Sixty children competed Saturday for the right to represent Shelby County in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The victor was a Farmington Elementary student. Again.

That means around 12,000 high schoolers would miss more than 10% or 18 school days in a year. That’s significantly higher than the statewide average.

It’s not often that university administrators use sledgehammers during their jobs.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members voted to close five campuses at the end of the school year. The decision impacts 2,650 students and staff, and could be the first round of a total 15 school closures within three years.

This will be at least the second partnership CBU has signed with another school to provide new classes, all with an eye to increasing enrollment.

District officials estimate 2,650 students would go to a new school or get new classmates, a smaller figure than it could be. That’s because many of the students who are zoned to attend the schools don’t, according to district data obtained and reviewed by The Daily Memphian. 

The regular audit is separate from the state-ordered forensic audit of the Memphis school system. The forensic audit is underway. 

Maybe, just maybe, a class at Christian Brothers University can focus attention back on the murders of Beau and Shea Grauer, two brothers killed seven months apart in two separate Midtown shootings that appear unconnected.

House Bill 1711 is the second piece of legislation currently in the Tennessee General Assembly that could require educators to report the legal status of public school students.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools will resume control of the final charter schools in the state-run Achievement School District, a largely unsuccessful effort to boost academic achievement in the state’s chronically low-performing schools.

A court order is keeping Memphis-Shelby County Schools from shutting down a South Memphis charter elementary school for now. But a history of low performance is raising a question: Should it close?

Tennessee House Republicans on Thursday approved a bill allowing, though not requiring, public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

Her lawsuit requests she be restored to the superintendent seat or paid severance as outlined in her contract.

As Rhodes College professor Stephen Haynes puts it, “If you met somebody coming out of prison, wouldn’t it impress you if they had a degree from Rhodes College?”

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members scrapped a search in favor of appointing Roderick Richmond as superintendent. Threats of state takeover loom over its split decision to stabilize the district after years of leadership tumult.

The district received a waiver from the Tennessee Department of Education after taking two full weeks off of class. That exceeded MSCS’ built-in snow days by two, prompting the need for state assistance.

Republican lawmakers who were briefed on preliminary information from a state-funded forensic audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools are drawing “premature” conclusions, interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond said.

A local judge ruled that Shelby County commissioners “exceeded their authority” in passing a resolution that placed all nine school board seats on the ballot last fall. 

The mayor’s choice succeeds Keenon McCloy who retired in January.

“Some of our children have been here their entire lives, so they haven’t even gotten out of their hospital rooms.”

Presbyterian Day School has launched a campaign to reshape the center of campus to better support community, outdoor learning and student development.

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board is about to decide on the district’s leadership, and candidates are campaigning for school board seats. But two sponsors of a state bill say little, if any, of that matters.

“There’s financial record mismanagement, waste and abuse of contracts, disorganization at a level that’s unprecedented,” state Rep. Mark White told The Daily Memphian Friday.

The potential relocation would give Grizzlies Prep students, currently about 300 boys, a campus with a gym and outdoor spaces. It also would provide a facility for the charter operator to open its new all-girls school.

The district says state auditors haven’t presented any evidence of fraud or abuse to constitute further investment. Republican lawmakers didn’t name specifics either.