The Knox County Schools (KCS) Department of School Culture is aiming to make stronger connections with students who access the district’s mental health resources.The department is receiving the Stronger Connections Grant (SCG) to put together structures within district schools that further support mental health and expand on the current mental health services students are receiving.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced the dates for this year’s free fall ACT Senior Retake opportunities.Traditionally, Tennessee high-school students take the ACT test during the spring of their junior year and then have the option of retaking the test in the fall of their senior year during normal school hours for free.

The Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) released a report this month that found two school districts may offer important lessons for how leaders can strengthen efforts to improve literacy and make assistance more accessible to students that need it the most.SCORE says both have adopted an “instructionally coherent” approach to literacy.“Rather than offering students something different in an academic support setting, it adheres to a principle that students who are academically behind should receive additional time and support with the foundational literacy skills, texts, and tasks that align to core instruction,” wrote SCORE.

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.

Tennessee ranked No. 6 nationally with a grade of B in the ALEC Index of State Education Freedom.Grades were scored overall from tabulating funding and financing programs; charter schools; homeschooling; virtual schooling; and open enrollment. The overall score was 71.5 points, which trailed only Florida (95), Arkansas (92), Indiana (86.6), Arizona (84) and Iowa (78)

The Metro Nashville School Board indefinitely deferred a proposed major change to the district’s magnet school policy Tuesday to allow for more discussion on how to make two highly sought after high schools more representative of the district’s diversity.Board member Emily Masters proposed eliminating the priority students who attend one of the four feeder middle school magnets receive for a direct pathway into Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School or Hume-Fogg Academic High School.The change would ensure all qualified students are subject to the same lottery selection process at these two schools.

More than 30 parents in Donelson and Hermitage wrote the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to urge members to overturn a decision by the Metro Nashville Public School Board.Last July board members denied Invictus Nashville Charter School’s application open a Montessori based K-8 public charter for students in the Donelson and Hermitage communities. Invictus supporters appealed to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission whose members have the option of overturning local district denials.

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.

More than 2,200 Tennessee students signed up to take college level Advanced Placement (AP) courses online this fall through the AP Access for ALL (APAA) program.  That’s an increase of more than 77 percent from the number at the beginning of the 2022/2023 school year.

Dozens of parents are lending their support to American Classical Education (ACE)’s appeal to open the first public charter school in Madison County.The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission received 80 written comments from the public related to ACE’s appeal and nearly 50 of them came from parents like Linda Lipford who are offering their support.

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.”

Nashville Collegiate Prep’s (NCP) appeal to open a high school in southeast Davidson County is finding support from those who are still too young to drive. More than a dozen middle and elementary school students submitted handwritten letters to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission in support of the proposed public charter school.“NCP Middle School is already perfect so why not make it ‘perfecter?’” wrote student Aung Du. “Since the school would be bigger, there would be more sports fields. Also, there would be more than just P.E. There would be STEM, art, computer, Robotics, (chorus), etc. I hope you’ll accept to build the high school!”Organizations ReThink Forward Inc. and the Noble Education Initiative would partner to oversee the proposed high school that would serve as an extension of the existing Nashville Collegiate Prep elementary and middle school, but members of the Metro Nashville School Board unanimously voted the application down in July.

American Classical Education’s (ACE) appeal to open the first public charter school in Maury County faced a new criticism at Thursday’s public hearing with the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.Maury County resident Jackie Marshall accused the organization of essentially trying to start a religious school on taxpayer dollars through its connections to Michigan-based Hillsdale college.“Hillsdale College is about theology. Considering Hillsdale’s Middle Tennessee Board, which is made up of conservative evangelicals, it worries me that this charter school will become similar to the religious private schools that Maury County has so many of. Keep religion, politics, and a false curriculum out of Maury County Public Schools,” said Marshall.

The possibility of Tennessee rejecting federal education funding is back on the General Assembly’s agenda.Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, announced a new Joint Working Group on Federal Education Funding Monday that will study whether the state can provide education services without taking federal dollars.

American Classical Education (ACE) will have to overcome opposition from one of Tennessee’s historically black colleges and universities if it’s going to successfully open the first public charter school in Madison County.Lane College ‘s Chief of Staff/Vice President of Institutional Advancement Darlette Samuels was among those speaking against ACE’s appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. 

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.”

The Sumner County Board of Education voted to move $15.5 million out of reserves to fund the first wave of stadium renovations, rebuilds, and facility updates in the district.The need for renovations arose following the collapse of Beech High School’s bleachers last month. A portion of the visitors’ bleachers at Beech High School’s Shackle Island Stadium collapsed overnight following days of heavy wind and rain.

The most controversial issue at Monday’s Williamson County School Board meeting wasn’t even on the agenda.Nearly three dozen parents and students came to the meeting to express their opinions on whether pride flags should be allowed in district classrooms.The issue has gained attention across the country in recent years and the Williamson Herald reported the local Moms for Liberty chapter encouraged parents come to Monday’s meeting and urge the school board to adopt a policy that only allow the state and American flags in public schools.

Six Tennessee schools have been recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools for their academic performance or their work to close achievement gaps between student groups

The Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence (BRSE) has named Nashville’s Alex Green Design Technology Magnet Elementary School a 2023 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, Beacon School.Alex Green received the honor following a review of nine categories that measure school organization and culture, technology integration, and indicators of success among other categories.