This year has presented a unique set of challenges for kids in Shelby County, and a new face in Collierville is helping the district appropriately address students’ needs.

Middle school students in Collierville may return to school five days per week beginning Nov. 2.

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

Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said the annual state tests, known as TNReady, will be administered as planned, but teachers and schools should be held harmless for the results. 

Three SCS board members said January is the earliest they feel comfortable reopening school buildings, especially as county health officials this week declared the virus’ autumn “surge” has arrived.

In one of the legislature’s most high-profile races, Jerri Green is considered a serious challenger to Republican Rep. Mark White, chairman of the House Education Committee. They are polar opposites on the issue of vouchers.

The project employs U of M students to manage about half of Raymond James’ national identity and access program.

Officials won’t identify where the employees work, while education association leadership says it’s too soon to discuss opening schools.

Rhodes graduates from across the country are speaking out in support for their fellow alum and nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Girls on the Run finished out the spring semester online, but only about 60% of the girls showed up on Zoom team meetings.

The Excel Center opened as a charter school but is now a contract school with Shelby County Schools.

The move back to school buildings would make KIPP one of the first public schools in the city to reopen after starting all remote. The return to in-person learning is outlined in a letter from the charter network’s CEO Kendra Ferguson. 

In its third year, the middle school will operate in Fogelman Executive Center off Central and Innovation Drive.

Germantown is allowing 7th and 8th graders on campus four days per week beginning Nov. 2. The change brings the hybrid learning model in house.

Facility will serve 200 3-, 4-year-olds in the Melrose High School neighborhood.

The university is suffering from more than $50 million in losses from the spring and fall semesters.

Two local higher education institutions are the recipients of surplus lab equipment given in a long-term loan from the Health Department.

Lakeland schools Superintendent Ted Horrell received stellar remarks in his review by the system’s school board, setting the stage for a new contract.

One-week training sessions will begin next summer. Tuition is covered for veterans and low-wage earners. 

St. George’s has named Timothy Gibson as head of school. Gibson has served in the position on an interim basis since Ross Peters stepped down.

The governor and his education commissioner stand by the presentation of a massive learning loss report even though old data was used to make dire predictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The schools that Tennessee took over in the last decade can begin to return to their local districts in Memphis and Nashville in 2024 instead of 2022 as proposed earlier this year. 

The state is expected to get 133,000 of the new COVID tests — which deliver results in minutes, not days — in early October, and 2 million by the end of the year.

Classes that were approved to start in mid-September among those being invited back.

Rhodes College President Marjorie Hass urges the college to rise to the “great challenges” of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, and others praise the the Notre Dame law professor’s commitment to equality and women’s rights.