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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission unanimously cleared the way Friday for Memphis educator Muna Olaniyi’s dream of disrupting the cycle of poverty in Orange Mound and South Memphis through education.Olaniyi’s Empower Memphis Career and College Prep will serve K-8 students in the communities with a career technical education (CTE) model that’s designed to provide students with academic and technical skills through hands-on training and experience. The school will also provide a “two-generation’ approach that serves the needs of students and their families struggling with poverty.

Downtown Memphis Commission leader Paul Young will be Memphis’ next mayor, a position that gives him no formal authority over Memphis-Shelby County Schools, but could allow him to revive the relationship between city and district if he follows through on his campaign plans.Such a change would come at a pivotal time, bringing additional dollars to the district as it faces hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance projects and seeks to develop a facility plan that better supports academic improvement.

Tennessee Public Charter School Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall is providing mixed recommendations for two public charter schools seeking to transfer out of the state-run Achievement School District (ASD) and into Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS).Stovall is recommending commissioners approve the appeal from Cornerstone Prep Lester (CPL) and deny the appeal from Fairley High School at a hearing Friday morning.

Four proposed public charter schools in Memphis, Nashville, and Jackson are all receiving new support from a key state board leader.Tennessee Public Charter School Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall recommended commissioners approve those schools’ appeals at two meetings later this week.

The ongoing search for a new leader of the state’s largest school district is once again seeing another key date moved back.At Tuesday night’s Memphis-Shelby County School Board meeting, Vice Chair Joyce Dorse-Coleman told board members the search process now aims to have five to eight candidates to interview by early December. Originally, the goal was to start board interviews in November.Dorse-Coleman says the process is targeting having a new superintendent ready to start by July 1, 2024.The district has been searching for a new superintendent since former superintendent Joris Ray resigned in July 2022.

Althea Greene will remain chair of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board for a second year as the district continues its search for a permanent superintendent, despite criticism of how she handled the initial search.Greene received seven votes from the nine-member board. Board member Frank Johnson, who is recovering from a stroke, was not at Tuesday’s meeting. Newly appointed member Mauricio Calvo voted “present.”

A discussion on the condition of school buildings turned heated at Monday’s Memphis-Shelby County School Board work session.Board member Stephanie Love and Interim Superintendent Tutonial “Toni” Williams spared over the timeline of improvements for a school in Love’s district. Love questioned if Grandview Heights Middle School will be first on the list for repairs and told Williams she’s not convinced anything will be done.“The reason I asked is because I visited Grandview yesterday and it is a hot mess. Teachers are complaining, students are complaining, and the parents are complaining. And I said yesterday, if my daughter was in a school the way Grandview looks, I would take her out. I want to be sure: I don’t work for the board, I work for my community,” said Love. “The school is in so much shape that I wanted to know. I shouldn’t have a parent call me. I acted like I knew. You have got to do better.”

Laquita Perry says she was born and raised in a South Memphis community where public schools struggled to provide a quality education.In an email to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, Perry says it wasn’t until it was too late to make informed career choices that she truly understood the array of career possibilities available to her. She believes the proposed public charter school Empower Memphis might offer something better for students today.

Memphis high school students Steven Brown, Paris Brown, and Natalina Gallardo each had their own goals in mind when attending the annual Memphis Area College Night (MACN) Monday evening.For Freedom Preparatory Academy student Steven Brown, that goal was making a plan for when he graduates high school and pursues a major in communication.“My college guidance counselors at my school, they actually set up a future for us to be here today. It was a open opportunity for me. I signed up for it and now I'm here trying to make sure I have a plan for when I leave high school for my senior year,” said Brown.Most of Brown’s top picks including the University of Tennessee at Martin, University of Memphis, and Lane College were present at MACN.

Supporters of a proposed public charter school run by Pathways in Education (PIE) provided the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission with heartfelt testimonies for why the school model needs to return to Memphis.PIE previously operated a school for at-risk students under the state-run Achievement School District (ASD) from 2014-2022. The school applied earlier this year to return to Shelby County as a new charter school in the Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) district but school board members voted it down in July.Under state law, PIE appealed to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to overturn the district denial and commissioners will consider the comments submitted by the public both online and at a hearing held earlier this month.

The National Head Start Association (NHSA) is recognizing Memphis organization Porter-Leath as one of 13 Programs of Excellence.This designation is a symbol of the organization’s work with Memphis families and early childhood resources. Porter-Leath is among 1,600 grant recipients of the NHSA.

Fairley High School’s fight to remain a public charter school in Memphis is receiving a boost from the more than 200 people who submitted comments in support of the school to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.The school’s future has been uncertain since the Memphis-Shelby County School Board voted down its request in July to transfer into the school district.Fairley High School was once a traditional public school but a decade ago the state moved it to the state school system intervention for low-achieving schools known as the Achievement School District (ASD). Fairley is currently in the last year of a ten-year contract with the ASD and its leadership with Green Dot Public Schools hoped a transition to Memphis-Shelby County Schools would allow the school to continue as public charter school.Under state law, Green Dot had the option of appealing to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to overturn the district denial.  Green Dot did just that and as part of the process, the commission is considering comments submitted by the public online and at a recent hearing.