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The state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools will remain paused until at least December as a local lawsuit plays out.
Shelby County Chancery Judge JoeDae L. Jenkins did not rule Tuesday on state leaders’ requests to dismiss the district’s lawsuit and dissolve a temporary block of the takeover board that he first issued three weeks ago. That local pause happened only days after a federal judge allowed the oversight board to begin its work in mid-October.
Jenkins directed both parties to prepare further arguments for a Dec. 2 hearing that will help determine if the local court has jurisdiction over the case.
In its local lawsuit, MSCS is no longer alleging the state takeover law violates the Tennessee Constitution. The district argues that the takeover was implemented without evidence that the district qualified for it and that the takeover will irreparably harm district operations.
During Tuesday’s hearing, MSCS representative Allan Wade said the district did not meet four of the six student achievement criteria that would qualify a district for a state takeover by law when Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds sent a letter announcing state control on May 22.
Updated TCAP results and chronic absenteeism rates weren’t finalized in May, Wade argued, barring those two criteria from being considered. And the district hasn’t had more than two interim superintendents in the past four years, as the law stipulates – it’s only had two.
“These threshold questions have to be resolved before we get to the next level,” Wade said. “This is serious medicine, and it needs to be fully vetted if it’s going to survive.”
But defendants argue that those disputes over criteria should have been filed to the Tennessee Department of Education first, according to state law. State lawyer James Newsom argued Tuesday that those procedural missteps mean the case should be dismissed entirely and the amended complaint rejected.
“Changing the labels on the complaint does not cure the fatal structural defects that this complaint has,” Newsom said. “The plaintiffs filed under the wrong statute and in the wrong court.”
Jenkins said he wants both parties to present more “fine-tuned” arguments about those procedural questions in the next court hearing. For now, district leadership remains in limbo as the 2026-27 school year progresses.
It’s mostly unclear what changes the state takeover board will bring into MSCS if authorized to assume control. In an October meeting, oversight board members fast-tracked approval of key policies and processes to prove it was ready to begin its work in leading MSCS. Those plans, which included a draft approval process for contracts over $50,000 and the job description for an executive director, came from Tampa-based consulting firm MGT.
MGT worked behind the scenes to create documents for the oversight board while it was paused by federal court this summer, raising ethical questions from one board member during October’s meeting. The group was hired by private donors, including local nonprofit and pro-takeover group Seeding Success.
In a preliminary 90-day plan for MSCS, MGT advised the oversight board to appoint a new superintendent by December. But firing MSCS Superintendent Roderick Richmond would put the local board on the hook for paying out nearly $500,000 of his three-year contract.
Richmond told Chalkbeat Tennessee in an interview on Monday that he’s not focusing on hypotheticals.
“Today, I’m the superintendent,” he said. “Until God or someone that governs this district says otherwise, I’m going to get up each and every day and do my very, very best to support teaching and learning for our wonderful district and community.”
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.
