Interim Memphis schools leader Toni Williams has applied to be the district’s superintendent, a role she once said she was not interested in assuming on a permanent basis.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools plans to whittle a growing list of applicants for its superintendent job to three finalists within the next month. For this final stage of the process, the school board isn’t planning to solicit more community feedback.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools plans to whittle a growing list of applicants for its superintendent job to three finalists within the next month. For this final stage of the process, the school board isn’t planning to solicit more community feedback.

Parents’ movement the Memphis Lift is partnering with the Tennessee Department of Education to help raise awareness of the of the challenges students are facing learning to read and the resources that are available to Memphis families.The partnership is hosting a literacy event later this month to educate families on the importance of literacy and provide free At-Home Decodable books.

Memphis based TGAND Outreach Ministries envisions its CHANGE Academy as a new type of public charter school that focuses on the needs of male students with a vocational and financial literacy-based curriculum.The Quality Charter Review (QCR) found the proposed school does not meet state standards for its operations, financial, and academic plan.  In particular, the review found the all-male structure of the school questionable.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools would spend up to $6.3 million to bolster security in the district’s schools under a pair of contracts awaiting board approval.The contracts with Memphis-based Oteka Technologies LLC call for spending about $807,000 on security technology — including cameras, intercoms, servers, software licenses, and intrusion alarm systems — and $5.5 million for upgraded wiring to support it all, according to board documents.

Senator Raumesh Akbari admits it’s not easy getting legislation passed as a Democrat in the Republican supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly, but she’s found ways to find common ground with conservatives to accomplish important educational changes.One of the biggest was the legislation Akbari co-sponsored to create the Tennessee Promise.

Education organization Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) announced a new resource Thursday to provide parents and local school districts with more information about public charter schools that are applying to open in their communities.The organization’s Quality Charter Review will present an analysis of new start charter school applications in Tennessee to evaluate their academic plan design, operations plan, and financial plan. Each review will provide an overall recommendation for or against the application along with suggestions for improvements.

The Memphis-Shelby County School Board agreed to buy nearly 36 acres of land north of Shelby Farms for a new high school that will accommodate 1,800 students and replace Germantown High School when it closes in 2026.It will be the first new high school operated by the district in a decade. The site, currently owned by Crews Investment Holdings LLC, is located on Herbert Road, off Raleigh Lagrange Road, in the Cordova area.

Many Memphis youths are already struggling to overcome emotional and psychological trauma inflicted or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.But the specter of being held back in third grade if they can’t pass the state’s reading test will pile onto that trauma, Memphis and Shelby County child and education advocates said during a town hall Wednesday.

Six months after former Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) superintendent Joris Ray resigned while facing claims of abusing his power, the district is narrowing down the qualities it's seeking in his replacement.As part of an ongoing effort to amplify those community voices, the Tennessee Firefly spoke with one student and one teacher, who’s asked that his identity be kept confidential. We found both share some similarities in the type of superintendent they'd prefer to see take over but they view race and gender differently.