University Schools — Campus School and University Middle — have announced they will go all-virtual instead of the hybrid plan it previously released to parents.

As leaders around the country make decisions based on wishful thinking, Rhodes College postponed on-campus eduction for the fall semester because it determined it could not safely bring students, faculty and employees back to campus. "It’s about setting your values and having the courage of your convictions," said president Marjorie Hass. If only more leaders would do the same. 

What will happen when some of them test positive for COVID-19? The answers are troubling, and in many cases yet to be determined.

Most schools are planning for a semester combining on-campus and online learning.

Mauricio Calvo’s withdrawal accented the opening day of early voting in Memphis. Preliminary numbers show more than 5,000 people voted early Friday. In getting out of the District 5 school board race, Calvo cited his duties as executive director of Latino Memphis and the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on Latino Memphians. 

Parents who depended on a world where children had places to go and things to do were left to figure out how to teach school-age kids and occupy preschoolers. In many cases, they also had to work while doing those things.

The case pits school districts in Memphis and Nashville against the state over whether Tennessee allocates enough money for K-12 education, especially for its urban students.

If conditions improve, Rhodes is prepared to bring first-year students back to campus in the fall.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency last week began delivering 298,000 masks to school districts for the state’s 66,000 public school teachers and other school staff.

Harvard and MIT were the first to contest the policy, but at least seven other federal suits had been filed by universities and states opposing the rule.

Under the 2020-21 calendar approved by the Shelby County Schools board, students and teachers will have a fall break in October and start the second semester in February instead of January. 

Several Lakeland parents and residents sent in statements supporting sending children back to the classroom this fall. 

They have until Saturday, July 18, to decide whether their children return to Shelby County Schools’ buildings or stay home to learn with the aid of a school-issued laptop or tablet.

Kids who go to school risk exposing themselves and others to COVID-19. But many kids who stay home are more vulnerable to adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs.

SCS Superintendent Joris Ray said Memphis students will start the school year online if coronavirus hospitalizations and cases continue to surge. 

Experts say challenges for college presidents are monumental, including now to plan for whatever temporary turns out to be as fall classes approach.

The Shelby County Schools superintendent said on “Behind The Headlines” that the school system is ready with a flexible plan and two teams of teachers for each school – virtual teachers and in-person teachers. 

The program bolsters immigrant language skills, teaches civics and other lessons about living in the United States. 

Shelby County Schools’ plan addresses every aspect of the school day starting with bus rides and ending with after-school care and extracurricular activities. 

The endowment from the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis is the largest in LeMoyne-Owen College’s history.

Southwest Tennessee Community College plans to convert the closed Office Depot building near Downtown for its performing arts programs, for an array of student services, for a bit of retail to serve students and for a more prominent presence along busy Union Avenue.

The Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis is working to reduce poverty in the 38126 ZIP code, one of the poorest in the city. Booker T. Washington High School is at the center of the initiative.

Starting in August, Shelby County Schools plans to offer both online and in-person instruction for students — and parents can choose which option they want.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced the shutdown of the University of Memphis Confucius Institute, saying students of Chinese culture and language at U.S. colleges should be “alarmed that the Chinese government has infiltrated their institutions.”

Mayor Jim Strickland will consider the committee's recommendation that the Metal Museum be Rust Hall's future occupant. If he accepts it, the City Council would have final say.