the Shelby County Schools’ analysis.
Brad Leon is the seventh SCS leader to resign since Joris Ray took the district helm last January.
Though Superintendent Joris Ray decided to exclude union leadership to “give other people an opportunity to lead too,” at least 10 schools voted for a union leader to represent them on the council anyway.
Lori Gilbert, the president of Treadwell Elementary’s parent group, said some Spanish-speaking parents did not get the district’s robocall about a quarantined employee in Spanish until after school started.
“We were told there was going to be some thorough cleaning,” said Jake Pritchard, a fourth-grade teacher at Treadwell Elementary. “That does not appear to have happened.”
So far, the Shelby County Schools district only has 30,000 to 40,000 take-home devices for 95,000 students. Students living in poverty are less likely to have a computer at home, Ray said.
The meeting behind (virtual) closed doors appears to violate a state statute governing how public business should be conducted, according to a letter sent to the Shelby County Schools district from a lawyer representing Chalkbeat.
Some Shelby County Schools educators recorded their lessons from home facing a computer screen, while others recorded from someone else’s classroom facing a TV camera. At Middle College High School, one classroom has been transformed into a makeshift studio.
Online classes for seniors at risk of not graduating because of failing grades are scheduled to begin April 20 and run through May 22.
The announcement came about a week after the state released graduation ceremony guidelines. School systems nationwide have grappled with how to honor their graduating students while still adhering to public health guidelines to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Altogether, the budget proposal cuts 220 full-time positions and adds 199 part-time positions. It also sets aside $6 million for the 1% salary increase for teachers and licensed staff such as school counselors and psychologists.
Teacher association leaders objected to the pause, saying the district was using the pandemic as an “excuse” and that Superintendent Joris Ray’s administration has not explored all options to funnel more money to teacher pay.
Superintendent Joris Ray said a plan to return to school could be a mix of in-person and online instruction. It’s still not clear when the 2020-21 school year will start, but Ray said he expects to present a school re-entry plan in early July.
The district plans to present a proposal to the school board on Tuesday, and estimates a longer school year would cost between $25 million and $30 million.
The school board voted 8-1 at a special meeting Monday to approve $11 million toward a four-year lease for laptops and tablets from Microsoft and Hewlett Packard.
Instead, Shelby County Schools’ leaders will consider ideas such as adding an extra hour to the school day, shortening holidays and extending the school year.
Superintendent Joris Ray’s lowest score was in his relationship with district staff, especially in implementing a “rigorous, accurate” employee evaluation system.
Shelby County Schools mostly relies on district-employed school resource officers as security staff. They do not carry guns but have pepper spray, the district said.
Starting in August, Shelby County Schools plans to offer both online and in-person instruction for students — and parents can choose which option they want.
SCS Superintendent Joris Ray said Memphis students will start the school year online if coronavirus hospitalizations and cases continue to surge.
Under the 2020-21 calendar approved by the Shelby County Schools board, students and teachers will have a fall break in October and start the second semester in February instead of January.
A Memphis protest echoes a growing call from teachers to start the school year online as coronavirus cases rise nationwide. A recent study of nearly 65,000 people in South Korea showed that children over age 10 spread the coronavirus as easily as adults do.
About 80% of public school students are under Shelby County Schools and will start the academic year online. But some suburban schools, charter schools, and state-run schools plan to have a mix of online and in-person instruction.
Churches, day care providers and other places are scrambling for state permission or funding to provide schoolchildren supervision and space to log on to online learning during the day.
“However, it is our expectation that they show up to school appropriately dressed,” Maria Stewart, the district’s director of policy, said of the virtual learning rules.