Laura Testino is an enterprise reporter who writes about how public policy shapes Memphis. She is currently reporting from Frayser about education and housing. Please write her with your suggestions and story tips.
There are 81 articles by Laura Testino :
Since 2020, Head Start officials have found instances of preschool teachers for Memphis-Shelby County Schools hitting, kicking and jerking students, prompting multiple deficiency notices.
Heavy rain, gusty winds in Memphis lead to a short day for students.
The Daily Memphian has compiled a table that shows every job the district has budgeted for this year and how many positions MSCS removed or added.
Police say the carjacking suspect fired shots at officers during a foot pursuit. TBI is reviewing the shooting.
Three students have been detained in connection to a threat at Whitehaven High School, according to law enforcement, but active investigations remain into additional threats made to other Memphis schools on Wednesday, Sept. 18.Related content:
After closing school on Tuesday, students at Cornerstone Prep Denver returned to class Wednesday with the support of counselors.
Other schools closed and shifted to remote learning for students.
Porter-Leath is bringing Head Start preschool programming back to Millington, and it appears poised to compete for the 3,200 Head Start seats currently with MSCS this fall.
As leaders of the board, the new chair and vice chair will help steer a district that’s in transition, and on the precipice of major decisions about its long-term goals and plans.
Two outgoing school board members sent letters outlining their concerns with Feagins’ leadership style and communication with the board.
Three people, including a teenager in Nashville, were arrested for the threats that prompted MSCS-wide lockdowns last month.
The superintendent must approve the process used to measure her job performance. Once an agreement is reached, Memphis-Shelby County School Board members will complete the evaluation by spring.
School officials will use information from new district building assessments to determine potential closures and consolidations, including whether Memphis-Shelby County Schools moves its headquarters.
“You cannot say that you are cleaning up the blight in your district if you are dumping it in mine,” said Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas.
The special assistant to Superintendent Marie Feagins had been in the newly created role for four months.
Gun violence shaped their lives as kids, and gun-related charges sent them to prison. Here’s where they land on gun restrictions.
Julian Cross is the second Memphis-Shelby County Schools staffer to depart the Office of the Superintendent this month.
Schools across the U.S. and in Memphis experienced skyrocketing rates of students missing a significant portion of the school year.
More than 80% of Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ eligible seniors earned their diplomas for the 2023-24 school year.
Creating the superintendent evaluation rubric was a contentious process that revealed rifts among school board members and Marie Feagins, who has led the district for the last seven months.
Incumbents kept 14 of 15 Shelby County statehouse seats Tuesday, Nov. 5, according to election results.
On the eve of the presidential election, one voter in Whitehaven returned to watching the televised debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to help her decide who to vote for.
The American Job Center on Angelus Street, which provides free services to the Greater Memphis area, is expected to relocate to the sixth floor of Crosstown Concourse.
The Greater Memphis Workforce Development Board is set to vote on Executive Director Amber Covington’s future in the role after she declined requests to resign from the board and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris.
The Dietz family is requesting a judge allow their son, who has multiple disabilities, to return to school with the dog.