Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) is hosting a series of “Tailgate Talks” before sporting events across Memphis to learn more about what parents are looking for in their next superintendent.This is the latest step in the ongoing MSCS superintendent search.“As the MSCS Board of Education continues to engage the community in the national search for a superintendent, families are encouraged to join Tailgate Talks. At the events, families can stay informed by enjoying a quick bite and chat with School Board members about the search before the game,” said the district in a news release.The first two tailgate talks took place last week at Kirby Stadium and Southwind Stadium where MSCS board members made themselves available to talk one hour before the games.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) is hosting a series of “Tailgate Talks” before sporting events across Memphis to learn more about what parents are looking for in their next superintendent.This is the latest step in the ongoing MSCS superintendent search.“As the MSCS Board of Education continues to engage the community in the national search for a superintendent, families are encouraged to join Tailgate Talks. At the events, families can stay informed by enjoying a quick bite and chat with School Board members about the search before the game,” said the district in a news release.The first two tailgate talks took place last week at Kirby Stadium and Southwind Stadium where MSCS board members made themselves available to talk one hour before the games.

Members of the Knox County Schools Board of Education unanimously voted to approve board chair Betsy Henderson’s resolution to follow all five recommendations made by the Knox County Schools (KCS) special education task force.The task force made recommendations last month to address what it felt are concerning cultural problems with special education in the district. Henderson proposed a resolution to approve the recommendations last week.“I enthusiastically support and encourage passage of (Chair) Henderson’s resolution to make Knox County Schools a model district for excellence and special education, and implement the task force’s recommendations,” said task force member Cortney Piper. “Reimagining Knox County Schools’ special education is the right thing to do and it’s the legal thing to do. It’s hard work and there’s no question about that. Consider me and hundreds of other special education parents your partners in this hard work.”

For the second year in a row, Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) is excluding its schools that serve some of the highest percentages of economically disadvantaged and students of color from the district’s annual celebration event.The September 9 Celebration of Schools Parade and Fair at Nissan Stadium is designed to showcase district schools and educational options to parents, but MNPS leadership opted to exclude public charter schools from taking part.

Rutherford County School Board members voted Shelia Bratton to be the new board chair Tuesday evening, replacing former chair Tammy Sharp.Sharp withdrew from serving another one-year term due to a medical diagnosis that she wishes to focus her full attention on.“I just wanted to thank everyone for the emails, the texts, and the phone calls in support of my well-being and my new diagnosis. I even had some people here tonight. Thank you, thank you everyone, and it was an honor for me to serve the last year and aside Dr. Sullivan and we’re gonna keep going. We’re gonna go from here,” said Sharp.

Members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education have seen four of their decisions against proposed public charter schools overturned by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. Next week two new proposed schools will make the case to be added to that list.The commission has public hearings scheduled for charter appeals from Invictus Nashville Charter School and Nashville Collegiate Prep High School (NCPHS) on Monday. MNPS board members denied applications from both in July.Under state law, denied applications can appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. Its members have the option of overturning local district denials.

Alice Lockett is an example of the generational challenges many families in Memphis face.As a teenager she dropped out of school after becoming pregnant and had to support her daughter by working at fast food restaurants.

When Subira Gordon took over as the CEO of the Nashville Charter Collaborative last July there was no question what challenge she wanted to work on first.Public charter schools are leading Nashville’s educational improvement journey in many ways, but the public isn’t always getting that part of the story.

Patricia Adams graduated from Fairley High School in 1989, when the school was still a traditional public school in Memphis.Since then, she’s witnessed the school undergo two different leadership changes, including what she calls a rebirth when Green Dot Public Schools took over to run Fairley as a public charter school in the state-run Achievement School District (ASD). Adams is currently serving as the organization’s Director of Operations.

Zephan Alexander describes his time as a public-school student in Memphis as a challenge. He struggled in traditional public schools and public charter schools but says things changed when he enrolled in a former public charter school operated by Pathways in Education (PIE).PIE operated that school under the state-run Achievement School District from 2014-2022. Alexander was among those speaking in support of allowing the organization to return to Shelby County.

Zephan Alexander describes his time as a public-school student in Memphis as a challenge. He struggled in traditional public schools and public charter schools but says things changed when he enrolled in a former public charter school operated by Pathways in Education (PIE).PIE operated that school under the state-run Achievement School District from 2014-2022. Alexander was among those speaking in support of allowing the organization to return to Shelby County.

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board voted Tuesday to approve a $5 million deal to buy 45 acres of land for the new high school in Cordova, after the district terminated an agreement to buy a smaller parcel nearby.

Proposed public charter schools have not found an easy road to approval in Tennessee this year.Local school boards approved just two charter applications, American Classical Academy-Rutherford and the Tennessee Career Academy in Memphis. School board members in Shelby, Davidson, Madison, Montgomery, Robertson, and Maury County denied every other application to open a new public charter school in their communities this year.Six of those applicants are appealing to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission beginning this week. Commissioners have the option of overturning charter application denials and members did just that with three high-quality applications in Nashville last year.

For the second time members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education are taking the unusual position of stepping into the Nashville mayoral election.Board members put out a joint statement Thursday to officially endorse Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell in the upcoming mayoral runoff against former Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Assistant Commissioner Alice Rolli.

Cary Byrge began noticing something frustrating towards the end of her son’s second-grade year in school.Byrge’s son was supposed to receive regular speech therapy through Knox County Schools, but that assistance became less reliable.“The first two years went great. Then all of a sudden, towards the end of second grade, he began to receive speech services less and less and less and I would call, and I would email, and we would have meetings and we would put a band aid on it for the end of the year and then say they would try to do better next year. But it never got any better, it actually got a lot worse,” said Byrge.That was especially true when her son entered the sixth-grade.

Nashville mayoral candidates Freddie O’Connell and Alice Rolli provided differing views for how to support school choice at the first education-focused debate.During Thursday’s forum hosted by Opportunity Nashville, Rolli said students who attend underperforming schools should have the option of switching to their desired school with district-provided transportation resources.

Fifth-graders walking into Intrepid College Prep’s Opportunity Academy Middle School this month will immediately notice something different.Unlike traditional public schools in Davidson County, their home room is named after a college or university. Director of Organizational Advancement Abby Barton says it’s all part of putting students on the path to higher education.

For more than two decades, Levar Brown has been proving to himself exactly what he can and cannot do.Along the way, Brown likewise has proven a consistent, persistent influence in the lives of Chattanooga-area youth.

Mauricio Calvo, the newest member of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board, took his oath of office next to the children’s section of a public library, with the county’s juvenile court judge swearing him in.

Nashville mayoral candidates Freddie O’Connell and Alice Rolli have taken part in numerous debates in the last few months but education hasn’t always played a large role in the discussion.In the forums leading up to their advancement to a runoff, mayoral candidates have largely only fielded one question at most on their educational positions.  That changes this Thursday.