West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) secured federal funding Monday, establishing it as the the official nonprofit agency offering legal services to families living below the poverty line in Shelby, Tipton, Fayette, and Lauderdale counties.
Memphis Area Legal Services lost the federal funding this year, as officials had concerns about its operation. The money comes from Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a nonprofit created by Congress. That money ($940,301) will now go to the WTLS.
“LSC’s top priority is that low-income families in the Memphis service area receive high-quality assistance for their civil legal problems,” said LSC president Ronald Flagg. “We support WTLS’ expansion of services in the Memphis region and look forward to following their progress in providing effective legal services to those in need.”
The group is headquartered in Jackson. It will prioritize cases on access to healthcare, securing or retaining income, securing or retaining shelter, personal freedom and security of abused persons or institutionalized persons, and issues that affect family safety, cohesiveness, and stability.
“Our team is eager to get work providing these crucial services to individuals and families across this region,” said Ashley Holliday, executive director of WTLS. “As we grow, our focus will remain constant: to ensure that people in need have access to justice and the support they deserve.”
WTLS is actively hiring attorneys and paralegals to handle cases involving housing, domestic violence, public benefits, and consumer issues. The organization will also hire a pro bono staff attorney, who will be tasked with coordinating additional support from the private bar.
“Initially, our case volume will be limited as we grow our staff,” said Holliday. “We will increase capacity as we hire and train new team members for our Memphis office. We’ll be adding a pro bono staff attorney to build relationships with the private bar, and we anticipate seeing a significant increase in our pro bono unit’s case volume by 2025.”
Tennessee lawmakers on the Joint Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Adequacy of the Supervision, Investigation, and Release of Criminal Defendants review prison release and sentencing policies at October 6 hearing (Photo: John Partipilo)
This article was originally published by The Lever, an investigative newsroom.
As states across the country adopt harsh new sentencing laws, private prison companies are celebrating, telling investors that they soon expect more people in their prisons — and even higher profits.
From Mississippi to California, many states have taken a decided “tough on crime” tack over the past two years in a strengthening backlash to criminal justice reform efforts in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. This year, Louisiana passed a package of harsh sentencing laws that will keep some people in prison for years longer. A new parole board in Mississippi is keeping people in prison for longer terms by denying early release. In March, Washington, D.C. enacted a sweeping anti-crime package.
These laws, advocates warn, threaten to reverse years of progress in the fight against mass incarceration. Instead, they would again trap people in prison for lengthy terms, ripping apart communities and exacerbating racial and socioeconomic inequality — while enriching the private firms that manage prisons and their shareholders.
Perhaps no state is more emblematic of the recent sentencing crackdown — and the private interests that stand to benefit — than Tennessee, where one of the world’s largest prison companies is headquartered.
Since 2022, lawmakers in Tennessee have fought to enact a slate of harsh sentencing laws that are expected to increase the state’s spending on incarceration by tens of millions of dollars annually. The key power brokers behind the legislation are also some of the top recipients of private prison company cash, The Lever found.
On May 28, Gov. Bill Lee signed the latest of these proposals into law, a bill that will end the use of so-called “sentence reduction credits,” which allow people incarcerated in Tennessee to serve shorter sentences as a reward for a clean record in prison. The law, which will only apply to future offenses, is projected by the state to result in a “significant increase” in spending on incarceration.
For the people locked up in Tennessee’s prison system, who are disproportionately poor and Black, this will mean, in some cases, they will spend years longer in a prison cell. There’s little evidence that longer sentences deter crime.
But the law does have at least one key beneficiary: Tennessee’s private prison contractor, CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, one of the world’s largest prison companies, which will almost certainly see new profits as a direct result of the legislation. The company, which spends millions of dollars a year lobbying both in states and on a federal level, has begun telling its investors that harsh sentencing laws across the country will soon translate to bigger profits from the 70-plus prisons it runs nationwide.
“There has been a fair amount of activity both this year, and really the last two years, within state legislatures on adjustments to sentencing reform,” Damon Hininger, CoreCivic’s CEO, who has political aspirations in Tennessee, said in an earnings call last month.
Hininger said he expected this development to lead to “pretty significant increases” in prison populations — good news for the prison company, which is often paid by how many inmates are housed in prison at a given time. Already, he said, higher occupancy rates in CoreCivic-managed prisons had led to, in turn, “strong financial results” for investors.
Bianca Tylek, the executive director of Worth Rises, an advocacy organization that focuses on the harms of prison industries, called Hininger’s comments “brazen” and proof that the companies “don’t think people are listening.”
“It’s a real travesty that we’re allowing industry to shape what our carceral system looks like,” she said.
David Raybin, a criminal defense attorney in Nashville, has been fighting for sentencing reform in Tennessee since the 1970s. He has witnessed decades of ebbs and flows in sentencing policies. Yet the crackdown that Tennessee lawmakers have launched over the last two years is like nothing he’s ever seen before.
“Over time, it will have an enormous effect,” he said.
“It just absolutely increased the sentences tremendously,” Raybin said.
The 2022 law was just the beginning of Tennessee’s draconian sentencing crackdown. Last year, lawmakers proposed a “three-strike” bill requiring even harsher sentences for people with prior convictions. The legislation passed a key House committee last year but did not reach the governor’s desk, though it has continued to move forward in the Tennessee Senate this session.
Should the three-strike bill ultimately pass, it will require an entirely new prison to be built in Tennessee to house 1,400 more inmates, costing taxpayers at least $384 million.
In May, ignoring the outcry of criminal justice advocates around the state, Lee signed a bill that will largely end early release from prison, which inmates were able to earn through participation in educational programming and maintaining a clean record in the system.
Now, people in Tennessee’s prisons will only be released early on parole, which in the state is rarely granted. The effect will be to “keep people incarcerated longer,” said Matthew Charles, a Nashville-based policy advisor with Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a nonprofit that advocates for more just sentencing reform.
Lee also signed a new law this spring that will impose adult sentences on teenagers after they have served a juvenile sentence, which criminal justice reform advocates say will have “alarming” repercussions for youth in the state.
It will take several years before the full impact of the laws becomes clear as new cases wend their way through the courts.
“It’s not immediate,” said Dawn Deaner, the executive director of the Nashville organization Choosing Justice Initiative. She estimated that it would take more than five years to start to see the full effect of the new sentencing laws.
“But we’re going to see the prison populations grow,” she said.
The people that have the money
Tennessee is an important state for CoreCivic, as evidenced by the company’s significant lobbying expenditures in the state. The private prison company is headquartered in Nashville, and it has long been one of the state’s biggest political spenders. Since 2009, the company has spent $3.7 million on lobbying and campaign donations in the state, a Lookout analysis found.
In response to a request for comment from The Lever, CoreCivic spokesperson Brian Todd wrote the company “supports candidates and elected officials who understand the limited but important solutions our company can provide,” and noted that it employs 1,200 people at its prisons in Tennessee.
Although a Tennessee law from the 1980s mandates that the state have only one privately run prison, CoreCivic has carved out a loophole after years of attempts to rewrite the law entirely. The company now runs four of the state’s fourteen prisons by routing contracts through counties rather than the state. Together, the value of those four contracts exceeds$200 million.
Lobbying records from last year indicate that CoreCivic has a small army of eight lobbyists working on its behalf in Tennessee’s state house. According to state campaign spending data aggregated by FollowTheMoney.org, Lee, Tennessee’s current governor, has received the most money from the private prison company of any politician in the nation: $65,400 over the last two election cycles, including donations from company executives, making the company one of his largest donors.
This year, Hininger, CoreCivic’s CEO, who is said to be considering a run for Tennessee governor in 2026, chaired a fundraiser dinner for the state Republican Party and personally gave each attendee a souvenir glass emblazoned with the state’s Republican Party logo. Hininger himself has donated more than $100,000 to politicians in Tennessee over the years.
Meanwhile, lawmakers who have pushed the slate of harsh sentencing laws in Tennessee have been rewarded.
House Republican Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland), a former county prosecutor, has spearheaded the sentencing bills in the state, championing the sweeping 2022 law and sponsoring the more recent bill that did away with early release.
“He’s been very active in trying to pass harsher sentencing laws,” said Deaner of the Choosing Justice Initiative.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, center, with House Majority Leader William Lamberth at left and Republican Caucus Leader Jeremy Faison. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Lamberth is also one of CoreCivic’s biggest beneficiaries in Tennessee, receiving $8,500 from the company. So, too, are other Republican champions of the sentencing bills, including Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), who has received $7,500 from CoreCivic, House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) ($10,000), and Rep. Jerome Moon (R-Maryville). ($3,000).
The money is “absolutely” having an impact on policy, Deaner said.
“Who are the people that have the money in Tennessee?” she said. “Particularly in rural places, there’s not a lot of wealthy donors.”
In the absence of other campaign funding sources, this state of affairs has allowed CoreCivic to wield an especially significant influence with state lawmakers, she said.
Driven by greed
CoreCivic regularly claims it does not lobby on sentencing-related bills — in Tennessee or elsewhere — and did so again in response to questions from The Lever.
“CoreCivic does not lobby or take positions on any policies, regulations or legislation that impact the basis for or duration of an individual’s incarceration,” said Todd, the company spokesperson.
But it’s clear from executives’ statements to investors that they are, at the very least, monitoring these laws closely.
“Going forward, the next three years to five years, a lot of states are looking at pretty significant increases [to prison populations] because, again, of changes, maybe, in sentencing reform,” Hininger said in the May call.
For the first time in a decade, prison populations across the country are rising after a dramatic drop in 2020 during the pandemic, when court backlogs and early releases due to COVID-19 lowered the number of people in prisons. The majority of states have reported an increase in the number of people incarcerated in their prisons over the last two years, according to a study published by the U.S. Department of Justice last November. According to the report, there were currently more than 1.2 million people behind bars — raising the country’s already sky-high incarceration rate.
A significant part of this incarceration surge is the return of normal court systems as judges worked through case backlogs that had persisted through the pandemic. But tough sentencing laws, criminal justice reforms say, also appear to be playing a role. Prison executives agree.
“In conclusion,” Hininger said in May. “The macro environment in which we operate continues to improve.”
The agency found Tennessee is seeing one of the country’s sharpest increases in its prison population — a reported 8 percent surge between 2021 and 2022. Colorado, Montana, and Mississippi all reported incarceration rates growing at 8 percent or above, and another 42 states reported some growth in their prison populations.
Many of CoreCivic’s prison contracts, including in Tennessee, are paid on a “per inmate, per day” basis, meaning that these fluctuations in prison populations directly impact the company’s bottom line. Many of the company’s facilities, its financial statements show, are not at full occupancy levels — and laws that could change this would put money directly into the pockets of prison companies.
CoreCivic’s “unholy alliance,” in the words of one state Democratic lawmaker, with the state of Tennessee illustrates just how greatly private interests are profiting from rollbacks to criminal justice reforms — whether that’s prison companies raking in cash from harsh sentencing laws or the bail industry’s success in Georgia, which reimposed cash bail requirements after experimenting with bail reform, a move that will benefit bail bond agents and insurers.
“This moment is revealing exactly what we’ve known about the carceral system,” Tylek of Worth Rises said. “The expansive use of incarceration as a solution to social failures is driven by greed.”
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.For more information on The Lever, go here.
Construction on the new Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Downtown can continue “full steam ahead” after a court ruling Friday.
Shelby County Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson denied a request from Friends of Our Riverfront (FOR) to stop the build. The group has long contended that land at the top of the bluff, where the new museum is being built, is public.
“Neither the city nor Brooks owns this property,” the group has said. “Memphians have an easement to use the property as a public promenade and the city is the trustee. This means that the city can use this land only for the specific purpose of a riverfront greenway.”
With this, the group sued the city and the Brooks in September to halt construction. The court ordered the group to post a bond of $1 million to offset damages to the project should it be temporarily halted. FOR urged the court to waive the bond. The Brooks and city officials asked the bond to be set at $5 million.
The group never posted the bond. So, the judge dismissed its request to stop construction.
“This victory paves the way for us to bring Memphis one of the greatest cultural institutions in the country,” Brooks Chief development Officer Melissa Whitby said in an email to museum members. “This achievement would not have been possible without the unwavering support of our community, patrons, and partners. We are deeply grateful for your trust and commitment throughout this journey.”
Credit: Memphis Art Museum
FOR made no immediate public comment on the decision. In a Facebook post Thursday, the group said, “hard to believe a huge Soviet-style building that blocks the riverfront is actually good for anybody, Brooks included.”
The group has long fought projects along the bluff. It wants to conserve the riverfront from Big River Crossing to the Wolf River Greenway “as green space for public enjoyment, preserving its historic, natural, and authentic character.”
Credit: Friends for Our Riverfront
The Brooks broke ground last year on the new museum at the corner of Front and Union, the site of the former Memphis Fire Services Division headquarters. The museum will have a new name, the Memphis Art Museum, and is slated to open next year.
In her email, Whitby said the facility is expected to attract 150,000 new visitors to Memphis, generate about $100 million in economic impact, and “provide transformative experiences to more than 30,000 school-age children annually.”
“For years, our goal has been to establish for the people of Memphis one of the greatest cultural institutions in the country,” said Carl Person, chair of the museum board. “Today, thanks to the unwavering dedication of many, many supporters, we are closer than ever to making that dream a reality. This portion of our riverfront will soon be home not only to a world-class art museum, but acres of new, open, art-filled, and accessible public space for everyone to enjoy.”
Dance the night away at OUTMemphis’ Queer Prom. (Photo: OUTMemphis)
Goner 20th Birthday Cruise Memphis Riverboats Friday, June 28, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Going, going, gone down the river for Goner Records special 20th birthday party cruise. Goner DJs will get the party started, and New Orleans’ Quintron and Miss Pussycat will perform live on the boat. Drinks and Wiseacre beers will be available on board. Your ticket also includes a Memphis-style barbecue dinner. Tickets ($60) must be purchased in advance here. Boarding begins at 5:30 p.m., with the boat departing at 6:30 p.m. Afterwards, head to B-Side for the Post-Quintron Cruise show with New Orleans’ DJ Matty and Jack Oblivian & The Sheiks. Cover is $10.
Mid-Summer Jam at The Ravine Memphis Made at The Ravine Saturday, June 29, 5:30 p.m. It’s not really a jelly, but it sure is a jam — the Mid-Summer Jam that’s coming to the Ravine in the Edge District, featuring After the Rain, the Contradictions, and Macrophonics, all to support Clean Memphis. These bands are hard-rocking homages to grunge and alt-punk from the ’90s featuring local young musicians from the emerging Memphis rock music scene. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and music starts around 6 p.m. Good Groceries Mobile Diner will be parked in the Ravine and Memphis Made will handle the beer. It’s a $10 cover benefitting Clean Memphis
Queer Prom: A Night Out with OUTMemphis Crosstown Arts at The Concourse Saturday, June 29, 6-11 p.m. Celebrate queer resilience and Pride by joining OUTMemphis for an evening of drinks and dancing. Queer Prom is for anyone 18+ that considers themselves a part of or an ally to the LGBTQ community, however you define it. Bring your joy, your looks, and your dance moves to benefit the nonprofit’s life-saving services for LGBTQ youth and adults. Tickets are $35 in advance and $50 at the door. Purchase here. But the celebration doesn’t stop when Queer Prom ends — the official Queer Prom Afterparty will take place at Black Lodge, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Cover charge is $10 (Queer Prom wristband holders get $5 off!).
The 24 Hour Plays: Memphis TheatreWorks at the Evergreen Saturday, June 29, 7-9 p.m. We all have the same 24 hours in a day to work with — which is a trite and completely not at all nuanced take on life — and for some of us, those 24 hours are just enough time to create and perform a full-on play. That’s right: This Saturday, you can watch as 24 actors perform in six different plays, which they, along with six directors and six writers, only had 24 hours to write, direct, and rehearse. This is a one-night-only event, and tickets are only $15. Musician and composer Eileen Kuo will perform for the crowd before the show and between the plays. Arrive early and buy a beer, wine, or soda at the bar, and there’ll be fresh popcorn and cotton candy available just for you.
Glam Rock Picnic: Fundraiser, Art Market, & Interactive Sculpture Party Off The Walls Arts Sunday, June 30, noon-5 p.m. Few things are more noteworthy than seeing a photo of your coworker in the crotch of a 10-foot, papier-mache sculpture of David Bowie in progress. That coworker is, of course, Michael Donahue, one of our writers here at the Flyer. In fact, Mike McCarthy, creator of the sculpture, has covered Bowie in Flyers. We’re honored to say the least, but this sculpture is not in honor of us, but rather of David Bowie’s visit to Memphis in 1973. This Sunday, McCarthy invites the public to start the process of covering Ziggy in clay at what he’s calling the Glam Rock Picnic. The day will also have DJ Kitschy Kat spinning entire Bowie albums, a Bowie bar, Eat at Eric’s food truck, face painting by Kasey Dees, and vendors curated by Jana Wilson of Vintagia. Entry free is $10, and kids get in free. Read more about the project here.
Wednesday Wellness Art Museum University of Memphis Wednesday, July 3, 5:15-6:15 p.m. Inspired by its current exhibition “Becoming More Myself: Reclamation Through Tattoo Art,” The Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM) has been hosting free yoga classes as part of its first Wednesday Wellness series. Sign up for the last one-hour yoga class taught by local instructor Tedra Smothers here. Space is limited with a max of 25 participants per session and registration is required to participate. Bring your own yoga mat, closed bottle of water, and any props that you might like to use during the yoga class (i.e. straps, blocks, etc.) For questions, contact Adriana Dunn at ardunn@memphis.edu. Also read about the exhibit here.
Fourth of July Hear ye, hear ye, it’s Independence Day. Here are some of the events happening around town for the holiday:
Memphis’ Largest Fireworks Festival: Take in an Independence Day festival and the official City fireworks show in Liberty Park. This event is free with free parking and will have a DJ and live music, kids’ inflatables, face painting, carnival games, family-friendly movie showing, local food trucks, and biggest fireworks show in town starting at dusk. Liberty Park Memphis, Wednesday, July 3, 5-9 p.m.
Red, White & Boom Celebration: What’s more American than baseball, barbecue, and fireworks? Join the Memphis Redbirds for patriotic bucket hat giveaways for the first 1,500 fans, free inflatables and face-painters, and fireworks. The Redbirds are playing the Nashville Sounds. AutoZone Park, Wednesday, July 3, 6:05 p.m.
All-American Weekend: Join Graceland to celebrate America’s independence and 70 years of rock-and-roll with music, food, fun and fireworks. Graceland, Thursday-Saturday, July 4-6
Cooper-Young 4th of July Parade: Join the Cooper-Young Community Association for a very chill 4th of July block party and mini parade around the block. Bring your kiddos, their little wheels, and enjoy frozen treats, music, face-painting, and a special appearance by the Memphis Fire Department. Peabody Elementary, Thursday, July 4, 10 a.m.
There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.
The number of hate and anti-government groups operating in the Memphis area last year held at four, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), amid a record wave of white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ groups.
Each year, the Montgomery, Alabama-based SPLC issues its Year In Hate and Extremism report, which details hate groups and anti-government extremist groups operating across the U.S. This year’s report found a total of 1,430 active groups (in both categories combined) operated in the U.S. last year, up from the 1,225 groups active in 2022.
The number of active groups in the county marked a record in SPLC’s data tracking. The previous record surge in groups was in 2018 when the number totaled 1,020. After that surge, the number of hate groups fell for four years year in a row up to 2022. Last year’s rise broke the streak and the record.
The new report documents 595 hate groups and 835 antigovernment extremist groups, including a growing wave of white nationalism increasingly motivated by theocratic beliefs and conspiracy theories. These groups intensified their efforts over the past year to recruit new members, increase their online presence and in-person demonstrations, exploit international and domestic conflicts, lobby the government and, in some cases, directly participate in elections, especially at the local level.
The report says communities of color, immigrant communities, minority faith communities, and LGBTQ+ communities are all targeted by and experience the negative effects of “hate-filled rhetoric and antigovernment conspiracies through actions such as banning books, protesting drag story hours, and using school boards as political battlegrounds.”
Credit: Southern Poverty Law Center
In Tennessee, 37 hate groups operated here last year, according to the report. They include “racist skinheads,” white nationalists, militia movements, neo-Volkish groups, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, anti-Muslim groups, a hate-filled gift shop, and more.
“With a historic election just months away, this year, more than any other, we must act to preserve our democracy,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the SPLC. “That will require us to directly address the danger of hate and extremism from our schools to our statehouses.
“Our report exposes these far-right extremists and serves as a tool for advocates and communities working to counter disinformation, false conspiracies and threats to voters and election workers. Together, we can dismantle white supremacy and ensure all communities see themselves represented in our democracy.”
In Memphis, four groups made the SPLC’s annual report. Moms for Liberty and Proud Boys remain active here, it says.
The local Moms for Liberty group says it is “dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Jennifer Martin is listed as the county chapter chair on the national group’s website.
The West Tennessee Proud Boys website shows a photo of the group marching on Beale Street and tells its members to “walk your streets with your head held high.” An obviously fake Memphis address is listed as “Freedom Street, Memphis, TN 38503.” The ZIP Code is for Cookeville, Tennessee.
In its website’s “Beliefs” section, the local Proud Boys say they are “are proud Western Chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” They say they want small government, freedom of speech, closed borders, the right to bear arms, to “venerate the housewife,” and more.
On racism, the Proud Boys site says it “may be alive, but it is not well” as “progress has been made in overcoming racial prejudice.” With that, they don’t want “anti-racial guilt.” … “Let no man be burdened with shame for the deeds of his ancestors,” reads the site. “Let no people be held accountable for things they never did.”
The site also offers a portal to join the group. Another button, for complaints, takes a visitor to a YouTube video featuring a tune called “The You Are A Cunt Song.”
Two Bartlett radio stations also made the SPLC’s list this year, as they have for years. The “about” section of Blood River Radio says “genocide is being pursued against white gentile people of the world.” The Political Cesspool hosts have said “we represent a philosophy that is pro-white and are against political centralization.”
Read more about those stations in a previous story here. Read an in-depth look at them, their hosts, and their guests from the SPLC blog here. Read about the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s latest hate crime report here.
Tennessee schools are increasingly punishing and excluding special education students with behavioral issues instead of providing them with evidence-based interventions to support their academic and behavioral growth, a new report says.
And it’s not the fault of teachers, school staff, or the students themselves, the author says.
In its report, released Friday, the Tennessee Disability Coalition blamed state policymakers for setting priorities and adopting policies that are ineffective at best, and likely harming thousands of the state’s most vulnerable students.
As a result, the coalition says, educators are using “ineffective, dangerous, counter-productive, and rights-violating practices” in the classroom.
The criticisms come after Tennessee enacted a string of increasingly stringent laws aimed at tightening discipline in the classroom — from the 2021 Teacher’s Discipline Act empowering teachers to remove chronically unruly students to a 2024 law requiring a one-year suspension for students who assault teachers at school.
Such policies, the report says, disproportionately affect students with disabilities, particularly those with behavioral issues, thereby restricting their educational opportunities.
“These policies not only sweep students with behavior needs into more restrictive settings, alternative school placements, and the juvenile justice system, they cast a net over other marginalized communities, including students of color and students in poverty,” the report says.
Jeff Strand, the coalition’s public policy director, said recent Tennessee laws also show a lack of understanding about special-needs students with behavioral challenges, leading to policies that are poorly suited to address the root causes of disciplinary issues.
“Good teachers know behavior issues are a child’s cry for help,” said Strand, a former special educator who authored the report. “What we’re doing in Tennessee is only making the problem worse.”
Specifically, the report calls out a shortage and high turnover of special education teachers; systemic gaps in training and support for special and general education teachers and administrators on the needs of students with behavior issues; a trend toward punitive and exclusionary practices; and a lack of student access to effective school-based supports and therapies, including enough school psychologists, counselors, speech-language pathologists, and board-certified behavior analysts.
Families: teachers are under-trained and overwhelmed
Chris and Angela Powell’s family has experienced gaps in school services firsthand as parents of a child with autism and ADHD.
They describe their son Charlie as intelligent, caring, and kind. But his behaviors — whether shouting out answers, failing to complete worksheets, or fighting — often resulted in lost recess, hours in the principal’s office, or even being physically restrained or placed in a padded room during his first few years of elementary school in Williamson County, south of Nashville.
“These are invisible disabilities, and his behavior was his form of communicating. But he was being excluded and punished based on his disability,” said Angela Powell, now a special-needs advocate. “His general education teachers didn’t seem to understand how to work with children who have needs like ADHD or autism.”
The Powells say Williamson County’s two school districts lacked qualified therapists and other specialized support staff, leaving teachers with few tools to tackle classroom misbehavior. Charlie eventually was placed on homebound instruction, receiving his lessons in a home setting and missing out on the opportunity to attend school with his non-disabled peers. Now 12, he is being homeschooled.
“If the richest district in Tennessee can’t help my son learn,” said Chris Powell, “I shudder to think what families deal with in the other 94 counties.”
Meanwhile, the report identified only three of the state’s 10 largest teacher training programs — at the University of Memphis, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga — as offering more than two courses on teaching students with disabilities.
Also, while the state recently switched to a new K-12 education funding formula to provide more resources for students with higher needs, such as students with disabilities, the change did not require that districts designate such extra funds for special education services.
And while the state promised to inject an extra $1 billion annually in the K-12 funding pool, Tennessee remains in the bottom fifth of states in per-pupil funding.
Exclusion policies gave way to inclusion movement
Tennessee was once one of the many states that had laws formally excluding children with disabilities from public schools, on the premise that those kids would not benefit from a public school education. Before the passage of a 1975 federal law establishing the right to a public education for kids with disabilities, only 1 in 5 of those children were educated in public schools.
The expanded Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 marked the advent of the inclusion movement and the belief that children with disabilities, with some individualized support, can thrive in educational settings with their non-disabled peers.
But despite clear research on the benefits of inclusion for students with disabilities, surveys show general education teachers feel ill-prepared to work with them and struggle especially with special needs students with behavioral issues.
In Tennessee, about a tenth of the state’s public school students use an individualized education plan, or IEP, intended to ensure that the student receives specialized instruction and related services for their disability.
But according to data from the state education department, those same students receive a disproportionate share of formal disciplinary actions that include in-school and out-of-school suspension, expulsion, and transfer to alternative settings. In 2021-22, the most recent school year for which data are available, 12.5% of students with disabilities were removed from their classrooms, even though federal law limits excessive exclusionary discipline.
In addition, informal exclusionary disciplinary practices — which are difficult to quantify — are almost exclusively directed toward students with disabilities, the coalition says. They can include directing parents or guardians to take the student home for the day, inappropriate homebound placement, excessive use of threat assessments, inappropriate use of in-school suspension, and exclusion from school transportation.
Pending review of the report, a spokesperson for the state education department declined to comment on its assertions.
The leader of Professional Educators of Tennessee, which lobbied for the Teacher’s Discipline Act, acknowledged the challenges and nuances of disciplining students, especially those with special needs.
“We have seen since the pandemic an increase in mental health issues. That is why we at Professional Educators of Tennessee have worked hard to get additional funding for mental health in Tennessee,” said executive director JC Bowman.
He added that he’s open to new ideas that “ensure classrooms are safe and orderly, and every child has an opportunity to learn.”
The state comptroller is looking into the “informal removal” issue, also called “off-book suspensions.” Its Office of Research and Education Accountability has commissioned a report, which is expected to be released later this year, to better understand the use of informal removal, which often violates the rights of students with an IEP.
Strand says both pathways — formal and informal — can allow schools to avoid developing effective plans to correct bad behavior so they can stay in class and learn.
He recommends that Tennessee parents learn as much as they can about the rights of children with disabilities, including those with behavioral issues.
The coalition is hosting a free webinar at 5:30 p.m. Central time on Tuesday, June 25, on Facebook.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Donald Trump can appear on Tennessee election ballots in November after the Tennessee Attorney General refused to issue an opinion on the matter last week.
Rep. Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville) requested the opinion from Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican, earlier this month. Dixie pointed to a Tennessee law that says anyone convicted of an “infamous crime” is “disqualified from qualifying for, seeking election to or holding a public office in this state.”
Dixie said the law is meant “to protect the public from individuals who refuse to adhere to the laws they are meant to uphold.” He then pointed to Trump’s convictions on 34 felony counts of election interference last week.
Skrmetti’s office said it could only render opinions to officials “in the discharge of their official duties.” The letter added emphasis to the words “in the discharge of their official duties” but did not offer further details.
“Your letter also rests on an incorrect premise that (the state law’s) reference to ‘a public office in this state’ somehow includes the U.S. President,” reads the letter from Tennessee solicitor General Matt Rice. “The U.S. Presidency is not a public office in Tennessee. And any State effort to add new qualifications for the U.S. President would raise serious constitutional questions.”
Dixie said he was “disappointed” but “not surprised” by the response from the AG’s office.
“This just highlights the broken criminal justice system in this country,” Dixie said in a statement. “There is no rational explanation for a way that a person can possibly be elected [President of the United States] by this state, and if that same person lived in Tennessee, they wouldn’t even be able to cast a ballot and vote. How does that make sense?”
Dixie’s request came after Trump was convicted in New York last month on 34 felony counts. Trump was convicted of all counts as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star who alleged she had sex with him.
Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office told Tennessee Lookout earlier this month that Trump will be on Tennessee’s election ballot.
About 200 people braved flash-flood warnings and a downpour to attend a Memphis-Shelby County school board candidate forum at Idlewild Presbyterian Church on Monday, June 17, 2024. (Caroline Bauman / Chalkbeat)
Improving literacy rates, preparing students to compete globally, and combating teacher shortages are among the top challenges facing Memphis-Shelby County schools, candidates for the school board said at a forum Monday night.
About 200 people braved flash-flood warnings and a downpour to attend the forum at Idlewild Presbyterian Church. It was organized by Chalkbeat Tennessee and the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope, and co-sponsored by the Memphis Education Fund and the Urban Child Institute.
Five of the board’s nine seats are up for election on Aug. 1. Four of the candidates — board Chair Althea Greene, Stephanie Love, Frank Johnson, and Mauricio Calvo — are incumbents.
They and 15 other candidates took questions from Chalkbeat and the audience on how they would guide Tennessee’s largest school district if elected.
Besides prioritizing boosting student literacy — nearly 80 percent of MSCS students aren’t proficient in reading, based on standardized test scores — some of the candidates said they would also focus on curbing teacher shortages and approach the city of Memphis about helping to fund the school system.
An audience question about what the candidates would do to listen to teachers’ concerns without their fearing retaliation sparked a number of responses. Most said that they would do that by fortifying relationships with the teachers’ unions.
Natalie McKinney, who is vying for the District 2 seat currently held by Greene, said that teachers must trust the process, but they “don’t have a process in place that they believe they can trust.”
The current board sparred with Feagins last week over proposed staffing cuts that were communicated ahead of a budget deadline.
To see what the candidates said at the forum, watch the full video recording. And to learn more about the candidates, check out Chalkbeat’s school board candidate voter guide.
Bureau Chief Tonyaa Weathersbee oversees Chalkbeat Tennessee’s education coverage. Reach her at tweathersbee@chalkbeat.org.Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Tennessee’s first brick-and-mortar cannabis bar is slated to land in Memphis soon.
The former Bounty on Broad space will soon become a Buds & Brews location. No timeline for the opening was given in a news release.
Nashville-based Buds & Brews opened its first restaurant and bar in that city’s Germantown neighborhood in 2022. It will open a second location in East Nashville later this month.
The restaurant allows patrons to “enjoy cannabis in a safe, legal and fun environment,” the company said in a statement. It offers a unique menu of upscale bar fare like the Buds Burger, hot chicken tacos and a Wake and Bake Brunch.
Credit: Buds & Brews
“We are excited to bring the Buds & Brews experience to Memphis,” said Michael Solomon, owner and president of Craft Cannabis, the restaurant’s parent company. “This dynamic arts community is the perfect location for a new and innovative restaurant and bar concept.
“We are proud to collaborate with some of the best in the food and beverage industry in order to bring Tennesseans a truly unique culinary adventure.”
Craft Cannabis is an umbrella group for three brands. Craft Cannabis offers seed-to-shelf cannabis flower grown in Nashville. That brand also offers an array of edibles like cannabis cookies, gummies, and suckers. Tri-Star Medical offers cannabis tinctures, capsules, and topicals. Sticky Tomato has a full line of gummies.
At Buds & Brews, diners can choose their favorite condiment sauces infused with Tennessee-grown-and-extracted hemp-derived THC. The restaurant will also have a craft cocktail menu, cannabis-infused cocktails like the Smoky Margarita and Spliff Sangria, beers on tap, their own brand of THC-infused beers and New Highs seltzers, and dessert edibles.
Bar Leafy Green was slated to become Memphis’ first cannabis restaurant. Owners announced the plan on social media in 2022. It is unclear, however, whether the restaurant ever opened.
Memphis Reddit users tried to figure out exactly why Kroger seems to only use half of its self-checkout machines, leaving long lines snaking down the aisles. The company wants to pay fewer employees, one said. The move deters shoplifting, said another. Cash-using customers will use a card-only machine and create a headache, one suggested. Many agreed, though, that they hate self-checkout.
Big Boogie
Posted to YouTube by No Jumper
Former Memphis rapper Big Boogie gave an expansive interview on the No Jumper podcast. He talked about why he doesn’t beef or pose with his car, why he left Memphis, and his philosophy on hard work.
“Life ain’t whopping my ass,” he said. “I’m whopping life’s ass.”
