SUPPORT FOR HOMELESS STUDENTS: ASSISTANCE WITH PROGRAM FEES

If you have students experiencing homelessness who are being asked to pay fees to participate in school programs, please know that our office can assist with covering those costs. This also applies to cap and gown fees for high school graduation.

To request payment, please follow-up with the school’s Financial Secretary to coordinate submission of a completed Payment Request Form along with a detailed description of the fees.

For additional information or assistance, please contact Karen Ball-Johnson at ballkf@scsk12.org or call 901-416-7393.

Homeless Student Referral Information

To ensure timely support, all McKinney-Vento referral forms have been uploaded to the Special Populations SharePoint. In order for services to be initiated, a completed referral must be submitted to our office. Once received, a team member will contact the parent or caretaker within 48–72 hours. Please use the SharePoint link below to access the referral forms.  

MSCS Displaced Referral Forms.pdf

Greetings Elementary and K-8 Principals,

Identified students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade at your school will participate in During the Day (DTD) Tutoring, a program designed to support their academic needs and accelerate learning. The DTD tutoring program began on Monday, September 15, 2025, for all Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

During the Day Tutoring Coordinators participated in training sessions that outlined all program expectations. To support successful implementation, the Office of Extended Learning will continue to host office hours. A list of students required to participate in tutoring is provided below.

During the Day Tutoring Fast Facts:

• Program Dates: Monday, September 15, 2025 – Friday, April 10, 2026
• Participants: Identified 3rd- through 5th-grade students (required)
• Focus: ELA content
• Ratio: 1 tutor per 3 students
• Frequency: Minimum of two 30-minute sessions per week
• Tutors: Specialized Education Assistants
• List of Required Students: 2025 - 2026 DTD Student List 9 8 25.xlsx

If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie McClain (mcclainsl@scsk12.org) or Denise Swan (swand@scsk12.org).

Per Policy #6065, the Office of Student Leadership will offer training for middle and high schools to beginning SGA & Student Council advisors. 

Participants will receive a step-by-step implementation plan to help schools establish a successful SGA and/or Student Council. A calendar of upcoming events (local and statewide) will be provided, in addition to information on fundraising, team-building, and community service projects.

Date:            Tuesday, October 7, 2025 *New Date*

Time:            3:15 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Location:      Central High School (Library), 306 South Bellevue

PLZ Course: 48754

PURPOSE:   To provide guidelines for the operation of student councils in each of the district’s middle and high schools.

Please be sure to review Student Government (Policy 6065).

This policy applies to middle schools and high schools. ​

Each school shall establish an elected student council. The council shall be governed by its own constitution, which shall be approved by the school principal. Defining the council’s jurisdiction shall be a joint and cooperative effort of the council, students, and the student government constitution.

Sign-Up Link: https://forms.office.com/r/kx9gwvLFxV

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Billy J. Walker, II <Walkerbj@scsk12.org>.

Freedom Award Student Forum

The National Civil Rights Museum’s Freedom Award Student Forum is a celebration for and by young trailblazers. Presented by FedEx and Ford Philanthropy, this year’s hybrid event is open to school groups nationally as an opportunity for educators and students in 5th-12th grade to be inspired by the purpose-driven lives of Freedom Award honorees. The Student Forum is being held at 10 a.m. (Central), October 16, 2025, at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, 70 N. Bellevue Blvd., Memphis. 

The Freedom Award Student Forum will feature its distinguished Freedom Award honorees. The Museum extends the invitation for classrooms virtually to engage, via a moderated YouTube chat room, with up to 2,500 in-person students and educators. Teachers and youth group leaders who plan to have their students experience the Student Forum must register by September 26, 2025.

Registration: https://form.typeform.com/to/oGEUoeQF?typeform-source=civilrightsmuseum.org

Keepers of the Dream Nomination

The National Civil Rights Museum is pleased to sponsor the Keeper of the Dream Award. The Keeper of the Dream Award is a public recognition of selected youth in grades 6-12 that celebrates and recognizes the hard work and dedication of young people who take action and demonstrate a commitment to ensuring equal rights and opportunities for others.

The Keeper of the Dream Award parallels the National Civil Rights Museum  Freedom Award, which is bestowed upon individuals who have forged paths to expand freedom and opportunities for all people. The student winners of the Keeper of the Dream Award will be honored at the 2025 Freedom Award Student Forum scheduled for October 16, 2025. Nomination deadline is September 26, 2025.

Award Eligibility Requirements

•      Nominee must not have reached their 19th birthday before  October 16, 2025. 

•      Nominee must reside in the Mid-South (TN, MS, AR).

•     Nominee must not be a child or relative of an employee of the National Civil Rights Museum. 

•     Nominee must be in 6th-12th grade in the current school year.

•     Past winners of the Keeper of the Dream award are not eligible to win. 

•      A relative or family member of the student may not  nominate a student or make recommendations. 

•      For selected students, their parent or guardian must sign a media release and give the Keeper of the Dream Review    Committee permission to 1) confirm the student’s school enrollment and 2) review the student’s social media presence. 

Link for more information: https://civilrightsmuseum.org/freedom-award/student-forum/keeper-of-the-dream/

Tennessee Department of Education- United States Senate Youth Program

Qualifying high school juniors or seniors can apply to be selected to participate in the 2026 United States Senate Youth Program. Apply by Sept. 22! Qualification criteria, application materials, and more can be found here: https://www.tn.gov/education/students/opportunities-for-students.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawE-tJRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZkhVdMnH7fRWbqlYfrAzRZPmrfwU7rx6q53nv68fc3tu_-N6j3sNYpZUg_aem_STno1QFdAGCZNvTQPzw_Pw

Tennessee Department of Education- Governor's School

Applications for the 2026 Governor's Schools open Oct. 1! Spend next summer gaining knowledge & skills in your field of interest. Submission information and critical deadlines will be posted on each of the Governor’s Schools webpages. More details here: https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/education/districts/instruction/tdoe-governors-schools.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawFFwnBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVAqv5AvSjhoxImnNGr5kDUm80TNcSWoDLjjTywKsciyAOGSNI-jDoI3dA_aem__9bd1YautMz6-Rl_rG9SdA

Greatness Grows Here

Office of Enrollment and Attendance 

Attendance Procedures and Reminders

Here Today, Ready for Tomorrow: A Plan for Boosting Attendance

• As we continue to celebrate September Attendance Awareness Month, we know increasing regular student attendance is a team effort. We all play a part in creating a welcoming environment. While we consistently face attendance challenges, we've noticed a significant drop on Mondays and Fridays. A strong start and finish to the week are crucial for keeping students engaged and on track. We encourage you to get creative and implement positive incentives to motivate your students.

Engage and Energize Students

• Start and End Strong: Make Mondays and Fridays especially engaging. Kick off Monday with a fun, collaborative activity or a short class meeting to set a positive tone. On Fridays, wrap up the week with a review game, a fun project, or a "show and tell" of student work.
• Students are more likely to attend when they feel a strong connection to the adults and their peers. Greet students at the door, check in with those who have been absent, and foster a classroom environment where every student feels seen and valued.
• Highlight the "Why": Remind students of how important attendance is for their academic success and social development. When they understand how each day builds on the last, they may feel more motivated to attend.

Offer Incentives

• Sometimes, a little extra motivation goes a long way. Consider these ideas to reward students for consistent attendance:
• Offer incentives that directly benefit students' grades, such as extra credit or bonus points on their lowest test or assignment grade.
• A single homework pass is a low-cost, high-reward incentive that students love.
• Reward classes or individual students with a jeans day or the opportunity to listen to music while they work.
• Offer free snacks, a pizza party, or a small prize from a prize box for classes with the best attendance.

Communicate and Collaborate 

• A quick call or email home on Monday to a student who was absent on Friday shows you care and helps parents stay on top of attendance issues.
• Coordinate with other teachers in your grade level or department to offer cross-curricular incentives. For example, a student with perfect attendance in all classes for a week could earn a special reward.
• We can all learn from each other. If you find a strategy that works well for you, please share it with the rest of the staff!

Let's work together to create a culture where being at school every day is the norm.

Show Up for Greatness: Attendance Monitoring and Recognition

• Our first 20-day school attendance period ended on August 29. Please ensure that all necessary student supports have been documented within the Show Up for Greatness Application App. All administrative staff should have access to the platform link, as this remains a mandatory requirement.
• For any questions, please email us at studentservices@scsk12.org.
• By consistently entering attendance data for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers every 20 days, we can proactively monitor attendance trends and identify where additional support may be needed.
• Gold : 96% or higher
• Silver : 91% to 95%
• Bronze : 90% or less
• Attendance progress will also be reflected in student reports and report cards, ensuring transparent communication with parents and guardians.

Attendance Reconciliation Model for Improving Student Attendance

• This initiative establishes a consistent framework for monitoring and supporting student attendance, aligning with MSCS district policies to improve overall attendance rates.

Key Responsibilities

Teachers

• Daily Attendance Recording: Teachers are required to accurately record student attendance in PowerSchool SIS within the first ten minutes of each class or school day.

Attendance Clerks/Clerical Assistants/GOS

• Daily Verification: Verify teacher attendance submissions and print, review, and file the daily Absentee Report.
• Check-Ins/Outs Management: Monitor and record all student check-ins and check-outs in PowerSchool SIS.
• Parent Note Processing: Collect, enter into PowerSchool SIS, and file all handwritten parent notes.
• Record attendance for absent teachers and placeholders.

Attendance Liaisons

• Process all electronic parent notes submitted via the Student Absence Form.
• Confirm that all attendance codes (e.g., AC, PC) are updated and used correctly.
• Assist schools with the organization and filing of hard-copy documents, including parent notes, absentee reports, and check-in/out sheets.
• Within PowerSchool SIS, verify the correct use of withdrawal codes and comments, monitor "Teachers Missing Attendance" reports, and ensure the proper use of attendance codes.
• Monitor chronic absenteeism and truancy, collaborating with Family Engagement Specialists, Counselors, Administrators, Student Experiences and others to identify and address family-related barriers to attendance.
• Assist with the implementation of the Parent Student Support Plan (PSSP).
• Engage parents in the "Show Up for Greatness" attendance initiative.
• Participate in CompStat report-outs to provide regular updates on attendance data and efforts.

Student Absence Form Available via PowerSchool Parent Portal

• Please be advised that the Student Absence Form is available for all parents through the PowerSchool Parent Portal. This online form allows parents to easily notify the school of their child’s absence directly from their mobile devices or computers. Parents can also track the status of their absence submission by returning to the portal.

Keep your Contact Information Updated

• To ensure the safety of all students, staff will verify parent or guardian contact information at every check-in and check-out for all students. This is a critical step in keeping our emergency contacts accurate and up to date.

District Attendance Initiative: Show Up for Greatness!

• Our new attendance initiative is designed to support a regional service delivery model and strengthen tiered interventions:

Tiered Intervention Model:

• Tier 1: Show Up for Greatness
• Tier 2: Everyday Counts– NEW partnership with the Assisi Foundation and Attendance Works
• Tier 3: Be Present. Be Great.

• We are also improving alignment between Attendance & Truancy Liaisons and RTI-B Specialists to maximize effectiveness in reducing chronic absenteeism and truancy.

Truancy Outreach: Greatness at Your Door 2.0

As we intensify our focus on reducing truancy, schools must prioritize identifying students who are chronically absent, defined as five or more unexcused absences.  Early outreach and intervention are essential to re-engage students before absenteeism escalates.  A Parent Student Support Plan (PSSP) is required for every student who accumulates five absences whether excused or unexcused.  The PSSP serves as a proactive tool to address barriers, strengthen family engagement, and support consistent attendance. 

• As we address truancy, our focus will be on students who have not re-enrolled and are marked as no-shows.  These students must be identified early for outreach.
• Prepare for home outreach visits later this month through Greatness at Your Door 2.0

• Monitor your withdrawal list from PowerSchool

Enrollment Procedures and Reminders

• First impressions matter. Please ensure staff are welcoming, knowledgeable, and equipped to assist with enrollment needs. Most issues can be resolved at the school level. Families should not be turned away.
• District-level support is available. The Enrollment & Attendance Office will assist with complex cases involving school assignments, truancy clearance, Eligible Circumstance transfers and other matters.

Kindergarten Age Requirement:

• Children must be 5 years old on or before August 15 of the current school year to be eligible for kindergarten enrollment.
• The enrollment period for new kindergarteners who were not previously enrolled closed after the first 30 days of the school year. (September 12, 2025)
• Previously enrolled kindergarteners may be accepted at any time.

September Events

• September 24: 1st 20-days student recognitions
• September 30: Greatness at Your Door 2.0 (SE/NE Region)

October Events

• October 7: Attendance Liaison Monthly Meeting (All Regions) | 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• October 9: Attendance Practices and Processes Training | 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Location: TTC
• October 23: Be Present. Be Great – Parent Meeting (Memphis Sports & Events Center)

Report Updates:

• The Show Up for Greatness report is being updated with new business rules. A student’s category is based on their cumulative attendance rate for the year.

• Historical data from last year is available. Attendance categories in the historical data will adhere to the attendance rate cuts from that year. New data will populate the day after each 20-day period ends.
• Everyone with MSCS Compass access, including School Administrators, can see this report. See the user guide for more information.
   

• The Attendance Reconciliation Report has been updated to focus primarily on PC (Present by Calculation) and AC (Absent by Calculation) codes. With this report, school staff can see which students are still showing these codes to facilitate cleaning up in PowerSchool. See the user guide for more information.

Data Quality: 

• The RTI2-A Dashboard is now populating the most recent TNPulse RTI-2 data. If you do not see any RTI-2 plan data in the dashboard, please check your TNPulse B5 report and confirm in TNPulse that students’ plans are active. 
   

Featured Report:

• The School Information dashboard has been updated for 2025-2026. You can see: Principal contact information, school addresses, the most recent State Letter Grades, assigned Region & ILCs, and each school’s calendar (with in-session days for each school). If you have previously used the Core File developed by the Research and Performance Management Department, you can get that from here. Historical data is also available.
   

Upcoming Training Sessions:

• Check out our Training Calendar for all upcoming District Trainings.
   
• Sign up for Virtual Office Hours!
  • No VOH this week due to Leadership Development Week. But we will be back next week with sessions on the Student Attendance: Show Up for Greatness and Attendance Reconciliation Reports.
  • For more information on Virtual Office Hours, check out this flyer! Sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 PM on Microsoft Teams. 
     
• New to Power BI? Sign Up for a Power BI New User Training session. Look for Course Code 34810 in PLZ to sign up.
• Refresher Sessions are available for anyone who attended the New User Training previously and wants more advanced skills. Look for Course Code 34812 in PLZ to sign up.

Monthly Newsletter and Support: 

• Check your inbox! On the first Wednesday of every month, the DAIM team sends out a monthly newsletter to all Power BI users. In it, you will find more information on upcoming trainings, new releases, and how-to guides. 
   
• To see this month’s edition (and all archived editions), visit our support page.
   
• Check out our page of new/updated features and releases on our DAIM Support Page!
   
• You can reach out to us at DAIMSUPPORT@scsk12.org  if you need support.

The Q1 Report Card period ends Friday, October 3. Report Cards are no longer required to be mailed. However, Q1 Report Cards should be printed and handed to students to take on home Wednesday, October 22. Parents will continue to be able to view the grades in the Parent Portal as well. The Q1 Report Card Checklist is available here. This document outlines the teacher and school office staff’s responsibilities for verifying and finalizing Q1 Report Cards. If you have any questions, please contact your assigned SIS Data Specialist/Analyst.

Important Dates:

• Quarter 1 End Date: October 3, 2025
• Quarter 2 Start Date: October 6, 2025
• Fall Break: October 13-17, 2025
• Distribution Date of Report Cards and Available via Parent Portal: October 22, 2025

Textbook Services has successfully completed deliveries for elementary, middle, and high schools. We are now moving into the next phase, which includes teacher resources and instructional kits. This phase involves the distribution of teacher resource packets as well as instructional kits.

An email will be sent out regarding the inventory of all science materials in the ClassGather textbook automation platform. This message will be shared with all textbook coordinators and posted in the Textbook Services Teams Channel, outlining the proper steps for inventorying all science materials into the new system.

For now, materials may be labeled and distributed, but schools should ensure that a record is maintained for all new materials. Please look for the upcoming email for the Textbook coordinators.

If your school has not yet selected a textbook coordinator, please complete this task in the Leadership Launchpad under the School-Based Directory Operations.

Thank you for your support and patience as we work to ensure every school has the materials needed for a smooth transition to the new Science adoption.

For questions, please contact:

Dr. Rahmod Traylor, traylorr@scsk12.org  

Tiara Oliver OLIVERT4@scsk12.org 

Dr. Amy Maples MAPLESA@scsk12.org  

Please review the MTSS Lead Weekly Updates for the week of September 22.

Per the guidance of the TDOE, ESL "Push-in" is no longer an approved model for the primary hour of ESL Services but can be used as a second hour of support. In contrast, Co-Teaching can be used as the primary hour of ESL Services but requires evidence of co-planning built into the teacher's schedule. For questions or concerns, please reach out to your ESL Advisor. 

ILP Monitoring Forms for English Learners and Transitional 1 & 2 students were originally released on September 3. Due to a syncing glitch, all original Forms were closed and archived. New ILP Monitoring Forms were then released on September 15 and must be completed by September 30 in ELLevation. Monitoring Forms are integral to our student support systems and required by Federal and State guidelines. Please make every effort to help your teachers complete these monitoring forms by the due date. 

All high schools are encouraged to hold quarterly ESL data meetings in support of the ML Academic Success Assurance Protocol (ML ASAP). Recommended participants include the ESL Teacher(s), PLC Coach and/or Instructional Facilitator, Content Area Leads. Counselors and Administrators are encouraged to participate as well. The Q1 ESL Data Meeting Template can be found here. For questions, reach out to Michael Cortez, cortezl@scsk12.org, or Melissa Basel, delahuntym@scsk12.org.   

In-Person PDs are offered at the Office of Multilingual Learners (OML) unless otherwise indicated - 3030 Jackson Ave, Memphis, TN 38122  

September 30 – ESL  101 Work Session for New/Novice ESL Teachers, "Collaborative Planning," In-Person, 4-5:30 PM  

October 1 – Flashlight 360, In-Person, 3-4:30 PM 

October 2 – ELD/ELA Standards Crosswalk Training, [Virtual] 3:30-4:30 PM 

November 13-15 – TNTESOL Conference at the Sheraton Hotel and Renasant Convention Center, Memphis  

October 1 is the deadline to finalize the student count for the TDOE. The district’s EL count will not include students who are not identified and properly coded in EIS by October 1. Please work with your ESL teachers to ensure students are identified and screened by this date.