Interim Superintendent Dr. Roderick Richmond continues to lead Memphis-Shelby County Schools, unveiling a 100-Day Plan and proposing a $1.85B budget focused on literacy, safety, and communication. Richmond has also reaffirmed his commitment to transparency and academic progress across the district.

Speaking before at the Rotary Club of Nashville Monday, O’Connell reaffirmed that his office has done nothing to warrant the investigations now underway in the U.S. House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, though the mayor said both are taxing vital Metro resources.

Six years ago, a young family hoping to move to Williamson County, Tennessee faced a real estate market where the median home sales price was $521 thousand dollars. Today that number has exploded to $1 million.

At Tuesday’s budget meeting, Board Member Zach Young said the district could do a better job attracting hard-to-fill specialty teaching positions if the raise was higher than 3 percent.

Lawmakers passed the legislation last month that requires each school district in the state to create a policy for a student to serve as a nonvoting school board member.

The resolution states that the district’s legal department has provided guidance to principals about how to respond to requests or visits from ICE so that “no immigration enforcement agency is permitted access” to students or confidential student records without a legal right to do so.

The new contract approved Thursday includes a 17 percent raise in the first year and 2.5 percent in each of the following three years.

The board is scheduled to vote on a resolution at its May 27 meeting to protect immigrant students who attend district schools.

Rutherford County Schools has identified 12 buses it can purchase from nearby dealers for roughly $2 million. Board members will consider approving that purchase on Thursday.

The lawsuit claims the software provider failed to implement basic cybersecurity measures that could have prevented the data breach that included information on names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and phone numbers.

Under the original plan, school bus service would have been eliminated for students in grades K-5 who live within a mile of their school and students in grades 6-12 who live within a mile and a half, forcing parents to find other ways to get their students to class.

The move coincides with existing CEO Dwayne Tucker’s decision to continue serving Tennessee State University as interim president and not return to LEAD for the 2025/26 school year.

In a news release sent to the Tennessee Firefly, the district said each leader represents its ongoing commitment to student success, strong instructional leadership, and inclusive school environments that support student growth.

The district now exceeds the state standard for the percentage of students with disabilities spending greater than 80 percent of their day in a general education classroom and grades 3 through 8 outperform their peers statewide in both English language arts (ELA) and math.

County commissioners could use new legislation to align school board races with other county elections, even if that meant shortening some board members’ terms.

If approved by the Metro Council, education will make up more than 37 percent of the total Metro budget.

Board members voted 8 to 1 to reject the Jackson Museum School but left signs they might be willing to approve the school this summer. 

The public charter school operator opened its first school, KIPP Academy, with one fifth-grade class in 2005. Today KIPP Nashville operates nine schools serving 3,417 students and employing a staff of more than 450.

The board rejected applications from Still I Rise Academy, KIPP Memphis Creative and Performing Arts Elementary School, and Dream Catchers Charter School.

Rutherford County Schools Director Dr. Jimmy Sullivan posted a video Wednesday afternoon to let parents know he’s now hopeful the potential school bus driver strike will be limited, if it happens at all.