As part of the celebration and back-to-school prep, the district also partnered with the Shelby County Health Department to provide students in need with free immunizations.

“We train all our staff in battlefield first aid,” said one local school superintendent. “We watch some really gory videos so they can be prepared.”

The back-to-school initiative takes place in multiple cities across the country and has been an annual tradition of the organizations for over a decade.

Since an injunction was lifted last month, the state has been working to make taxpayer-funded private school vouchers available by the time class starts — which in Shelby County is Monday, Aug. 8.

New members will soon participate in a swearing-in ceremony to officially become part of the board. The board’s next meeting will be a work session Aug. 23. It will hold its monthly business meeting the following week on Aug. 30.

The idea of a three-term limit for city council members and the Memphis mayor went down hard for the second time in four years. 

A new event aims to showcase collaboration over competition. 

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools district will host three events this weekend to kick off the 2022-2023 school year that starts Aug. 8.

Residents tour the new $50 million Lakeland Preparatory High School, which is ready to welcome students for classes Aug. 8.

Lee said Friday, July 29, at Knowledge Quest’s Teen Tech Center that more than 2,000 families in Memphis and Nashville have applied for school vouchers and 40 schools have expressed interest in accepting those vouchers.

This marks the second connection made through records obtained by The Daily Memphian through open records requests to show Ray supervised a woman named in divorce filings as having had alleged affairs.

The school recently shuttered its all-girls high school program and switched to a classical education curriculum for its remaining students in grades K-8.

Arlington municipal school board candidates are strategizing their final campaign moves with Election Day just over a week away. 

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board rejected on Tuesday evening, July 26, applications for three charter schools, but the schools could still gain approval by going an alternate route. 

Dr. Daniel Chatham, a local pediatrician, plans to seek a seat on the Germantown Municipal School District Board of Education.

Amaia Iratzoqui specializes in “research around the gendered causes and consequences of victimization, including domestic and intimate partner violence.”

Superintendent Joris Ray had a supervisory role over at least one of the women with whom he is alleged to have had had an affair, according to personnel files from the Memphis-Shelby County School System.

But they offered no more clarity on what exactly teachers can and can’t say about race and history.

Gov. Bill Lee’s appointment will replace current board member R. Brad Martin, if confirmed by the Tennessee state legislature.

A group of organizations representing some of Memphis’ brightest minds are working to expand access to STEM education for students who have been historically underrepresented in science-related careers. 

“There is a population in Lake and Lauderdale counties who have poorer health care outcomes due to difficulty accessing care,” said University of Tennessee Health Science Center Assistant Professor Diana Dedmond.

Okenwa Okoli received Florida State’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award for his work to recruit and retain U.S. students in STEM graduate programs with a focus on bridging the achievement gap for minorities.

Board chair Michelle McKissack announced that Ray will be on paid administrative leave while the investigation is being conducted. Deputy superintendents John Barker and Angela Whitelaw will serve in the interim.

“Starting today, we will work to help eligible parents enroll this school year,” Gov. Bill Lee said, “as we ensure Tennessee families have the opportunity to choose the school that they believe is best for their child.”