Sign up for monthly text updates on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board

A wooden podium with a microphone on the top is in focus while people sit in chairs on the side and in the background.
October 24, 2023: MEMPHIS, TN - A Memphis Shelby County Schools school board meeting on October 24. Photo by Andrea Morales for Chalkbeat (Andrea Morales for Chalkbeat)

Want to stay up to date on the latest news from the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board while also having a way to text your school board questions to Chalkbeat’s journalists? Sign up for Chalkbeat Tennessee’s texting service.

Each month, Bri Hatch, who writes about MSCS for us, sifts through agendas and documents, attends board meetings, and interviews Memphis leaders, attendees, and others before and after the meetings. Hatch reports the decisions made by the school board and tells the stories of the people who will be affected by those decisions.

And with our texting service, you’ll stay in the loop on the latest Memphis-Shelby County Schools board news, regardless of whether you’re able to attend board meetings.

Here’s how it works:

Sign up by texting SCHOOL to 901-599-2745 or enter your phone number into the box below.

We hope the texting service will keep you informed, better able to hold district officials accountable, and more empowered to start community conversations about what public education should look like in Memphis.

We’ll text you twice a month, once before a board meeting to let you know it’s coming up, and once after with the biggest news.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools typically hosts its monthly board meetings at 5:30 p.m. the last Tuesday of each month at the Board of Education building. The meetings are also available for streaming on the district’s Facebook page. Find board meeting schedules and agendas here.

The Latest

The move comes two months after the school’s contract was renewed by the Chicago Board of Education and two years after it unveiled plans for a $22 million renovation.

Charter school leaders are planning to rally on Thursday, less than two months before the mayoral election. Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner, has criticized the sector.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating the initiative the district unveiled in February. But the school board member heading the committee tasked with overseeing the rollout says it will proceed.

Fort Lewis College’s new nursing program is the first bachelor’s degree in nursing program in the Durango area. The program aims to train students to help fulfill the health care needs of the Four Corners region and other rural communities.

Many Americans don’t think undocumented immigrants should get public benefits. But the Trump administration has admitted its new rule could have a relatively small impact.

Community engagement has begun as part of the initiative, including a youth and education group that spent time in July exploring students' routes to attend several schools.