MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Community leaders and stakeholders held a community forum Thursday at Greer Chapel AME Church on Chelsea Ave.
20 candidates are running for five of the nine seats on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board that remain up for grabs. Memphis For All said they invited all current board members running for reelection and the new candidates.
With the August 1 election right around the corner, candidates discussed their ideas for a better MSCS.
“I think we have a lot of agreement, children being our greatest resource, and we got to protect them," attendee Brandon Wallace said. "We got to safeguard them, and we got a lot going on in Memphis, a lot of things we can improve on.”
During a time of unprecedented transition for the state’s largest district under brand new leadership, many of those present were concerned about ensuring that leadership focused more on the district's nearly 110,000 students.
“They talked about the state and their dictation over what kind of education that the children in the city of Memphis is going to have, and a lot of the candidates agreed that this needs to stay local," parent Dwayne Murrell said.
In the last year, the current board delayed the search for a new superintendent after superintendent Joris Ray resigned in a scandal in 2022.
In April, Dr. Marie Feagins took the helm of MSCS, and in the first three months, cut jobs and got a $1.8 billion budget approved.
Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 seats are all up for grabs. Here are the candidates:
District 2
- Ernest Gillespie III
- Althea Greene (incumbent)
- Natalie McKinney
District 3
- Jesse Jeff
- Stephanie Love (incumbent)
- Ozell Pace Jr.
- Angela Rogers
District 4
- James Q. Bacchus
- Eric Harris
- Tamarques Porter
- Anecia Washington
- Alvin Crook
In this district, the current board member Kevin Woods is not seeking reelection.
District 5
- Mauricio Calvo (incumbent)
- Audrey Elion
- Sable Otey
- Porsha Goodman
District 7
- Danielle Huggins
- Frank Johnson (incumbent)
- Towanna Murphy
- Jason Sharif
- Chavez Donelson