Members of the Rutherford County School Board narrowly voted 4 to 3 to extend the contract of Director James “Jimmy” Sullivan during Thursday night’s board meeting.Dr. Sullivan became the Director of Schools for Rutherford County Schools (RCS) in 2022 under a four-year contract. Prior to becoming the director of schools, he served as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction from 2019 and served as the founding principal of Rocky Ford Middle School in Smyrna.

At 12:39 p.m., as the moon took its first bite of the sun, a group of Craigmont High School students looked up at the dome of the school’s planetarium to watch a video showing them exactly what would happen over the course of the day’s solar eclipse.This time, it wasn’t the “missed opportunity” school staff sensed during the last solar eclipse in 2017, when Craigmont’s planetarium was still in disrepair.Following a successful fundraising campaign several years ago, the Raleigh community jewel has become operational again, allowing students to visualize the perfect alignment of the sun, Earth, and moon that makes a solar eclipse happen.

The Knox County School (KCS) Board approved a historic $39 million investment to raise the salaries of teachers and school staff across the district.The vote was a unanimous 8-0 with board member Jennifer Owens recusing herself from the vote, stating she plans to return to teaching after serving on the school board.“There are few things that are easier yeses for me than this,” said vice board chair Steve Triplett.

Members of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that’s designed to make it easier for public charter schools to access vacant school buildings.The bill would require local school districts that have public charter schools in them to provide a list of vacant and underutilized buildings on an annual basis.

Knox County School (KCS) leaders are proposing a historic $39 million investment to increase the salaries of educators and school staff.The spending proposal follows a compensation study by Florida-based firm Evergreen Solutions that found that KCS employees make nearly 9 percent less than the market minimum. Evergreen Solutions recommended the district look at what it can afford and invest in salaries in an appropriate, effective, and efficient way across the district.

By every measurement, the three public schools the University of Memphis operates on its campus are producing academic results.The university has been operating a public school for more than 100 years as a training site for teaching candidates and today that effort serves 1000 students at Campus School, University Middle School, and University High School.

Firefly staff compared each MNPS public charter school’s performance on the Report Card to traditional and magnet schools serving the same age students in the same school cluster. Half of those charters outperformed every comparable district run school in a majority of subjects.

Toni Williams spent part of her last school board meeting as the leader of Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) looking back at everything she’s accomplished since her first meeting.Board members appointed Williams as interim superintendent in 2022 following the resignation of former superintendent Joris Ray. New superintendent Dr. Marie N. Feagins will officially take over the position on April 1.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members say the contract being finalized for incoming Superintendent Marie Feagins reflects the lessons learned after former Superintendent Joris Ray departed the district in scandal.For starters, the proposed contract includes a new ethical conduct clause, board members say. The board voted unanimously to approve terms of the four-year contract on Tuesday.

Some residents in Rutherford County say a proposed policy change to public comments at school board meetings could infringe on their First Amendment Rights.Current Rutherford County School Board policy allows attendees to make public comments without prior notice and without the topic being on the agenda. The board is considering changing both by requiring advance notice for public comments that must align with topics on the agenda.

Members of the Memphis-Shelby County School Board are expected to approve a plan later this month to spend more than $12 million upgrading school security.During Tuesday’s work session, the board moved approval of those funds to the consent agenda for next board meeting. 

Each school day more than a thousand children and teenagers travel from across Shelby County to the University of Memphis for a reason you may not expect.Those school-aged students aren’t there for a tour, but are instead attending one of three public schools the university operates.

The Star Academy program at Haywood County Middle School is showing success in helping at-risk students advance, with Tennessee awarding a $1 million grant to support its implementation.

Students at Knoxville’s Farragut High School will be able to earn a full elective course credit in Bible studies next school year.Tennessee is one of several states that provide parents with the ability to request released time for their children, allowing schools to excuse a student to participate in an off-campus religious instruction.

Stephen White Eagle approached the Rutherford County School Board Thursday evening to fight for his son’s right to wear an eagle feather in his graduation cap.White Eagle’s son is a senior at LaVergne High School and he says school administrative staff and district administers told his son he wouldn’t be allowed to weather the feather because of school policy.

Tiffany Matthews says a team of teachers oversees her son’s individualized education program (IEP) for autism at Knoxville’s New Hopewell Elementary School.Matthews is grateful for the work they do, but she says those teachers are largely unsupported in their work, which includes making modifications.

The timeline for Memphis-Shelby County School’s new superintendent to get to work is officially moving up.Members of the Memphis-Shelby County School board voted Tuesday afternoon to move Dr. Marie Feagins’ start date to April 1. Previously Feagins was scheduled to start after the end of this school year.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Director Dr. Adrienne Battle told Nashville business leaders the district’s recent national recognition for learning loss recovery followed strategic changes to better serve students.Speaking to the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Monday, Battle said the district has focused on key changes in recent years, including doubling down on the district’s Tier 1 instruction focus on high quality instructional materials and ensuring the district is operating with a common curriculum at all schools.

Future students of American Classical Academy Rutherford will begin school at a building just off I-24 in La Vergne.Leaders of the new public charter school announced Tuesday morning that 2 Ingram Boulevard in La Vergne is under contract and they’re in the process of purchasing the building.

Incoming Superintendent Marie Feagins has started working with Memphis-Shelby County Schools under a per diem agreement, allowing her to begin a transition to the superintendent role while the school board hammers out her contract.Feagins’ temporary employment took effect March 1, according to a press release from school board Chair Althea Greene. Greene said she expects Feagins, a Detroit public school district administrator, to begin officially as MSCS superintendent on April 1, months ahead of the July 1 start that board members had targeted during the search process.