There are 20 article(s) tagged Shante Avant:

• March 2025

  • County Commission may attempt to block state schools takeover

    “If we do nothing then we are really leaving ourselves at the will of the state,” said Commissioner Shante Avant. 

    By Bill Dries March 26, 2025

• February 2025

  • Shelby County Commission considers MSCS audit

    The Shelby County Board of Commissioners will vote on the resolution at its Monday, Feb. 10, meeting, authorizing $50,000 from the commission’s contingency fund to pay for the audit.

    By Bill Dries February 05, 2025

• December 2024

  • County approves Frayser school funding despite news of MSCS turmoil

    There were no votes opposing the new Frayser high school, but word that the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board will vote on a possible ouster of Superintendent Marie Feagins cast a long shadow over the discussion.

    By Bill Dries December 16, 2024

  • County Commission retreat gets at what makes it tick — and what makes it go off

    The Shelby County Commission met for a retreat where the aim was to get at the working relationship among the body of 13. That relationship has been rocky during the first half of the group’s four-year term.

    By Bill Dries December 16, 2024

• July 2024

  • Whaley selected as County Commission chair

    The vote Monday, July 22, revealed some enduring gaps among the commission’s nine-vote Democratic majority.

    By Bill Dries July 23, 2024

• June 2024

  • ‘It’s about transforming lives,’ mayor says, as he cuts ribbon on latest South City addition

    The ribbon-cutting Thursday, June 13, of a new senior-citizen apartment building at the former Foote Homes was also a look back at the longer timeline of the city’s move to mixed-income communities.

    By Bill Dries June 13, 2024

• July 2023

  • County Commission interviews candidates to fill school board seat

    The Shelby County Commission interviewed eight candidates who applied to replace former Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member Sheleah Harris during a committee meeting Wednesday, July 12.

    By Alicia Davidson July 12, 2023

• February 2023

  • Still no opening date for Halbert’s Riverdale branch

    Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert pledged the Riverdale branch office would open by the end of 2022. It’s not open yet, and Halbert told county commissioners Monday she doesn’t know when it will be.

    By Bill Dries February 06, 2023

• January 2023

  • Avant new head of Women’s Foundation

    Longtime leader Ruby Bright retired at the end of 2022. 

    By Jane Roberts January 04, 2023

• May 2022

  • Shante Avant wins Democratic primary race for County Commission District 5

    “It’s quite simple, the Democrat primary voters have decided who they want as their candidate,” Folsom said. “It was a well-fought race despite the incredibly low turnout.”

    By Alicia Davidson May 04, 2022

• March 2022

  • Charles Everett named to school board seat

    Charles Everett, a Tennessee PTA leader and co-founder of Uplift Westwood, is the new District 6 Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member. 

    By Bill Dries March 22, 2022

  • Seven apply for vacant school board seat

    The Shelby County will commission fill the vacancy at its March 21 meeting. Most of those who applied for the appointment plan to run for a full four-year term in the August elections.

    By Bill Dries March 04, 2022

• February 2022

  • County Commission to fill school board, state Senate vacancies next month

    The commission set the schedules Wednesday, Feb. 23, for taking applications, interviewing candidates and making the picks. 

    By Bill Dries February 23, 2022

  • Political Roundup: Avant may file; ‘pink wave’ thoughts, and ‘ghettoizing’

    Meanwhile, Jason Martin slams Gov. Bill Lee’s state of the state address and calls for the legalization of pot in all forms. And a look at the May and August ballots ahead of Thursday’s deadline to get on the May county primary ballot.

    By Bill Dries February 14, 2022

  • MSCS board member Shante Avant resigns

    Shante Avant, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member representing district 6, announced her resignation Friday.

    By Daja E. Henry February 12, 2022

• February 2021

  • Some Memphis school board members push for a reopening date

    Superintendent Joris Ray presented updates for reopening during a board committee meeting Thursday, including creating a district contact-tracing team and using district buildings to administer vaccines to teachers. But he has delayed reopening classes indefinitely, citing high community spread of COVID-19. 

    By Laura Faith Kebede February 05, 2021

• October 2020

  • SCS students could be back in school by January

    During a school board committee meeting, SCS Superintendent Joris Ray told board members that the timeline is dependent upon the data.

    By Linda A. Moore October 27, 2020

• July 2020

  • BTW’s class of 2020 gifted with laptops, coding lessons from Women’s Foundation

    The Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis is working to reduce poverty in the 38126 ZIP code, one of the poorest in the city. Booker T. Washington High School is at the center of the initiative.

    By Linda A. Moore July 01, 2020

• June 2020

  • Saturday school is out as SCS lays out options for 2020-21 calendar

    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. 

    By Laura Faith Kebede June 20, 2020

• May 2020

  • Shelby County Schools board approves $1.37 billion budget

    Board members also approved a $65 million capital improvement budget — more than double the $25 million that the county mayor has proposed for school building needs.

    By Jacinthia Jones May 13, 2020