Shelby County Schools board member Kevin Woods has changed his mind about not seeking another term.

Even as the new education voucher program is mired in a court battle and public schools may lose more funding if the coronavirus pandemic causes a recession, the state education department is accepting applications through April 29 via an online site. 

Dozens of students are hunkered down in deserted residence halls here, socializing the same way they are going to class – entirely online.

YMCA is running 62 meal-distribution sites across Shelby County from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

YMCA of Memphis & Mid-South has stepped in to make sure students who were relying on Shelby County Schools for meals next week can be fed. Shelby County Schools announced Friday it was suspending its program after a nutrition services employee tested positive for COVID-19.

So far, the Shelby County Schools district only has 30,000 to 40,000 take-home devices for 95,000 students. Students living in poverty are less likely to have a computer at home, Ray said.

Shelby County Schools will begin distributing meals to students who need them Monday, March 23. The program will start with lunch but could be extended to breakfast depending on response.

The proposal aims to lift the burden of testing and other state mandates from public schools disrupted by the ongoing spread of COVID-19, as well as deadly twisters that shredded parts of Middle Tennessee this month.

Six years ago, two programs were ranked, Rudd says.

The founder of the charter school company operating Frayser's ASD School, MLK Prep, and County Commissioner Michael Whaley talked about the Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris' proposal for a new high school in Frayser on "Behind The Headlines."

For now, TNReady testing is on for grades 3-11. It’s scheduled to start as soon as April 13, though school districts have some leeway to decide exactly when.

Tennessee's Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn appeared before the Senate Education Committee for a second straight week, where she was grilled about decisions last year involving the state textbook commission. 

The governor set aside $68 million in next year’s proposed budget to overhaul reading instruction. 

“We were told there was going to be some thorough cleaning,” said Jake Pritchard, a fourth-grade teacher at Treadwell Elementary. “That does not appear to have happened.” 

Lori Gilbert, the president of Treadwell Elementary’s parent group, said some Spanish-speaking parents did not get the district’s robocall about a quarantined employee in Spanish until after school started.

A new Frayser high school could determine the fate of two longtime neighborhood schools, while also rebuilding the neighborhood's optimism. 

Chancellor Anne C. Martin indicated that she likely will allow three pro-voucher groups representing parents from Memphis and Nashville to become part of the case. 

Chris Fay became principal in 2009, the first non-Brother to lead CBHS, and has been working at the high school since 2003.

Though Superintendent Joris Ray decided to exclude union leadership to “give other people an opportunity to lead too,” at least 10 schools voted for a union leader to represent them on the council anyway.

Billed as a “one-stop shop” for parents, Tennessee School Finder focuses on school choices for families zoned to Shelby County Schools, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the state-run Achievement School District. 

The state’s grading policy for high school — which now awards A’s for point percentages between 93 and 100 and B’s for 85 to 92 — would return to a 10-point scale under the bill sponsored by Rep. Jason Hodges.

Jim Herbert's beginnings can be traced back to a former dairy farm in Whitehaven. 

'It was my job to provide intervention for X-Man, 45 minutes every day. What a way to kick off my morning, huh?'

The Individualized Education Account program is under scrutiny, and voucher opponents say the problems bolster their case that Tennessee can't be trusted to launch the larger school voucher program this summer.

Kandace Thomas, who was with the Irving Harris Foundation in Chicago for the last 13 years, will start work April 1 at the Memphis organization that oversees funding for early education initiatives.