New Frayser high school means families may get assigned to different schools
The changes could be an example of what’s to come for other families as Memphis-Shelby County Schools makes plans to close, consolidate, repurpose and build new campuses.
Laura Testino
There are 287 articles by Laura Testino :
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December 2025
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Behind The Headlines Richmond wants to stay in charge at Memphis-Shelby County Schools
“I’d love to have the permanent superintendent role,” interim Memphis school Superintendent Roderick Richmond said during a recent interview on WKNO-TV Channel 10’s “Behind The Headlines.”
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November 2025
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EducationFor 35 low-performing Memphis schools, Tennessee has new rules about academic improvement
They are among about 100 identified as “priority schools” by the Tennessee State Board of Education. Possible interventions can include state-mandated closure, conversion to a charter school, or firing and rehiring staff.
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EducationSt. Mary’s trio designs, builds, programs ‘Turkeybot’
Lauren Rogers, head of the Upper School at St. Mary’s said the school has a “moral obligation” to staunch the widening gender gap in STEM education.
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Public SafetyMemphis 7-year-old illegally handcuffed, pushed into school bookcase, lawsuit claims
“I heard my son scream,” a Memphis mother said in an interview with The Daily Memphian. School staff told her that they handcuffed her child for their own safety: “I was like, ‘Over a 7-year-old?’”
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EducationTennessee voucher application will track public school attendance as part of new award guidelines
The change to the 2026-27 applications will offer insight about the new vouchers that the state awards.
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EducationThese Shelby County schools are among best in Tennessee
Tennessee awarded dozens of Shelby County schools “reward” status, a credential for top academic performance. See if your school made the list.
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Education Lawsuit claims Tennessee voucher expansion is unconstitutional
A group in Tennessee, including two parents in Shelby County, allege that the state’s education voucher expansion “diverts state funding to private schools statewide that are by definition not part of the system of free public schools.”
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Education MSCS board, employees asked to grade Richmond as superintendent
Richmond is just over halfway through his 18-month interim superintendent contract, which ends July 31. Absent from the school board’s discussions about his evaluation, however, were comments about future permanent leadership of the district.
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Education MSCS board votes to move toward lawsuit about 2026 elections
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board is formally mulling a lawsuit about the “threat to the lawful function and democratic integrity” caused by new state and county actions that cut short terms for five members.
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Education 5 MSCS board members could be voted out early. The board may sue.
Shelby County Commissioners’ enactment of the new state law is an “imminent threat to the lawful function and democratic integrity” of the board and district, according to a resolution sponsored by board Vice Chair Joyce Dorse Coleman.
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Education U of M school district launches preschool program at Le Bonheur
The new, one-year pilot program is effective this school year and open to certain 3- and 4-year-old patients at the Memphis children’s hospital.
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Education $750M in new public money suggested for school buildings plan
MSCS campuses need more than $1 billion in the next decade. A committee suggested funding and other ideas on how to approach closing, repurposing or consolidating buildings.
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Public SafetyMemphis kids suffering gunshot wounds doubled in 2023. A real decline is happening in 2025, doctor says
As child-gunshot wounds make a meaningful decline in Memphis, students are learning about gun safety at school.
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Education MSCS says it’s on track to improve chronic absenteeism
If the district hits this year’s chronic absenteeism goal, it would mark the first reduction in the rate of chronically absent students since the pandemic, according to state data and district estimates.
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October 2025
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City of MemphisExpired-tag renewals jump since Task Force’s arrival
“I saw lines that I’ve never seen in the 7 years that I’ve been here,” the Shelby County clerk said.
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EducationJudge in Feagins case scolds attorneys for lack of communication
In a court hearing, Shelby County Circuit Judge Chris Frulla urged attorneys for Marie Feagins and the school district to move quickly during discovery so he could set a trial date.
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Education MSCS school mergers could impact 2,650 students
The school consolidations would also impact about 60 school-level jobs.
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Education The Frayser Phoenix? Bay High School? Voters can choose name, mascot of new high school today
Voters will have a say in naming the new high school, which will open in 2027. A mix of old and new names are on the ballot.
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Public SafetyMemphis police data chief retires
As the Deputy Chief of Information Technology, Joe Oakley has overseen the launch and use of the police department’s Real-Time Crime Center camera surveillance systems, as well as the department’s data collection. It was not immediately clear Thursday who would take over his duties.
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City of Memphis National Guard visible at Memphis Pyramid
The guard’s early actions appear more casual than the federal, state and local law enforcement officers who have flooded the streets as part of President Donald Trump’s Task Force, a multiagency crime reduction effort.
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EducationStudents with income-limited vouchers outperform MSCS on reading, but not math
Data from the Department of Education show students receiving income-limited Education Savings Account vouchers performed slightly better in reading exams than their MSCS counterparts. Both sets of students made gains in math, but at the same clip.
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EducationMore than 3,400 Memphis-area kids benefited from state’s new school vouchers. Here’s who got them.
A map of local recipients of Tennessee’s voucher program expansion shows that most live in Shelby County’s top-earning zip codes.
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Shelby County Mayor Harris vetoes vote to put all MSCS board members on ballot
“Absent an emergency or in the case of criminal misconduct, I do not believe the terms of elected officials should be shortened. As such, I hereby veto,” Harris wrote.
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EducationChanges coming to MSCS elections as lawmakers consider blunting board’s roles
The campaign season, with its new partisan battles, could also include a legal challenge from incumbent board members.
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