School Turnaround Program is working for two Memphis schools

Memphis schools Hawkins Mill Elementary and Trezevant High have been on the state’s priority list since the list’s formation in the 2011-12 school year. This means their students are consistently in the bottom 5% of state tests or have less than 67% graduation rate.

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Memphis-Shelby County Schools cancels Friday events and reschedules School Showcase

Memphis-Shelby County Schools is cancelling events Friday evening and rescheduling Saturday’s School Choice Showcase as a safety precaution for expected protests in the community.Memphis is bracing for demonstrations Friday evening following the city’s planned release of graphic video involving the confrontation between Tyre Nichols and police.

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Despite transportation challenges, Nashville Chamber recommends expanding work-based learning program

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce presented its Education Report Tuesday, citing four specific recommendations for Metro Nashville Public Schools to improve the district’s work-based learning program.The two-year pilot program partners 17 schools with local businesses to provide students with professional career training, an hourly wage, and academic credit.

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MNPS offers families a convenient way to engage in school choice

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) has opened the optional schools application process for the 2023-24 school year.This process provides families and parents with the convenience of being able to select from over 100 open enrollment school options within the district. That includes many public charter schools that are among the highest performing in the district.

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Commitment to diversity and change among the qualities Memphis parents want in next superintendent

Memphis-Shelby County School Board members received a clearer picture of the priorities parents want the next superintendent to have Wednesday night and two of the biggest are a focus on diversity and the ability to create change.The board held the second of three public input sessions this month to give parents and community members a chance to weigh in on the search that began when former Superintendent Joris Ray resigned last August.

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Is the ideal candidate to lead Memphis Schools already on the job? Some say yes despite national search support

The search for a new superintendent to lead Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) is seeing disagreement over whether the ideal candidate is already on the job.At last Thursday’s community input session on the superintendent search, some pushed for the permanent instatement of interim superintendent, Tutonial “Toni” Williams, rather than continue the nationwide search.

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Cheatham County Schools says district fuel cards skimmed by thieves

A new report from the State Comptroller’s Office found nearly $60 thousand in inappropriate fuel card spending by employees of the Cheatham County School District transportation department.Auditors didn’t specify how the cards were misspent or when the alleged spending occurred, but they do believe the misuse occurred because of deficient policies.

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Memphis-Shelby County Schools board poised to select superintendent search firm this month

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board is poised to choose a firm by the end of the month to lead its national search for a new superintendent.MSCS received applications from four search firms ahead of the board’s Dec. 21 deadline, Kenneth Walker, the district’s general counsel and chief legal officer, told board members during committee meetings Tuesday afternoon.

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Nashville State Launches Darrell Freeman Fellowship

Nashville State Community College has partnered with BGSF to create the Darrell Freeman Fellowship, an opportunity for students pursuing careers in Information Technology.Through this partnership students who graduate with an Associate of Applied Science degree in programming, networking, cyber security and data analytics will be provided additional certification training and other resources.

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Nashville, Shelby County to appeal court’s dismissal of Tennessee school voucher case

Plaintiffs behind two lawsuits challenging Tennessee’s private school voucher law plan to appeal a judicial panel’s dismissal of their remaining legal claims.Metropolitan Nashville and Shelby County governments, which jointly challenged the 2019 law that applies only to their counties, notified the Tennessee Court of Appeals late last month that they will appeal the latest ruling. Attorneys representing parents and taxpayers in a second lawsuit submitted a separate notice of appeal.

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Nashville celebrates ten years of the Community Achieves initiative

Metro Nashville Public Schools is celebrating ten years of the Community Achieves initiative and its work to positively impact students.Founded in 2012 with 9 schools, Community Achieves has grown to serve 58 schools and nearly 35,000 students. The initiative is led by the district’s Support Services Department to connect students and families to various opportunities and community resources.

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How MSCS is trying to get pre-K programs — and preschoolers — back on track after COVID

When schools closed abruptly in 2020, derailing education for students across Memphis and the country, Jairia Cathey, a teacher at Evans Elementary, scrambled to provide virtual learning any way she could think of.Plummeting enrollment in MSCS early childhood programs during the pandemic left just a handful of students in her class. When classrooms reopened in the spring, the families of Cathey’s four students decided to keep them learning remotely. And by the time students returned to her classroom after 18 months of distance learning, the few students who came arrived with a severely disrupted preschool experience or having attended no school at all, at risk of falling behind academically, socially, and emotionally.

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