Voters in the Memphis-Shelby County school district got a chance to hear from several school board candidates about their thoughts on student literacy, capital projects, and school funding considerations at a candidate forum hosted last week by the education publication Chalkbeat.
The forum, which was broken into two panels, began with discussions involving the open district 4 race and district 7 that has four challengers to incumbent school board member Frank Johnson. Participating candidates included:
District 4 Candidates
- James Bacchus, a retired educator and K-12 administrator.
- Eric Harris, founder of education nonprofit JESSRAN.
- Tamarques Porter, an IT professional and former teacher’s assistant.
- Anecia Washington, a local resident with more than 10 years of experience in education.
District 7 Candidates
- Chavez Donelson, a local community leader.
- Danielle Huggins, an educator and community advocate.
- Towanna C. Murphy, a longtime educator and founder of Project Let’s Read.
- Jason Sharif, the founder and executive director of Respect the Haven Community Development Corporation.
- Frank Johnson, the incumbent District 7 school board member.
Candidates were asked what they think the biggest problems facing the district today are, as well as possible plans for addressing them.
Johnson said he believes the district should work together with community organizations and local leaders to address child homelessness in the district, among other major concerns.
“The problem that I see that hits us at home is the problem of child and family homelessness. We have an epidemic that’s coalescing,” he said. “I uncovered this problem when I was visiting American Way Middle and Getwell Middle, and both principals told me that they have so many students that are facing homelessness … It’s out of control.”
Donelson said one of his biggest focuses would be on promoting vocational training in the district. He said schools today need to prepare students for work in a digital age, as technology continues to advance at a rapid pace.
“The technology is moving fast, so we must get children up to speed to be able to compete,” he said, adding that he wants to “reinvigorate vocational training” in the district.
Murphy said she believes one of the biggest issues in the district is student mental health, adding that this issue will play into how successful ongoing efforts to support and improve student literacy are moving forward.
“We have to go back and re-evaluate what’s going on in the home,” she said.
Washington and Huggins both emphasized the need to focus on boosting student literacy, which has been a major concern for districts across the state.
“Literacy should be viewed as a continuum. There is not one approach that is going to benefit every child within this district and what we have to do is find the pathways to get the teachers into the opportunity to teach children where they are there,” Washington said. “It could be an issue with comprehension and vocabulary … We need to be able to give teachers the tools to meet every single child where they are.”
Bacchus agreed about the need to focus on literacy and added that the district needs to work with higher-ed programs more to play a role in teacher training to improve recruitment and retention with those goals in mind.
“What we need to do is start first with our [third] and fourth grade students to be more intentional in those [foundational] areas,” he said.
Harris and Sharif both said they believe transparency and the need to build more public trust will be key to meeting the district’s goals moving forward. Sharif added that he thinks one of the biggest problems facing the district is that some community members “feel like the board is disconnected from the community.”
“We’re going to have to earn back the public trust and confidence,” he said, adding that the district needs to improve literacy among students as well, which could be helped by community partnerships and summer reading programs.
In the second panel, voters heard from candidates in district 2, 3, and 5 including:
District 2 Candidates
- Ernest Gillespie III, a pastor and former sheriff’s deputy.
- Natalie McKinney, the founder of the education nonprofit Whole Child Strategies.
- Althea Greene, the incumbent District 2 school board member.
District 3 Candidates
- Jesse Jeff, a Shelby County resident with a background in education and law enforcement.
- Ozell Pace Jr., a Shelby County resident with a background in education and law enforcement.
- Angela Rogers, the founder and executive director of A Mother’s Heart.
- Stephanie Love, the incumbent District 3 school board member.
District 5 Candidates
- Sable Otey, a former educator and community advocate.
- Audrey Elion, a resident with over 15 years of experience working for and with the school system.
- Mauricio Calvo, the incumbent District 5 school board member.
Among the key topics discussed in the second panel was the need to secure funding for deferred maintenance on district facilities, as well as how to secure funding for capital projects like a new high school planned in Cordova.
“We know that we have work to do, but it requires funding … Our deferred maintenance list is growing,” Greene said.
For the most part, candidates all agreed in the need for collaboration between county commissioners and the school district to address capital project and maintenance funding. McKinney suggested more collaboration with the city council to address funding concerns relating to capital projects and infrastructure needs in Memphis’ aging facilities.
“Teachers, students and parents should feel safe and deferred maintenance should be a priority. You should not worry about a roof falling in on you, or in the summertime being hot, or in the wintertime being cold,” Jeff chimed in. “We’ve got to get deferred maintenance under control, the HVAC systems, and make sure we collaborate with the county commission to get the funds needed for the new school.”
Voters will decide all 5 school board races in the August primary. Each race will be contested as non-partisan.
