On Monday morning at Shelby Oaks Elementary, staffers and community members lined the sidewalk and cheered as students walked by and entered the building for the first day of school. Cheerleaders recited the school’s chant, and Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” played through speakers.
The tune didn’t exactly reflect the mood of every student; some looked sullen as they began another academic year. But others were ready to start.
“I’m excited to meet my teacher, and then I like to see some friends on the first day,” said a first-grader named Azariah, as she sat at her desk and colored. “It’s going to be so good.”
One of her classmates, Isabella, shared a similar sentiment. The day before she and her family had capped the summer by taking a day trip to Lambert’s Café, the restaurant that throws large rolls to customers, and she was ready for the new year.
She was particularly excited about science ― and the possibility of working with a model volcano.
“I like volcanoes. You just pour vinegar in it, and then you put some coloring in it, and then it explodes,” she said. “I haven’t tried that yet.”
What’s at stake
Azariah and Isabella were among the more than 100,000 Memphis-Shelby County Schools students who began classes on Monday, in what could be a consequential year for the district.
The school’s leadership will look different this year, as the nine-person MSCS board will have four new commissioners due to the Aug. 1 election: Natalie McKinney, who will represent District Two; Tamarques Porter, who will represent District Four; Sable Otey, who will represent District Five; and Towanna Murphy, who will represent District Seven.
This is also the district’s first full academic year under the leadership of Superintendent Marie Feagins, who began on April 1, and it could be an opportunity to see if the major changes she has implemented yield results.
Feagins has injected $28.4 million into teacher pay, raising the starting salary to $50,000. She has incorporated additional student support services into the district’s $1.8 billion budget and pledged that all students will read and write every day. And she has slashed 1,163 jobs ― nearly half of which were vacant ― to redirect more resources and personnel to classrooms.
Infrastructure challenges and struggling AC units
Her decisions come at a time when the district is continuing to face major challenges.
Many MSCS students come from low-income families and face challenges outside the classroom that can impede learning. Test scores have improved, but most students are still underperforming in subjects like reading and math. The district is continuing to try to fill teacher vacancies, and it is grappling with the effects of roughly $1 billion in deferred maintenance.
MSCS is addressing the issue by implementing a three-pronged infrastructure plan, including a $96 million first phase. Butt this will take time, and just a few hours into the new school year, maintenance problems were already making their presence known.
At the start of the last school year, aging air conditioning systems were overwhelmed by the summer heat and malfunctioned. That has already happened with at least one school this year. On Monday morning, the AC at Sherwood Middle went out, leading the school to close and send students home at 10:30 a.m.
Liz Marable, president of the United Education Association of Shelby County, told The Commercial Appeal that MSCS was sending people over to work on the AC unit, and she commended the Sherwood staff for navigating through a difficult situation.
“They had a very smooth dismissal,” she said after supporting the school through the process. “The district has to make sure the students and staff are safe, and they did that… The principal and staff did a great job.”
Joyce Dorse Coleman, an MSCS board commissioner, also visited Sherwood Middle on Monday morning. She described the school as “very, very hot,” hotter than it was outside. For her, it was a reminder of the district’s need to solve its infrastructure problems. Teachers, she noted, can’t teach if they’re uncomfortable.
“We have old buildings. We have old infrastructure,” she said. “And this is just a part of what we have to go through.”
John Klyce covers education and children’s issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at John.klyce@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis students return to school for start of 2024-25 academic year
