Dear Principals,

We hope that you have had a productive week. As we continue to strive for excellence in our educational practices, we are pleased to inform you about the upcoming Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) support sessions organized by Performance & Leadership Development. These sessions are designed to provide ILT members with the necessary tools and strategies to enhance instructional leadership within your schools.

Upcoming Support Sessions:

1. Implementing High Impact Strategies

• Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025, (Make-Up Session) Implementing High Impact Instructional Strategies
• Time: 4:30pm-5:30pm (All ILT Grade-bands)- TLA Auditorium
• Location: Teaching & Learning Academy Auditorium/Multipurpose Room located at 2485 Union Avenue, Memphis TN, 38112

2. Save the Dates for Future ILT Support Sessions (In-person meetings)

• May 1, 2025

Documentation Deadlines:

To ensure we are all aligned and prepared for Spring 2025 ILT Stipend Submission, please be reminded of the following documentation deadlines:

• Spring 2025 ILT Teacher Logs and ILT Stipend Excel Sheet: Due by May 2, 2025 (Any schools submitting documents after this deadline will waive their semester stipends.)
• Spring 2025 Teacher Log dates should reflect: January 6-May 2, 2025
  • The ILT Support Session, Data Driven Instruction Cycle that occurred on December 5, 2024, can be included as (1) hour on the ILT Content Teacher Log for the Spring 2025 semester.
• ILT Semester Hours: ILT Content Lead Teachers must complete and submit to their respective principal by the deadline at least (22) hours per semester conducted and logged outside of the allotted (contractual) school day to be eligible for the semester stipend.
• Mandatory Attendance: ILT Content Lead Teachers must attend all Instructional Leadership Team meetings and all District-level Content Support Session meetings to be eligible for the semester stipend.

Below is a link to our ILT Principal Resource Folder for your reference: 

Principal Resources 2024-25

Your timely submission of these documents and attention to due dates is crucial for the success of our collaborative efforts. Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at iltstipends@scsk12.org.

Thank you for your continued dedication and hard work. We look forward to supporting you and your ILT teams by working together to achieve our district’s priority goals.

Best regards,

Performance & Leadership Development Team

It's time to celebrate the exceptional leaders within MSCS! Nominations are officially open for the 2025 Principal of the Year and Supervisor of the Year Awards.

This is your chance to nominate a principal or supervisor who has made a real difference in the lives of our students, supported our families, and positively contributed to our community. Let's recognize their hard work and dedication!

You can find all the information you need to nominate a superb educational leader through the links below:

Principal of the Year Nominations

Supervisor of the Year Nominations

Best regards,

Performance and Leadership Development 

Leaders, the SEAs have completed their 6-session series, and we are eager to understand how they are transforming in their roles to better support our students. To evaluate the effectiveness of the training, the SEAs completed exit tickets and surveys. However, we would also like to gather feedback from the teachers and school leaders who work closely with them for a more comprehensive perspective.

Please take a moment to complete the Leader Survey below and share the Teacher Survey with teachers who collaborate with SEAs.

Leader Survey: https://bit.ly/4cbVDM8

Teacher Survey: https://bit.ly/41XfDxc

Additionally, you can find a summary of the SEA training and their next steps below:

SEA Training Summary: https://bit.ly/4hI8uqs

Summer Learning Academy: If your school building is hosting SLA this summer, your SEAs will remain in the school building for SLA support. SEAs from other schools will be assigned to your school for additional support. If your school is not hosting SLA this summer, your SEAs will be assigned to a nearby feeder school to support SLA. If you have any questions regarding SEAs, please contact Heba Sammour at SAMMOURH@SCSK12.ORG.

Please find the MTSS Lead Weekly Updates for the week of April 7, 2025.

The Shelby County Youth Council is a representative body for all 13 districts within Shelby County that aims to ensure that government representatives listen and respond to youth voices. As well as include high school aged youth in decision-making processes, solve issues that youth have identified in the community, and strengthen youth engagement in the county government.

Earlier this spring SCYC hosted a Youth Voice Summit where over 250 youth were in attendance that came together to create solutions to issues around Mental Health, Violence and Public safety,  Education, and Things for youth to do in Memphis and Shelby County. You can read about the summit here from our local media outlets, Wreg and WMC.

Following this Summit, SCYC took the findings from this event and Went before the County Commission and the School Board to share some of those recommendations, during their scheduled meetings.    

Now the council is gearing up for the next year, and they are looking for youth to join them. We have open spots for Shelby County districts  2,4,5,6,7, 8, 9, 11, and 12! Please share this information with young people in your networks! The deadline to apply has been extended to accept applications on a rolling basis until all spots are filled. 

More Information Here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J5Y68jOAEOEk1jWwfBkAll4n-gRHTO9g/view?usp=sharing

The AHZ DOVE Foundation, Inc. & Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc Rho Gamma Chapter's annual ACT Prep Workshop will be held on Saturday, April 19th. The first 25 students to sign up and attend the workshop will receive a free ACT prep guidebook!

RSVP today: https://tinyurl.com/2n7y6d7c

Each year the Tennessee School Boards Association recognizes students from across the state who have distinguished themselves in academics, community and service activities, and leadership roles and activities.

Superintendents, school board members, or district directors are encouraged to help acknowledge the achievements of Tennessee’s students. High School leaders are asked to identify one student for the nomination.  Nominees must be juniors in Tennessee public schools at the time of the application deadline. To nominate a student, please complete the MSCS form linked below. 

Students will later be submitted for nomination to TSBA. Once submitted, TSBA staff will contact the student nominee to let them know they have been nominated and provide them with the instructions on how to complete the application process.

Awards will be given in each of the nine districts at the TSBA Fall District Meetings. The nine district winners will be asked to write a 1,000 word essay on a selected TSBA topic to be considered for the statewide overall winner. To determine a statewide winner, the nine (9) district winners will be interviewed by a committee appointed by the TSBA President. The statewide winner will be recognized at the TSBA Awards Ceremony of the Annual Convention in November and awarded a $2,000 scholarship.

Link to form (requires MSCS sign-in): https://forms.office.com/r/ZVXnRTLyEq

MSCS Deadline: April 17, 2025

The yearly TCAP testing window is approaching. Starting April 14th, all MSCS students will take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) test.

To maintain proper test security, it is ideal test security protocol to have a second adult (proctor) in each testing room, such as a second teacher or a volunteer proctor who assists the test administrator. While volunteer proctors cannot handle test materials, they can help monitor the room during testing. Each school will have its own testing schedule, so please coordinate accordingly.

To ensure we are following all security protocols, it is important that all volunteer proctors are screened appropriately. Please have your volunteer proctors follow these steps:

Visit: https://scsk12.org/face/level2

Click on the link in Step 2 and watch the 6-minute orientation video

Click the APPLICATION tab to begin the online volunteer application

Select the school building that you will report to.

Under Volunteer Function, select Test Monitor/Proctor (Level 2)

Once approved, the volunteer will receive an automated email notification. 

Calling all educators! The 2025 Beautify Your School Contest is back and accepting applications through May 1! All schools and grades Pre-K-12 are invited to participate.

Sponsored by Memphis City Beautiful, WREG News Channel 3 and Landers Ford Collierville, Beautify Your School is a cleanup and beautification competition that challenges schools to improve their surroundings and engage their students in environmental programs. Showcase your gardens, outdoor classrooms, sustainability efforts, and more!

Cash prizes and trophies are awarded to winning schools, and five representatives from the first-place schools of each category are featured on WREG’s Live at 9!

Learn more or download the entry form to get started: https://memphiscitybeautiful.org/beautify-your-school/.

Memphis Redbirds will be hosting Education Days during the month of May featuring expert-led, hands-on discovery activities for students. School teams may utilize Discovering Memphis funding for this opportunity ($10/student). As a reminder, food purchases are not allowable through this funding. 

-Weather Day: Thursday, May 1 a 11:05a.m. Enjoy pregame, on field experiments led by the local weather team

-STEM Day: Wednesday, May 14 at 12:05p.m. Explore different careers in STEM by talking to experts in their respective fields

-Optometry Day: Thursday, May 15 at 11:05a.m. Learn about eye safety with a pregame presentation from doctors at Southern College of Optometry

For more information: https://www.milb.com/memphis/tickets/education-days