Superintendent Marie Feagins is embracing a “back to basics” approach to reading instruction as Memphis-Shelby County Schools seeks to improve student test results. 

Paul Childers reflected on his first term on the school board and thought about some of the challenges on the horizon.

The special assistant to Superintendent Marie Feagins had been in the newly created role for four months.

The money he won for the school will be put into the automotive shop, but the $15,000 he won for himself will likely take Sneed back to Europe where he was deployed with the Army.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has helped pass bills in two states to make insurance cover speech therapy. Tennessee is one of his next targets.

Collierville Board of Education Chairman Wright Cox is unopposed in the Nov. 5 election. He’s served on the school board since the district’s inception.

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.

“Our first priority now has got to be taking care of our neighbors in East Tennessee and helping them recover from this storm damage,” Rep. Mark White said.

The program hasn’t been without controversy, though. In 2023, Memphis Reads officials chose the book “His Name Is George Floyd” by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa.

The session from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Oct. 9, is geared particularly to small businesses.

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.

After funding delays and worries that a proposed science, technology, engineering and mathematic lab for Whitehaven High would never happen, officials held a second ceremonial groundbreaking for the $9 million project.

Three people, including a teenager in Nashville, were arrested for the threats that prompted MSCS-wide lockdowns last month. 

“I hope to show students that creating music is this gift and a tool that they can use not only to enrich their lives but the lives of others,” said Jenny Davis, executive director of the program.

The $12.8 million University Crime Information Center is a place where officers can monitor, in real-time, a network of more than 1,200 cameras spread around the school’s campuses.

Wanda Gibbs is facing a challenge from Rachelle Maier on Collierville’s Board of Education.

“If we don’t find a way to work together, ... these problems can get bigger and worse,” said William Yotive, coordinator for World Federation of United Nations Associations. “Then, we lose control.”

Two outgoing school board members sent letters outlining their concerns with Feagins’ leadership style and communication with the board.

But that doesn’t mean rezoning won’t ever happen ever; it’s just not happening on the previous anticipated timeline.

The Arlington school board unanimously selected Allison Clark to take over as the district’s superintendent following the death of Jeff Mayo last month.

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.

A forensic investigation led by the college’s IT team confirmed the school was the target of “a sophisticated ransomware attack.”

The increase in absenteeism follows a national phenomenon, but over the past year 16 Memphis-area charter schools have been testing strategies with the support of AttendanceWorks and the Hyde Family Foundation.

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. 

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said detectives executed a felony warrant in Nashville for threats of mass violence at a school. 

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