Tag: Shelby County Schools

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Shelby County Schools, Mental Health, and Funding

CREDIT: SCS

SCS

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced last month a proposal to create a trust fund for mental health support for K-12 students.

Upon approval of the governor’s proposed budget, $250 million in state money would be put into the fund initially, and over time, the governor anticipates the fund growing as a result of private donations.

Lee said the funds would “support the growth and placement of mental health support services in our most at-risk schools.”

One in five children has a mental health diagnosis in a given year, the governor said at the time, and more than 60 percent of children who receive mental health support do so in school.

Additionally, the youth suicide rate is the second-leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24 in the state. 

“Scores of teachers and principals, as well as our education commissioner, have pleaded for reinforcements from the state to help schools tackle mental health and other challenges that students bring with them into the classroom,” Lee said.

More Support

Shawn Page, chief of academic operations and school support for Shelby County School, applauds the governor’s proposal of a mental health trust fund. He said “our district has quite a bit of need around that area. We could always benefit from more resources.”

“Many of our children experience what’s called adverse childhood experiences,” Page said. “The things we hear every day on the news, from murder to other things, are what our children experience in the community and the issues our students bring to school with them. Every night we see some of the trauma that our students experience.”

With more funding for mental health and behavior services, Page said SCS would be able to invest in more personnel to support students.

“What we hear mostly from our schools is that they would like more support in the form of people,” Page said. “Teachers have a very difficult job. They’re on the front lines every day and the first contact for these students. They need extra support.”

Page also said there is a need for additional specialized staff to help students in crisis.

“When you have adequate staffing, there’s more of a probability that there’s going to be somebody who’s able to make individual connections to students,” Page said. “The thing that changes behavior and supports children is not creating another system, it’s touch and human connection.”

Currently, Page said SCS has three layers of support in place in all schools to address students’ mental health, behavior, and emotional needs.

The “first lines of defense” are the guidance counselors, Page said. Each school has at least one full-time certified guidance counselor, while some schools, depending on need and size, have more. They provide students with individual counseling, group counseling, and social emotional learning (SEL) support.

SEL helps students to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

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If the district were to get more funding, Page said SCS would also look to purchase an SEL curriculum that all schools could use. The curriculum would serve as a resource for schools to guide how to address particular issues, such as bullying or drug use.

“The big buzzword right now across the nation in educational circles is social emotional learning” Page said. “For years, the big focus has been on academics, scores, and state testing. In the past few years, there’s been more conversations around mental health, emotional learning, and behavioral support. Children can’t learn unless they are supported and healthy. Things are shifting to look at the whole child, rather than academics, academics, academics.”

The next level of support available to students in every school are social workers, who Page said provide a “deeper level of mental support” for students. For example, social workers would work with students with suicidal ideation or who have experienced extreme trauma.

Finally, each school has a behavioral specialist who focuses on the behavior of students by helping them resolve conflict and de-escalating situations.

Because many SCS students have been exposed to some form of adverse experience Angela Hargrave, SCS’ executive director of student equity, enrollment, and discipline, said it’s important for teachers to understand the effects of those experiences and how to respond. Hargrave said SCS began providing Adverse Childhood Experience (ACES) awareness training for all staff this school year.

The training versed staff in how ACES impacts brain development and children’s behavior as a result. The training also teaches staff how to respond to students who’ve had adverse experiences and how to create a learning environment that mitigates the negative impact of those experiences.

“While we have mental health centers and support, we also wanted to equip the teachers in the classrooms with as much information and tools as we could,” Hargrave said.

“When you turn on the news and you see all of the crime happening, these are our children and our families. And that’s not necessarily the case in other districts, but it is here. So if you see an incident that happened in the community where children are involved, those children don’t forget about that and come to school and everything is okay. They bring that with them. We definitely recognize that and have to understand that.”

Effects of Trauma

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Awareness Foundation released a report in 2015 citing that 52 percent of adults in Shelby County report having experienced at least one ACE in their life.

An ACE can include anything from witnessing or experiencing abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, to alcoholism in the family.

ACES Awareness Foundation

Based on a survey of 1,500 Shelby County residents, the report concluded that the most common adverse childhood experiences in the county are substance abuse, emotional abuse, and violence between adults in the home.

A little over a quarter of respondents said they witnessed someone being shot or stabbed in their community while growing up, while one in five said they did not feel safe in their neighborhood growing up.

Child psychologist and University of Memphis professor Kathryn Howell said exposure to trauma, such as witnessing or being a victim of violence at home or in the community, can cause developmental problems in children. These problems could cause trouble with basic functions such as decision making or paying attention.

Howell said trauma can also affect hormones that influence behavior and responses to everyday life situations.

In addition to the physical consequences of trauma, Howell said trauma can also influence the way children relate to others and view the world.

“We see in research that kids, who are exposed to trauma, when they’re presented with a neutral stimulus, they’re more likely to view it as threatening or harmful,” Howell said. “Trauma affects the world and how they view and interact with the people around them.”

Howell said trauma can also lead to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD.

“Many of these diagnoses are rooted in trauma,” she said. “There are just different ways that children react. They show sadness or aggression which oftentimes ties back to some type of adversity that they’ve experienced.”

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Howell said instability, such as limited access to food, can also affect a child’s mental well-being. For example, a child living in a food desert might have “uncertainty about their basic safety.”

“What we know about any mammal, not even just humans, is if their basic needs aren’t being met, then they won’t be able to function and thrive,” Howell said. “So if you’re hungry and you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from, then your ability to do well in the classroom is significantly hindered. It’s not that kids aren’t wanting to learn or lazy or difficult, but they aren’t being cared for enough.”

Howell heads the U of M’s REACH (Resilience Emerging Amidst Childhood Hardships) lab. The lab examines ways in which intervention can “alter the grim trajectory” a child might be on after experiencing a trauma.

“Kids aren’t able to fix these problems by themselves, so there has to be intervention by adults in the community and at schools,” Howell said. “It’s important that we acknowledge that this is a significant problem and it’s something that’s going to require all of our efforts to address.”


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News News Blog

Former SCS Student Petitions for Inclusivity in Schools’ Cosmetology Program

A former Shelby County Schools (SCS) student started a petition last month asking that ethnic hair be a part of the elective cosmetology courses offered at SCS high schools.

Jazmyne Wright, a freshman at the University of Memphis studying political science and African-American studies, started the petitionmem on Change.org to address the lack of inclusion of lessons on natural, African-American hair in the courses.

“I think ethnic hair should be just as much a default in cosmetology as any other hair texture or origin,” the petition reads in part. “Black students should be able to learn about their community’s hair and even how to take care of their own hair. The cosmetology course of Shelby County Schools is not diverse or inclusive of ethnic hair.”

When Wright was a junior at Germantown High School, she said she took the cosmetology course for a half of a semester before dropping the class after realizing the course would not include instruction on ethnic hair.

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“The fees for the class were $170,” Wright said. “It came with two mannequin heads. I was under the impression that one would be European and the other African American. They were both European.”

Her concern is that in the SCS cosmetology courses consider European hair as “the default. The problem is this perpetuates the normalization of only one type of hair.”

A SCS spokesperson said that the curriculum for the four-course cosmetology program currently offered in 14 of its high schools is created by the Tennessee State Board of Education as a part of its College, Career, and Technical Education (CCTE) program. The spokesperson added that SCS only offers CCTE programs approved by the state.

“Cosmetology is designed to prepare students for careers in cosmetology by developing an understanding of efficient and safe work practices, salon business concepts and operations, hair techniques and chemical services, facial and skin care procedures and state board theoretical practical application,” reads the state’s description of the program.

Wright

Wright said this issue is important to her because growing up in a military family, she moved around a lot and attended many predominantly white schools where he felt like her hair wasn’t acceptable in its natural form.

She learned then about the stereotypes associated with natural African-American hair, such as it is “untamable,” “nappy,” and “unprofessional.” Wright says the stereotypes are “disgusting and extremely offensive.”

Natural hair “isn’t bad hair,” she said.

“There are far too many black girls with natural hair who don’t believe their hair is beautiful,” Wright said. “It’s mental oppression when you actually think you are not beautiful in your natural state.”

Wright said not only should African-American students have the opportunity to learn about ethnic hair, but all students should be exposed to different types of hair. “It should be widespread knowledge.”

“Assimilation is not form of beauty, but a tactic of oppression,” Wright said. “In 2019 — almost 2020 — it’s not okay that we are still promoting that.”

Since posting the petition, Wright said it’s gotten more support than “she was hoping for.” As of Friday, the petition had 167 signatures.

Originally, Wright said she was looking to gather 100 signatures before presenting the petition to the SCS board, but now she is working to garner more support and address the board in January.


As Wright prepares to address the board, she is looking for SCS students who have taken the cosmetology classes to give firsthand accounts of their experience.

Beyond changing the SCS curriculum, Wright also hopes the effort will heIp break down the stereotypes surrounding natural African-American hair, as well as start conversations on policies around natural hair in the workplace.

“The petition is just the beginning of normalizing ethnic hair,” Wright said. “So I’m not hoping this will make a difference. I know it will because I’m not stopping until it’s a thing and it’s normalized.”

But Wright said she doesn’t want the sole credit for creating the petition.

“I may have started it and put it on a website,” Wright said. But this has been a thought in the back of every black girl and woman’s mind in Memphis. I simply put it in words. This is all of our petition.”

Legislation

In July, California became the first state to ban employees and school officials from discriminating against people with natural hair when it passed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act.

The new law, which will take effect in January, prohibits employers and schools from enforcing a dress code or grooming policing discouraging hairstyles such as braids, afros, twists, and locs. New York followed suit later in July, becoming the second state to pass a CROWN Act

Parkinson

Tennessee Representative Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) introduced similar legislation, HB1546, over the summer here. The Tennessee CROWN Act would expand the definition of “race” as it relates to discrimination to include “the physical or cultural characteristics associated with a certain race, including, but not limited to, hair texture or protective hairstyles.”

Having been discriminated against because of his hair in the past, Parkinson said this issue is “near and dear to his heart.” As a lieutenant in the Shelby County Fire Department, Parkinson said he nearly lost his job because of his dreadlocks.

“I myself have been a victim of discrimination in the workplace for wearing dreads,” Parkinson said. “My job was threatened. Disciplinary action was threatened. And at the time there was no policy against wearing certain hairstyles.”

Parkinson was written up for his hairstyle of choice and as a result, eventually cut his dreadlocks.

“A lot of people don’t understand African-American hair,” Parkinson said. “People have one idea of what beauty is and what the standard should be. And in a lot of cases, the standard is European. African Americans are born with a certain type of hair and there be no discrimination whatsoever.”

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Similar CROWN legislation has also been introduced in Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Jersey.

Just last week, a county in Maryland became the first in the country to pass local legislation banning discrimination based on a person’s hairstyle.

The Montgomery County City Council voted unanimously in favor of legislation that prohibits such discrimination in housing, employment, education, taxi services, and other public accommodations. Under the legislation, anyone who is discriminated against can seek a civil penalty of up to $5,000 through the county’s Office of Human Rights.

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News News Blog

Cool Thing: Cycle and Drink Beers for Good Cause

CREDIT: Revolutions

Revolutions

Cyclists participating in the spring Tour de Brewer

Revolutions Bicycle Co-op is hosting its fourth Memphis brewery bike tour Saturday, September 22nd beginning at noon.

The 15-mile Tour de Brewer is a leisurely 15-mile round trip ride with stops at four different local breweries.

The ride will begin at Memphis Made Brewing Co., then head over to Ghost River, High Cotton, Crosstown Brewing Co., and then back to Memphis Made.

Participants are required to bring their own bikes. However, Explore Bike Share will have a set number of bikes available on a first come, first served basis.

The cost of the tour is $15 per person. Participants can sign up ahead of time or on Saturday. All drinks have to be purchased separately. Twenty percent of all event sales made at Memphis Made will go toward Revolutions’ 4th Grade Bicycle Safety Program at Shelby County Schools. All other proceeds from the tour will be used to purchase two classroom sets of bicycles for the program.

The nine-week program will aim to teach students how to safely ride a bike on on the street, giving them a reliable transportation option to get to school. It’s set to launch soon at 15 elementary schools, costing approximately $8,000 per school, according to Shannon Little, public relations manager for Revolutions. The cost covers programming for nine sessions for each participating fourth grade class, as well as a classroom set of bicycles that students get to keep throughout the program.

Little says the program’s launch date is contingent on Revolutions having enough funds to begin with one school.

Sylvia Crum, executive director of Revolutions said the program is important because cycling is a “lifelong healthy practice.”

“The life cycle of a bicyclist starts with a 2 year-old who can get on a balance bike, a bike that doesn’t have pedals, to learn how to balance and glide down the sidewalk,” Crum said. “An older child has the freedom to move around the neighborhood. As children get older, they can use a bike as a transportation option to go to school.

“As a child ages up to high school and college, a bicycle is a way to get to class or an after-school job. Then you’re a grownup and commuting to work is no big deal. As someone gets older and has a family, putting children on a bike for transportation is no big deal. Then that cycle starts again when the children are 2 years old and can start on a balance bike.”

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Notes on Council, School Board Races

CREDIT: JB

Not to be forgotten (but largely overlooked, all the same) as we approach the August 2nd election date is a race to fill a vacancy on the Memphis City Council and four races for positions on the Shelby County Schools board.

By definition, these positions apply exclusively to Memphis, in the case of the council seat, and mainly so for the school board positions.

CITY COUNCIL, SUPER-DISTRICT 9, POSITION 2: The council seat, an at-large position for roughly the eastern half of the city, was formerly occupied by Philip Spinosa, who resigned in May to take a job with the Greater Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce. The seat is now occupied, on an interim basis, by funeral home director Ford Canale, who was appointed to the vacancy by a majority of the other council members. Canale and six other candidates are now seeking the right to fill out the duration of Spinosa’s term.
JB

Council Candidates at Woodland Hills: from left, Erika Sugarmon, Lisa Moore, Tim Ware, Charley Burch (at mic)

The other six are Charley Burch, Tyrone Romeo Franklin, Lisa Moore, Erika Sugarmon, Tim Ware, and David Winston. There have been two public forums to which all the candidates have been invited. Both were held last week — one at the Olivet Worship Center at Woodland Hills on Tuesday, the other at Mt.Olive C.M.E. Church on Thursday. Only candidates Burch, Moore, Sugarmon, and Ware took part, and, while no one bothered to mention Franklin and Winston, the absence of interim Councilman Canale drew significant attention from those present.

In fact, Canale’s ears had to be burning on Tuesday night. Music producer/realtor Burch talked about him at length, casting him as the “plant” in a saga whereby a cabal of business elitists, special interests, and council incumbents are determining who is and can be on the council — and pretty much everything the council does.

“The council knows how they’re voting before they come into the room [the City Hall auditorium],” Burch asserted. “There’s empirical evidence of it.” And Canale’s appointment was a case in point. “The fix was in,” said Burch. “I’m not running against one great candidate up here” he said, a sweep of his arm indicating the fellow candidates on stage with him at Woodland Hills. “But I am running against Canale, because he has a plan to keep us out. … I’m the main one they don’t want elected.”

Moore, who runs a non-profit called Girls, Inc., was of similar mind on Tuesday, speaking of active “collusion” between the council and City Hall on behalf of “a well-orchestrated plan,” where “the rich get richer and the rest of us just watch and struggle.” She called for “equity” efforts in every neighborhood, a crash program in public transportation, and a developed educational plan. Former teacher Sugarmon, the daughter of Memphis civil rights pioneer Russell Sugarmon and a self-proclaimed “people’s candidate,” called for community development programs that would “trickle up” economic progress. Tim Ware, who has had a lengthy career as an education consultant, called for the city to resume its spending on public schools, an idea that the others approved as well.

There was more from all four, much of it sound, some of it more freely speculative, and most of it was repeated at Mt. Olive on Thursday in a program sponsored by the NAACP via its VIP901 election-year campaign and shared with school board candidates. Burch, who has union support and promised to restore the lost pension arrangements of the city’s first responders, and Moore had sounded the leitmotif: that city government was in the clutches of a self-aggrandizing clique, for whom the newly named Canale was just the latest tool.

The Rev. Kenneth Whalum, pastor of the church sponsoring the first council forum and a former school board member, had joined in the verbal abuse of Canale, whom he ridiculed for the fact that the not yet elected councilman’s picture was said to have been mounted already on the City Hall auditorium wall.

Congratulating the other candidates, Whalum said, “All of them were very impressive. They‘re all eminently more qualified than Ford Canale, who didn’t think enough of you to show up. Vote for anybody but Ford Canale. … Put one of these people on the city council and make them take that picture down.”

SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS BOARD

At stake on August 2nd are the SCS seats for District 1, 6, 8, and 9. The candidates who turned up for the second half of the NAACP bill at Mt. Olive were basically the same ones who had been at a forum the week before at Bridges downtown. They were: incumbent Chris Caldwell and Michelle Robinson McKissick in District 1; incumbent Shante Avant in District 6; and incumbent Mike Kernell, Kori Hamner, and Joyce Dorse-Coleman in District 8.

The school board seminar at Mt. Olive was lively and reasonably thorough, though it lacked some of the spice that had been contributed at the earlier Bridges affair by candidates Michael Scruggs in District 1; Minnie Hunter and Percy M. Hunter in District 6; Jerry A. Cunningham in District 8; and Rhonnie Brewer in District 9. Incumbent Billy Orgel of District 8 did not attend either forum.

At Bridges, the questions given the candidates were more numerous and more pointed, including one about how to deal with the factor of LGBTQ students that some candidates circled around and others answered with sentiments of simple acceptance. Another question at Bridges that received some lip service at Mt. Olive was that of whether the School Board should be enlarged to include at least one student member. At neither venue was there an outright endorsement of that idea.

[Note for future forum planners. Bridges is an inviting place to have an assembly, but its acoustics, at least when hand mics are being swapped around, are far from ideal]

At both Bridges and Mt. Olive, the school board candidates stressed the importance of involving students’ families in the schooling process, but all of them made the case for increasing resources, from any or all of the funding sources. They all, as well, called for more wrap-around services and such auxiliary personnel as counselors, social workers, behavioral specialists, and the like. And everybody thought teachers deserved more rewards. JB

Board candidates, from left, Mike Kernell, Joyce Dorse-Coleman, Kori Hamner, Rhonnie Brewer

Other notions that found general favor were that of after-school activities and programs to combat what incumbent Avant called the “summer slide.” Though the issue of the district’s optional-schools program was not addressed systematically, there was a certain sentiment, voiced most specifically by McKissack, that the curricula of non-optional schools should be upgraded. As for the problem of differing school formulas — including charter schools and IZone and ASD institutions — the candidates favored some version of sharing resources but tilted toward preserving the norm.

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Rassle Me Sports

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers

I’m not sure how your city celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week, but in Memphis, our teachers dress up like pro wrestlers and win championship belts.

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers

Last Wednesday on the 30th anniversary of Jerry Lawler defeating Curt Henning to capture his first world heavyweight title, Shelby County teachers were encouraged to come to work in outfits inspired by “the golden days of body slams & spandex at the Mid-South Coliseum.”

Not surprisingly, the King was well represented in classrooms all over Memphis:

Jerry The King Lawler SCS style. #901sFinest

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Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (9)

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (11)

Overton High School even featured a rematch from the 1996 King of the Ring:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (10)

Lawler’s long-time foe Jimmy Hart was also a part of the action, alongside who we can only assume was Hulk Hogan in a mask:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (7)

Since she was well rested from sitting out the Greatest Royal Rumble, Sasha Banks was able to make an appearance as well (Sorry, Crump. There is a new Boss in town):

Mrs. Smith as WWE wrestler Sasha Banks! @scsk12unified #901sfinest

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Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (8)

Vending machines in teachers’ lounges were running low on Slim Jims:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (4)

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (2)

This teacher built a ring in her classroom:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (5)

But once we got to the main event, there was only one champion:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (3)

Listen to Kevin Cerrito talk about pro wrestling on the radio every Saturday from 11-noon CT on Sports 56/87.7 FM in Memphis. Subscribe to Cerrito Live on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, tunein, PlayerFM or Sticher. Find out about his upcoming wrestling trivia events at cerritotrivia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cerrito.

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Politics Politics Feature

City-County Accords on Public Education

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

The subject of education figured large at Monday’s meeting of the Shelby County legislative delegation at the Pink Palace.

One subject of accord between the attending legislators and representatives of the county’s various school districts was the need for the Tennessee Department of Education to comply with previously promised levels of funding under the state’s Basic Education Plan. Shortfalls in such funding have occurred routinely in recent years.

Michael Donahue

Sen. Brian Kelsey

That was only one of the ways in which the Memphis-based Shelby County system and the six districts maintained by the county’s suburban municipalities — divided by a serious schism during the years of merger and de-merger of the past decade — have come to make common cause in matters of public education.

Another indication of the new comity figured in a surprise declaration by state Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) that, for the first time in more than a decade of trying, he will desist in the coming 2018 legislative sessions from his annual efforts to pass legislation authorizing school vouchers for private schools.

Residents of the Republican-dominated suburbs of Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Arlington, Lakeland, and Millington — all of which have hardened their commitment to public education by voting for school taxes — have made their own disaffection from the voucher concept increasingly clear. The point was underscored last year by a unanimous vote opposing vouchers by city and county representatives alike on the Shelby County Commission.

Further, chair Heidi Shafer communicated to legislators the will of the commission that the state Achievement School District remand back to the Shelby County School District’s iZone program the 31 under-performing county schools currently administered by the ASD, on grounds that the special state-run district established early in the tenure of Governor Bill Haslam has failed to improve their scores.

Another significant point of city-county unity on an education-related matter was expressed Monday by a unanimous vote on the commission to oppose county involvement in Haslam’s proposed State Facilities Management concept, an out-sourcing program. As Commissioner David Reaves said, “I’m confused. The state is swimming with surplus money. Why do they need to out-source?”

Prior to the commission’s vote, various citizens had testified about the prospective loss of jobs at the University of Memphis and other public entities under the governor’s program.

• Bill Giannini, who was killed in a car crash on Interstate 40 last Thursday afternoon, en route to Nashville after touching base with friends in Memphis at holiday gatherings, had in recent years been living in Mt. Juliet, a near suburb of the state capital. His choice of residence, made after his 2011 appointment by Governor Haslam to serve as deputy commissioner of Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, was a practical one.

But native Memphian Giannini, who left that job late last year to seek the chairmanship of the state Republican Party and had meanwhile founded the Resolve Consulting Firm, was meditating seriously on a return home. For some months, he had been expressing keen interest in a race in 2018 for the District 32 state Senate seat which state Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris of Collierville, now a federal judge-designate, will be vacating.

In fact, when he first floated the idea of running for the seat last summer, at the time of Norris’ appointment, Giannini had made the case that he was the only serious candidate for the seat who had been raised in the east Shelby County area encompassed by District 32, and expressed concern that Norris’ successor might be someone who “hasn’t lived a day in the district.” (That was aimed at two likely candidates: Shafer and state Representative Mark White, each of whom has actively considered a move into District 32.)

In his time, Giannini had made a serious imprint on local politics, both as chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party a decade ago and later as chairman of the county Election Commission during a period of protracted controversy over the 2010 countywide election, which saw the members of a defeated Democratic slate challenge the results of that election, a Republican sweep.

Ironically, prior to that election, Giannini, foreseeing a Democratic wave that has still not occurred locally despite a theoretical Democratic majority in the county, had been among those Republicans arguing stoutly for a return to nonpartisan elections in Shelby County. At a Republican club meeting in November 2009, Giannini had joined with his then newly elected successor as GOP party chairman, Lang Wiseman, in advocating a reversion to the status quo before local Republicans took the initiative and held the first local partisan primary in 1992.

“Shame on us for initiating those … now we are left with that albatross,” Giannini bemoaned at that 2009 meeting.

Giannini was known as a stout partisan, though he had numerous friendships across party lines, one of them being nominal Democrat Jim Strickland, the Memphis mayor for whom Giannini had done some consulting work for of late and who would profess himself “shocked and saddened” at the news of Giannini’s death.

Giannini, who was in a band during his high school days in Bartlett, was a talented guitarist, a fact which he demonstrated some years ago from a local stage in an extended guitar duet on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” with another unexpected virtuoso, former Arkansas Governor and erstwhile presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

The accident that took Giannini’s life last Thursday occurred when his car swerved across a median into the westbound lanes of Interstate 40 in Decatur County, colliding with the car of Cordova resident Dennis Tolivar Jr., who was injured. It was the second fateful accident on I-40 for Giannini, who had been involved in a multi-car pile-up in December 2012 that resulted in a fatality.

Giannini was absolved of any responsibility in that accident by the state highway patrol.

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Opinion The Last Word

Equally Educated?

CREDIT: Shelby County Schools

Richland, a 67 percent white and 18 percent black elementary school that sits in the third-most affluent neighborhood in Memphis, is getting a $4 million renovation.

The East Memphis school is slated to get a new gym and two-story classroom building by next fall to replace the school’s portable buildings. Because apparently, classrooms in portables just won’t cut it for the kiddos at Richland.

That’s all fine and good, but having to go to class in portables is not the worst thing in the world. What about the other schools in some of the city’s lower-income neighborhoods that lack more basic necessities — like teachers and other personnel, supplies, and equipment?

What about the 43 schools in Memphis that are in the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools in the state?

Not having doors on all the bathroom stalls, a current problem at KIPP Academy in North Memphis, seems like it would be a higher priority for school board members than a school having to hold a couple of classes in portables — especially at a school that is already ranked the 10th-best elementary school in the state. Doors on bathroom stalls are a standard privacy need, and privacy is a basic human right. A Basic. Human. Right.

Just as disconcerting is the situation at Booker T. Washington High School, where students went nearly the entirety of last school year without a chemistry teacher, at a school where 96 percent of students are black and 99 percent are “economically disadvantaged,” according to Shelby County Schools (SCS). Instead, for the majority of the year, the students were taught a complicated subject by a substitute teacher with no teaching license or background in chemistry.

So, when it came time for the state chemistry test last year, it’s no surprise that 92 percent of the 65 students there who took the test scored in the lowest percentile.

Shelby County Schools

Quite frankly, that’s not fair at all. From the start, they didn’t even have the chance to perform as well as their counterparts at other schools in higher-income neighborhoods.

Currently, only 39 percent of third-graders in Memphis are proficient in reading; by seventh grade, that percentage decreases to 38. That’s an issue.

Although this can’t be completely attributed to the school board, perhaps instead of SCS focusing on building state-of-the-art gyms and classrooms for elementary school kids, they should invest equally in every school, to ensure that each has at least the fundamental essentials for students to adequately learn.

It would seem to be common sense that schools need well-trained teachers who are invested in their students’ learning. Schools need textbooks. And schools need doors on the bathroom stalls, running water, and clean classrooms.

If you were the coach of a basketball team in a developmental league, would you spend limited resources training the few star players who are already scoring 20 points a game, or would you use those resources to develop the less-skilled players who have not yet reached their full potential?

It’s the same for schools. It’s only fair that every school gets an equal amount of proper attention and care to help level the playing field for all students. It all goes back to the claim of “liberty and justice for all” — words of a pledge that most students are strongly “encouraged” to recite every day. True liberty, justice, and equality for all would mean that every child in Memphis has access to a quality education, no matter where they grow up or where their neighborhood school happens to be.

This issue is not isolated to Memphis. Nationwide, 67 percent of third-graders are not reading at proficiency levels. More than 80 percent of those third-graders are from low-income families. If the problem goes unchecked, efforts to end intergenerational poverty, close the achievement gap, reduce high school dropout rates, and increase college enrollment are undermined.

If something is not done about the disparity in facilities and personnel present across the county’s school system, and in systems throughout the country, then how can we expect all students to thrive in school and have equal opportunities of success in the future?

The short answer is: We can’t.

Maya Smith is a Flyer staff writer.

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News The Fly-By

MATA Reduces Bus Fares for Students, MLGW Defers High Bills Through August

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) began reducing bus fares for all Shelby County School students on August 8th, the first day of classes.

“It is important that we are able to help parents send their children off to school at a reduced cost and improve their access to public transportation,” said Ron Garrison, CEO of MATA.

The annual reduced student fare is $1.35 per one-way bus trip. Students may also purchase daily passes ($2.75), seven-day passes ($13), or a month-long ($40) MATA FastPass unlimited ride card.

Students must present a MATA identification card with their name, school, age, and photo to receive a discounted fare when boarding the bus. MATA advises students to bring two forms of identification and $3 to the William Hudson Transit Center at 444 N. Main Street to purchase an identification card. Students who bring a parent only need one form of identification. State or school identification cards, birth certificates, insurance cards, Social Security cards, or report cards qualify.

The transit authority will provide identification cards Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. until September 30th. Following that date, MATA will provide identification cards Mondays through Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m on Saturdays.

“MATA is pleased to continue to offer reduced bus passes for students to ride,” Garrison said.

MATA lowers fares for students.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) will ease its deferred billing rules through August to prevent customers with high bills from having their utilities disconnected.

“The major benefit is, during these extreme temperatures, MLGW has a payment plan that will offset our customers from having their services disconnected for non-payment,” said Gale Jones Carson, MLGW’s director of corporate communications. “If you can’t pay the total amount, we’ll work with you during these temperatures.”

Customers eligible for the loosened billing rules must have a bill that exceeds at least $250. They will pay 25 percent of the owed amount or $250, whichever is less, and the remainder will go on a payment plan that lasts up to five months. Should the deferred billing payment surpass a monthly $500 balance, customers may establish a payment plan for up to nine months. A current and approved residential service agreement must be filed before making an arrangement. Customers who qualify can bring two forms of identification to any of MLGW’s five community centers.

“Normally, customers only have three months to pay they bill, and the balance has to be a minimum of $500,” Carson said.

The relaxed deferred billing rules are different from MLGW’s weather-related moratorium policy. That policy states they won’t disconnect services for residential customers due to non-payment under the following conditions: The forecast wind chill factor will be 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below freezing for 24 hours or longer. The forecast heat index will be 100 degrees Fahrenheit or above at any time during a 24-hour period. The forecast heat index will be 95 degrees Fahrenheit or above at any time in a 24-hour period for customers 60 years or older, physically challenged, or customers dependent on life-support.

“We do this every year when the weather gets extremely cold or extremely hot,” Carson said. “We do this to help customers avoid having their services disconnected for non-payment. When the weather gets extreme, we focus on not cutting services off.”

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Shelby County Schools Under Federal Civil Rights Investigation

A federal civil rights investigation into Shelby County Schools’ (SCS) treatment of immigrant children has been launched by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The alleged bias is related to how SCS placed migrant children from Central America. A complaint filed in February by the Exchange Club Family Center alleged that those children were blocked from attending traditional Memphis high schools and were instead placed into an English language program at the now-defunct Messick Adult Center.

The Exchange Club’s complaint expressed concern about the limited hours of that English program, as well as its lack of structure. The complaint also said that many of those children would prefer to attend a traditional high school. 

In May, an Associated Press investigation found that Shelby County Schools was one of at least 35 districts in 14 states where unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras had been placed into alternative language programs rather than traditional high schools.

When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for SCS simply replied, “It is our practice not to comment on the existence/nonexistence of any inquiry from the Office of Civil Rights.”

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Crosstown High School Proposes Personalized Learning Model

Against a backdrop of the under-construction Crosstown Concourse, prospective Crosstown High School (XTH) students, their parents, and XTH board member Michelle McKissack held a press conference on Thursday afternoon to show support for the proposed high school inside the Concourse building.

The nonprofit behind the school, Crosstown High, Inc., has submitted a proposal to Shelby County Schools (SCS) to operate the high school. If approved by SCS, they have a goal of having it open by the 2017-18 school year.

McKissack said the proposed school, which would have an independent board but still fall under the purview of SCS, would differ from more traditional public schools in that each student would have a personalized learning plan and students would interact with employees of the other businesses within the Concourse building as part of their education.

“Our school will be distinguished by its use of project-based learning, in which teams of students working under the guidance and supervision of adult mentors will research real-life community challenges and develop solutions. Students will benefit from relationships with employees of Methodist Healthcare, Church Health Center, ALSAC, Crosstown Arts, Christian Brothers University, and many other Crosstown partners and tenants,” McKissack said.

Students would also have two-week long elective courses in areas of their personal interests, such as art, music, athletics, or internships. The school would host a maximum of 500 students in grades 9-12.

“We believe that student potential is found, not only in a test score, but the talents and passions inherent in every individual,” McKissack said. “There are so many types of learning, and we’re going to be tapping into that here at Crosstown High. From where and how we recruit our students to assuring that our student body reflects the population of Memphis and Shelby County in all ways — raciallly, econonomically, socio-economically, ethnically, and by learning styles and differences.”

Memphian Nicole Dorsey attended the press conference with her daughter Vera, who will be starting seventh grade at Colonial Middle School in the fall. Dorsey said she opted to put Vera in Colonial, an optional school, even though they live in Midtown. But if XHS becomes reality, Dorsey said she’d much prefer for Vera to attend school much closer to home.

“As a Midtowner, this gives me another high school option that is equivalent to all the many high schools in East Memphis,” Dorsey said. “I’m not a fan of the optional program, but I’m a fan of integrated learning from all levels, which is what this school is hoping to do.”

Crosstown High has a new website — crosstownhigh.org — and more of their plan can be found there.