Students at MLK College Preparatory High School in Frayser will get to choose from among six schools to attend beginning next school year, as Memphis-Shelby County Schools begins construction of a new high school on the same site.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced Wednesday that it’s launching a new field trip program to give students free learning opportunities outside the classroom walls.The $3 million investment called Discovering Memphis will fund field trips to the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) for eighth and eleventh-graders and the children’s museum for first-graders.

If his school community had to choose between himself and its nine therapy dogs, David Snowden jokes that “the director of schools would have to go.”Now in his 23rd year as leader of Franklin Special School District, south of Nashville, Snowden has championed the canine program since Mattie Grace became the school system’s first trained therapy dog in 2018.

Sumner County parents urged school board members last week to follow through on promised athletic facility improvements.

The Sumner County School Board approved moving $15.5 million out of reserves to fund the first wave of rebuilds, facility updates, and stadium renovations in the district last month.

Members of the Rutherford County Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to push for harsher consequences for students who threaten their school.The resolution calls for the Tennessee General Assembly to pass legislation allowing for the revocation of the driver’s license of students who make false bomb threats or other threats against their school.“Many of the punishments for such actions are not sufficient deterrents to some students. The revocation of a student’s driver license may be a more effective deterrent for some students,” said Director of Schools James Sullivan.Board member Tammy Sharp proposed the resolution after working in collaboration with Representative Robert Stevens, R-Smyrna.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education says Director Dr. Adrienne Battle met every expectation for the 2022-23 school year.Board members provided that positive evaluation at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The search for a new superintendent to lead Memphis-Shelby County Schools appears to be reaching its home stretch.Tuesday night School Board Chair Althea Green requested the board to add three ad hoc committees to ensure members can play a part and be there for support.The first committee would focus on scoring and assessment and include board members Frank Johnson, Amber Huitt-Garcia, and chair Althea Greene.Garcia questioned what this means for their role.

Williamson County students say they faced intimidation following last month’s discussion on whether pride flags should be allowed in classrooms.Amy Duncan with LQBTQIA+ group Wilco Iris told board members at Monday’s meeting that some members of the crowd opposing the flags purposely intimidated students after the previous meeting.Duncan says she came to the board meeting to speak on behalf of those students who were advised not to attend the meeting by the adult volunteers at Wilco Iris who also feel the students’ safety is in danger.

Metro-Nashville Public Schools broke ground Thursday morning on the new and updated Lakeview Elementary Design Center.The district plans to build the school on its existing campus in south Davidson County’s Antioch community over a multi-year period.“This groundbreaking event is symbolic of our city’s commitment to educational excellence for every child in Metro Nashville Public Schools and it marks the beginning of a new era in how we educate our children here in the Antioch community. We’re preparing our students for the rest of their lives, and it has never been more exciting than right now,” said Lakeview principal Shantrell Pirtle.

Interim Superintendent Tutonial “Toni” Williams told members of the Memphis-Shelby School Board that closing buildings is not the goal of the academic facilities reuse plan now under consideration by the district’s new Facilities Steering Committee.That committee held its first meeting last week to discuss multiple scenarios to fund $500 million in school upgrades and address the district’s deferred maintenance costs. One idea under consideration would be to designate 23 facilities for reuse.

The Jackson-Madison School Board is considering court action to prevent the county’s first public charter school from opening.Board members voted Monday morning to pursue a legal challenge of the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission’s decision to approve an appeal from American Classical Education (ACE) earlier this month.  That decision overturned the district’s denial of ACE’s application in July.“This has been a long, frustrating process. We were crystal clear and very deliberate in following the state’s guidelines and rules during the entire process. So, we stand behind our decision,” said School Board Chairman James “Pete” Johnson.ACE first gained attention last year when Governor Bill Lee expressed support for the organization in his State of the State address, but the group faced criticism over its connections to Michigan based Hillsdale College and controversial statements Hillsdale President Larry Arnn made about teachers on video.

Murfreesboro parents Amber and Scott Mitchell are currently looking for a school that will not only meet their special needs daughter’s academic requirements, but also one that meets her social emotional development needs.They believe the social emotional learning that’s woven into the fabric of Springs Public Schools’ Empower Academy’s self-driven curriculum may be the perfect fit. Their daughter is currently thriving in a self-paced Montessori model at kindergarten and Empower Academy would offer the option of continuing that in a Montessori-aligned approach.“What really drew us to Montessori to begin with was the individual teaching and catering the education to the individual rather than teaching one way to the group,” said Scott Mitchell.

The US Department of Education has awarded Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grant for the third time in six years. The grant totals nearly $15 million and is to be utilized by the school district within the next five years.

As a Birmingham, Alabama, native, Tondra Loder-Jackson was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. She was especially inspired by the 1,000-plus Black children who walked out of school in Birmingham on May 2, 1963, to protest Jim Crow segregation in what would be known as the Children’s Crusade.

The new Facilities Steering Committee for Memphis-Shelby County Schools will be evaluating a potentially major change for district buildings to raise money for improvements.The committee held its first meeting last week and is expected to make a recommendation to school board members in the coming weeks to address the district’s deferred maintenance costs, which are approximately $500 million.One proposed move under consideration is to designate 23 district facilities for reuse.  MSCS did not identify which academic spaces that would include, but leaders estimate the district could create more than $149 million in savings.

Rutherford County Director of Schools James Sullivan wants to change the narrative around mental health in the district to provide additional resources to students who need them.Sullivan invited the nonprofit Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System to talk with the board about potentially expanding its Project BASIC (Better Attitudes and Skills in Children) program into Rutherford County Schools.

Springs Empower Academy students now have a picture of what their future school will look like.School leaders unveiled renderings Monday for the new K-8 public charter school that will open in fall of 2024 and serve up to 480 students in Smyrna. Rutherford County School Board members approved the K-8 public charter school last year and Springs Empower Academy is now in the process of purchasing land on Enon Springs road to build the school.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission provided a mixed bag for supporters of two public charter schools vying to transfer into the Memphis-Shelby County School (MSCS) district.Commissioners unanimously upheld the transfer appeal from Cornerstone Prep Lester Friday but denied Fairley High School. The decision means Cornerstone Prep will continue to operate as a public charter school as it transitions to MSCS while Fairley faces an unknown future with Green Dot Public Schools no longer serving as its operator.Cornerstone Prep and Fairley are in the final year of a ten-year contract with the state-run Achievement School District (ASD), an intervention that serves the lowest achieving schools. Both schools applied to transfer into the district in hopes of continuing the turnaround work as public charter schools.

Students at Memphis’s Peabody Elementary School will continue to attend classes elsewhere for the remainder of the school year.Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) announced Friday that it plans to keep Peabody closed until the fall to continue mold remediation and other improvements.  Peabody students have been attending classes at nearby Middle College High School since last month when repairs began.

Dr. Brenda Jones made Nashville education history Friday by not just becoming the first Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) graduate to open a public charter school, but also the first former district teacher to do so.Members of the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission voted unanimously to approve Jones’ appeal to open Invictus Nashville Charter School.  The vote overturns a July decision by the MNPS Board of Education to deny Invictus.