by Brad Leon (RSS) Memphis City Schools | September 4th, 2010 12:35am CDT | 3 Comments
The United States economy grew by 2.7% in the last quarter and yet its citizens lost 352,000 jobs in June (221,000) & July (131,000). Long-term unemployment has reached record highs with nearly a million and a half people out of work for at least 99 weeks and economists are beginning to wonder aloud whether our [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Taxation | September 1st, 2010 12:30am CDT | 16 Comments
It’s the political equivalent of no good deed going unpunished. That’s the moral of the Memphis City Council’s attempt to bring reason to the city’s inequitable tax burden. But the Tennessee Supreme Court isn’t known for its legal courage, so instead of hearing arguments on this core question, it ducked. It declined to take up [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | July 26th, 2010 12:07am CDT | 3 Comments
Teach For America’s Tennessee Executive Director Brad Leon can cite the impressive tangible indicators of success for students taught by his “corps members,” but it’s the intangibles that have even greater impact on him. “The most gratifying thing has nothing to do with the data,” he said. “It has to do with the pronouns that [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | June 17th, 2010 12:17am CDT | 1 Comment
If urban school districts like ours had a dollar every time somebody said, “Children are our future,” they’d never have a funding problem. Unfortunately for these districts, Americans are long on platitudes and short on support. That said, we begin with the obvious: children are our future. Or more precisely, well-educated African-American students will in fact [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development, Memphis City Schools | June 14th, 2010 12:29am CDT | 1 Comment
There may be other cities that have done more in the past to improve their schools, but if you’re looking for ground zero for school reform for the future, it’s hard to think of a place more qualified than Memphis. We were reminded of this special moment in history for Memphis City Schools again Friday [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Uncategorized | June 7th, 2010 12:50am CDT | 11 Comments
If man bites dog is the definition of news, a couple of stories lately were as predictable as a dog biting a man. Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy embellished the image of herself and her city as selfish in the extreme, and a group of ministers with an affinity toward the spotlight embellished their reputation as [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | March 31st, 2010 12:46am CDT | 1 Comment
It’s a teachable moment for Memphis. But it may be squandered because of failing grades given in deportment to Memphis City Schools and Memphis City Council, aided and abetted by the class troublemaker, a news media that always gravitates more to personalities than policies. As a result, the much-needed debate about the fairness of Memphians [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Poverty | March 3rd, 2010 12:18am CDT | 12 Comments
Hopefully, now that we’ve all worked through the catharsis brought on by hitting the list of miserable U.S. cities by Forbes magazine, maybe we can now follow it up with an epiphany. Most urbanists and public policy types have long ago discredited these meaningless lists of the smartest cities, wired cities, successful cities and happiest [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | February 15th, 2010 12:04am CDT | 13 Comments
The subject of police in city schools is fraught with emotion and opinions. It’s like arguing about the Bible. There’s something to support whatever side you’re on. There’s research that indicates that “security resources” within the school district deliver the results needed to make sure students are safe and have an environment conducive to learning. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | January 25th, 2010 12:05am CDT | 6 Comments
It’s the worst kept secret at Memphis City Schools that almost every one of its schools is expected to hit the state’s failing schools list later this year. That’s because Tennessee Department of Education is finally getting serious about academic standards and no longer will parents and taxpayers be lied to by their own governments [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | January 20th, 2010 12:02am CDT | Comments Off
No one says it better than Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash. “Getting an effective teacher cannot be a lottery ticket for our students,” he said. “This is simply not acceptable.” That’s the most exciting part of this Gates Foundation-funded Teacher Effectiveness Initiative. It is a direct hit on the lottery taking place in schools [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Taxation | January 18th, 2010 12:01am CDT | 2 Comments
When Willie W. Herenton left Memphis City Schools as its superintendent following his election as Memphis mayor, the City of Memphis budget that he inherited was just slightly smaller than the one he managed at the school district. When he left office 18 years later, City of Memphis budget had increased about 45%, which corresponded [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | January 15th, 2010 3:34pm CDT | Comments Off
John Branston of Memphis Flyer suggests that there is math homework that Memphis City Council needs to attend to before giving Memphis City Schools any more money. He writes: Call it “The Case of the Missing 7,000 Students.” But you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out. The Tennessee Court of [...]
by Brad Leon (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Uncategorized | January 13th, 2010 1:21pm CDT | 2 Comments
I ran into Knoxville’s mayor and, gubernatorial candidate, Bill Haslam at the Starbucks on Union and McLean last week. He graciously invited me to his table to hear more about Teach For America’s work in Tennessee. I shared with him the recent Tennessee Value-Add System analysis that illustrated, “Teach For America corps members (what we [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | January 12th, 2010 9:34pm CDT | 4 Comments
Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash has said: “Arguing over who should fund schools is not good for children.” Wrong. Editorial writers have said Memphis City Council acted rashly and as a result, it left the city schools in a precarious financial position. Wrong again. To the superintendent, we can only say that debating who [...]
by Doug Imig (RSS) Memphis City Schools | December 21st, 2009 8:11pm CDT | Comments Off
MCS Superintendent Cash recently told the Commercial Appeal that one of the reasons the Gates Foundation was interested In Memphis was that the district was able to link students’ test score data directly to their teachers through the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS). This capacity enables the system to look not simply at school [...]
by Brad Leon (RSS) Economic Development, Memphis City Schools | December 1st, 2009 10:44pm CDT | 1 Comment
Unless we want 10 percent unemployment to become the new “normal” in Tennessee, we need to change our expectations. Over the past 30 years, as globalization has become the driving force in free-market and emerging economies, knowledge work is the only refuge for those seeking jobs that pay a decent wage. Our industrial base has [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | November 16th, 2009 2:02am CDT | 3 Comments
Three recent reports we’ve been reading are about social promotion of students, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO’s) and airports, all subjects that should be of interest to Memphis. In a study about social promotion of students in New York City, “Ending Social Promotion Without Leaving Children Behind,” the well-respected think tank, RAND Corporation, said that social [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Neighborhoods | November 11th, 2009 12:40am CDT | 20 Comments
It’s nothing short of hypocritical for us to wring our hands over the D’s and F’s given to Memphis City Schools students in the Tennessee Department of Education report card. After all, that’s exactly what we as a city preordained for them. Yes, these 105,000 students made D’s and F’s, but what did we expect? [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | November 4th, 2009 6:27pm CDT | 3 Comments
Before yesterday is dubbed “Black Tuesday” for the sobering announcement that Memphis City Schools is doing a dismal job educating our students, let’s see it for what it is: a day to celebrate. We have a friend who says that Memphians love to pay people to lie to us – we’re doing great in economic [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | August 20th, 2009 11:13pm CDT | Comments Off
It was no surprise to us that the highest hurdle facing Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash is changing the culture of his own central office. But seemingly lost so far in the overhaul of the insular world of the mother ship at 2597 Avery Avenue is the fact that the strongest warhead of all [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | July 21st, 2009 11:52pm CDT | Comments Off
Memphians are the only people in a major Tennessee city who pay twice for their public schools. Memphians are the only people in Shelby County who pay twice for their public schools. And apparently both school districts want to keep it that way. Out Of The Closet We’ve learned to expect the worst anytime Shelby [...]
by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
Photograph by Amie Vanderford
Memphian Amie Vanderford is a photographer for peace and justice. Her portfolio includes photographs from Peru, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Indian, and her hometown.
