Williams confirmed a new 10-year facilities plan. ( You can watch the full address online here.)įor teachers, the district plans to invest $27 million in teacher pay, a move that will bump up starting salaries. Williams spent much of the 90-minute address explaining district plans for issues of interest to key constituencies in the district, in the business community and among Shelby County and City of Memphis leadership. The setting was meant to show that the district could be a “good steward of the resources that we already have,” Cathryn Stout, the district’s chief of communications, explained during a preview of the address. The house lights stayed on, and attendees went home with stationery sets featuring student artwork. Williams’ speech at the district’s Teaching and Learning Academy auditorium had the feel of an elevated school assembly, unlike the more lavish hotel ballroom addresses of Ray’s tenure. It has to be a community effort,” Williams said. “What transforming the 901 is about is a long term, thoughtful, shared vision for rebuilding this community, including wraparound services, community schools, expanding pre-K and after-school programs …. Rather than “Reimagining 901,” a tagline Ray used to describe a facilities and academics plan, Williams spoke of “transforming the 901.” Williams’ theme for the address was “triumphant together,” a nod to the district’s calls for community members to help remove the often poverty-related barriers Memphis students and families face outside school. She added: “But there will be other opportunities to answer that question.” “I want to just stay focused on, you know, really today’s message.” “I don’t want today to be about me,” Williams said. After her address today, she demurred when Chalkbeat asked whether she had applied or been interviewed for the role. In the months after she was appointed, Williams appeared to soften her stance against seeking the permanent job. Williams used the annual state-of-the-district address Tuesday to review the results of her six months leading the district, following the departure of Superintendent Joris Ray, and to outline a vision for the future of the district. Finalists will be interviewed publicly on April 21 and 22. The search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, will interview 12 candidates by Thursday afternoon and is expected to deliver a slate of three finalists to the school board in April. The school board, working with a national search firm, has been soliciting applicants for that post since March 1, and is in the process of narrowing its list of candidates to a small group of finalists. Williams also implicitly made her case to be considered a candidate in the search for Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ next superintendent, a position she once said she had no interest in assuming on a permanent basis. In a speech reflecting on the recent school year and teasing budget priorities for the coming one, interim Memphis schools leader Toni Williams described a district on the rise, with big decisions ahead about improving facilities, literacy and safety.
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