Some Memphis school board members push for a reopening date
Superintendent Joris Ray updates school board members on the district’s plan to reopen classrooms Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (Courtesy Shelby County Schools)
Laura Faith Kebede
Laura Faith Kebede is a distinguished journalist in residence at the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis. She leads the Institute’s Civil Wrongs project to write about historical cases of racial terror as a corps member for Report for America. You can follow her on Twitter @kebedefaith.
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.
Related stories
The challenges of virtual learning and how to recover from “learning loss”
The conversation on “Behind the Headlines” with three experts in education reveals the complexities in reopening schools and helping students catch up.
Opinion: Our kids are under house arrest
Dan Conaway: “Our kids, Memphis kids, our tomorrow, have to get back in classrooms. Today. Period. Every day they don’t is another day falling further behind.”
SCS joins ranks of U.S. schools facing pressure to reopen
Gov. Bill Lee talked with SCS Superintendent Joris Ray about potentially returning children to classes by Feb. 15. Dozens of Tennessee counties have progressed to Phase 1b, which includes teachers in the vaccination priority list.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.