Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn avoided a no-confidence vote Tuesday, Sept. 21 but not verbal criticism from lawmakers during a House Education Committee hearing.

Tennessee superintendents described a litany of problems to legislators Tuesday, Sept. 22, with the worst of the problems being that low-performing students are falling further behind during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related Story: Lawmakers grill education commissioner over ‘missteps’

Teachers voiced their frustration with the current back to school plan at Collierville School Board’s meeting Tuesday night.

Students at Harding Academy and Evangelical Christian School are attending classes in a pandemic-altered world. It’s not ideal, it’s not 100% safe from COVID-19, and it’s going to be. But for most, it’s the better alternative. Even if you can’t hug your best friend.

And, at local private schools, students give each other ‘air hugs’ and each lunch at their desks, as everyone tries to adjust. 

At the U of M, Townsend built a reputation for working with public-private partnerships that have brought high-tech firms to its UMRF Research Park.

Data released this week by the state education department showed about 89.6% of public high school seniors earned their diplomas within four years, down by just one-tenth of a percentage point. Still many observers were surprised by any decline.

Over time, Philip Blackett hopes expand the Dave Ramsey course he sponsors to other schools in Memphis and the Boston area.

Coronavirus data for public school systems is readily available, but that’s not the case with private schools.

Campus leaders had hoped it would be possible to have freshmen on campus during fall term, but a letter from the college president lays out hopes for the spring.

Lee was twice asked to address the lack of confidence in Schwinn among some of his own party’s lawmakers. At least one Republican legislator has suggested holding a no-confidence vote on the education chief.

The state requires 6.5 hours of daily instruction, which can be met through recorded lessons and students independently completing assignments, as well as teacher-led live lessons.

History teacher Daniel Warner has been recognized by the Tennessee Department of Education for his work at East High School.

U of M says extra week will give it more time to work out logistics of having more students on campus. 

A teachers' group is urging the state to speed up the phase-out of Tennessee’s Achievement School District and return those schools, most of them in Memphis, to their local school districts.

The seven public school systems in Shelby County opened in one way or another before the Labor Day weekend with plans that vary to some degree.

The information will be published and updated weekly by the state education department — not the health department — and will rely on reports from the state’s 147 school districts.

The school plans to finish the Fieldhouse in time for its 150th anniversary in 2021. It will be the home of CBHS basketball, a site for Catholic school system-wide gatherings and events for community supporters.

The venture started in 2017 with seed money from FedEx. Since then, it has employed 450 students and paid them more than $5.3 million.

No. 2 has long been Middle Tennessee State with more than 22,000 students.

The state’s Department of Education is expected to announce details Thursday about a plan to share COVID-19 school data, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn.

With coronavirus cases dropping, the University of Memphis may bring more students back to campus as early as Sept. 14, though the university says it may not be able to accommodate all faculty requests to return classes to campus.

The threshold is not as strict as a demand from teacher protesters who called for keeping all classes online until the county reported no new coronavirus cases for 14 days.

Assistant professor Shana Stoddard is helping students design antiviral compounds for COVID-19, raising the bar for what remote learning can be.

Shelby County Schools, for instance, is budgeted this academic year to receive $308 million in federal funds, more than a fifth of the district’s revenues.