As municipal schools across the county and state wrestle with the looming specter of COVID, one district is not worried about students catching the virus in class: Shelby County Schools. In July, Superintendent Joris Ray decided to go entirely virtual, and while that has created other challenges for parents and teachers, political analyst Otis Sanford says the main demographic served by public schools in Memphis is also more susceptible to complications from COVID. Protecting students was the right choice.
This week, Mayor Jim Strickland also announced a new advisory committee that will collect public input on police reform and make recommendations. Sanford questions whether younger people, especially those who have been out front since the Black Lives Matter protests began here, have been excluded from these early stages of the reform process.
