November’s school-board elections will have one more person in the running as Memphis’ newest young-adult organization presents a candidate for the 7th District position.

The organization, New Path, is supporting candidate Tomeka Hart for the school-board seat. The position is currently held by longtime board member the Rev. Hubon Sandridge. Sandridge’s district covers 31 schools, including Westside High, Georgian Hills Junior High, and Manassas High. Five of the city’s 16 schools on the final stage of restructuring to meet No Child Left Behind guidelines fall within District 7.

New Path’s spokesperson, Cradell Orrin, said this race is a good way to get involved in politics.

“The difference between us and other organizations like Mpact Memphis and the Urban League Young Professionals is that those groups are nonprofits or affiliates of nonprofits. Because of that status, they really can’t take a stand on political issues,” said Orrin.

The new group, although not organized as a nonprofit, has not yet settled on a profit status and may become a political action committee. The group, like the two mentioned by Orrin, caters to young adults ages 21 to 24. They are nonpartisan but encourage political participation through accountability studies and supporting and recommending candidates for public office.

“We have a lot of people from various social and racial backgrounds. That gives us a good mix,” said Orrin. “This group is about young people taking responsibility for our community.”

Orrin said Hart is New Path’s first candidate, but the group is already looking at other races and positions to enter candidates or evaluate existing policies within the city and county.

E-mail: jdavis@memphisflyer.com

What once housed frozen veggie burgers, organic produce, and soy cheese will soon be home to age-old lamps and other antique decor. The Midtown Food Co-op, the city’s only health-food cooperative, closed its doors July 25th after three years. An antiques store will take its place at the 2158 Central Avenue location.

The Midtown Food Co-op, which was owned and operated by its members, specialized in natural foods and health products. Members paid $25 per year to shop there and receive membership discounts. At its closing, the store had 500 members.

“We just didn’t have enough money to keep it running because we didn’t have enough support,” said Casey Bryant, former manager of the co-op. “What’s confusing is if 500 members spent $10 a week at the co-op, we would have had way more money than we needed to keep it open. But members just weren’t shopping at the co-op.”

Bryant also blamed some of the co-op’s business practices. She said the store should have done more profit analysis and kept better track of inventory. She also suggested that they could have slightly raised prices and lowered the membership discount. These same suggestions were brought up by a board member two years ago but were quickly rejected by others on the board.

Bryant said the store was $80,000 in debt to various vendors and to the state for sales tax. Funds raised at a July 16th benefit for the co-op were used to pay off some of the debt. The benefit was intended to raise money to keep the store open.

Bryant and a few former members are planning on starting a buyer’s club, which she says is like a co-op without the storefront. Members place orders through catalogs of socially conscious food vendors.

“People like big, clean pretty Wal-Mart-style stores. They think bigger is better,” said Bryant. “People would always tell me they’d get better deals at Square Foods or Wild Oats, when their prices were really about the same as ours.”

E-mail: bphillips@memphisflyer.com

In a “Dear John” letter, Mayor Herenton instructed Memphis police director James Bolden to tender his resignation effective Tuesday morning. Deputy director Ray Schwill was also asked to step down.

Bolden announced his forced retirement Monday afternoon at a press conference outside the office he had occupied for just 17 months. “I know this came as a surprise to everyone. It definitely did to me,” Bolden told a roomful of reporters and staffers.

Deputy chief Larry Godwin will serve as interim director, and Major Earnest Dobbins will replace Schwill. Both Bolden and Schwill, with 32 and almost 30 years of service, respectively, will receive full pension benefits. City Human Resources deputy director Suzanne Ratliff said Bolden will receive about $72,140 annually, while Schwill will receive $63,856.

Bolden called his resignation an “insignificant part of history,” adding that “this too shall pass.” The announcement came a little more than a week after the mayor chastised police officers for allegedly acting in an unprofessional manner during a traffic stop. Following the incident, Bolden issued a statement acknowledging the mayor’s right to question the officers, but added: “From what we have determined, the officers followed all procedures. We have looked very closely at the information brought to our attention, and do not see any procedural violations.” The letter requesting Bolden’s resignation, delivered by the city’s chief administrative officer, Keith McGee, did not give the director a reason for his “retirement.” Bolden would not speculate on whether the mayor’s decision was a result of the traffic incident, which involved two men. Herenton declined to comment before the Flyer went to press, but he was upset that Bolden did not contact him before issuing the statement supporting the officers. During Monday’s press conference, Bolden said he tried to contact the mayor on five separate occasions, even as soon as 90 minutes after the incident occurred.

He also said that the mayor questioned the arrest of one of the two men for possession of cocaine. Bolden said he could not remember when he last spoke with the mayor before the incident. He did say that the last time he talked to Herenton, the mayor told him he thought the department was running smoothly. Bolden’s resignation came when national accreditation officers are in Memphis surveying the department. Bolden was supposed to meet with that delegation Tuesday morning.

Bolden’s and Schwill’s resignations are the latest in a long line of forced resignations and retirements ordered by Herenton during his 12 years in office. Bolden is the fifth police director to serve under the mayor. Herenton fired his first director, Melvin Burgess, after two years on the job, citing “philosophical differences.” In 1997, city attorney Monice Hagler Tate resigned when the mayor blamed her for inadequate city representation in a case against a fired police officer. Another police director, Bill Oldham, was asked to resign in December 1999, just nine months after his appointment. Last year, the mayor did not reappoint Memphis Light, Gas and Water president and CEO Herman Morris, saying that department operated like an “island unto itself” and did not communicate with him.

At one time or another, Herenton has also asked that the Memphis City Schools board, the Shelby County Schools board, and the Memphis City Council surrender their charters.

When asked about the mayor’s resignation requests, Bolden said simply, “God help us … . And I pray for this city.” He added, “I’ve seen directors come in and go. Some of their tenures have been shorter than mine. I tell my wife, my family, and I told the staff, this is a temporary assignment. I’m just passing through.”

The Memphis City Schools turned their attention to student attendance this week after the state announced the schools on the 2004 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) list.

Of the 73 Memphis schools listed by the Tennessee Department of Education as not making adequate progress, roughly 23 percent were included solely because of poor student attendance. Sixteen of the schools were classified as “restructuring 2,” the category where they could conceivably be taken over by the state or restructured.

“Seven of the 16 schools that went into [restructuring 2] went there only because of attendance,” said Superintendent Carol Johnson. “We think we need to try some different strategies.”

To help improve attendance, Johnson presented an amendment to the board’s attendance policy Monday night that would forgo mandatory suspensions in lieu of family interventions at five of the schools. Under the current policy, students who are truant five, 10, and 15 days receive mandatory suspensions.

Under the pilot program, parents of students at Vance Middle, Fairview Jr. High, Georgian Hills Jr. High, Longview Middle, and Winchester Elementary would receive phone calls or home visits after their children have been absent three, five, and eight days. If, after several interventional steps, the absences still continue, the family would eventually be referred to the attorney general’s office. Last year, the district attorney’s office began advertising the fact that parents can be sent to jail for their child’s truancy.

“It never ever made sense to me that we suspend students who are truant,” said board member Sara Lewis after she heard the proposal. Commissioner Deni Hirsh asked that the superintendent encourage the entire staff to use suspensions minimally for absences.

The change comes just four days after the state’s Department of Education released this year’s list of schools that failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal NCLB act. Eight schools on last year’s high-priority list were honored by the state for improving significantly and getting off the list. Last year, 148 of the district schools were listed. This year, that number has dropped to 73. But 37 of those schools missed benchmarks in just one category, and for 17 of those, that category was attendance.

At a press briefing last week, Johnson said that the data “signals to us that this is a shared responsibility. We think parents have to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their share of the work.”

MCS had six schools on this year’s target list, the designation for schools that will be considered high priority next year if they don’t improve. Those included Messick Adult Education Center and Shrine School, which serves severely physically disabled students. Of the other four, three were “targeted” because of, yes, attendance.

Bill White, the system’s executive director of research, evaluation, and assessment, said MCS plans to appeal the listing of Messick and Shrine, but he’s not sure they’ll both be removed.

Like other schools, Shrine is listed for attendance. But district officials say it’s hard to expect those students — simply because of medical reasons — to be able to meet the state’s 93 percent attendance rate.

“If they follow it to the letter of the law, there are no excuses,” said White. “It’s a common-sense appeal, but I just don’t know.”

White points out that every school has made improvements, but if there is one area they didn’t fix, the school stays listed.

“All schools are keenly aware that to get off the list, attendance is a huge factor,” said Johnson. Sometimes parents don’t know their student is absent. We’re going to have to be more aggressive in letting them know.” n

E-mail: cashiola@memphisflyer.com