Elected officials questioned on education, criminal justice at MICAH annual meeting

Niki Scheinberg, Memphis Commercial Appeal
·2 min read

The Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope hosted its fifth annual public meeting Sunday, inviting elected officials to attend and publicly commit to the organization's asks regarding the school district's search for a new Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent and changes to the criminal justice system.

Officials who attended included some MSCS board members, District Attorney Steve Mulroy and Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon. They were permitted to answer only yes or no to the questions. A few were given time for a short statement after.

MSCS board members Althea Greene, Amber Huett-Garcia, Frank Johnson and Keith Williams accepted MICAH's invitation and appeared onstage to pledge their commitment to a transparent and complete search for a superintendent to replace Joris Ray, who left the position in August amid allegations of abuse of power.

"We stand in agreement the community will have a vital part in this search," said Greene, who will lead the search as board chair. "I stand with my colleagues to say integrity, transparency and my prayer at the end of the day is that we will put the best man or woman as the superintendent of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools. We want the best in front of our children, in front of our parents and 100% in front of this community."

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School board members also pledged to follow MSCS policy in creating and executing a plan for recruiting the new superintendent.

MICAH's ask was a response to concerns from community members about the rapid turnover of superintendents over the past several years and lack of transparency in the selection process.

In addition to education, discussions about criminal justice were a prominent part of the meeting. Mulroy and Sugarmon pledged their support to such criminal justice reforms as the establishment of a conviction review unit and decreasing juvenile transfers to criminal court.

During his statement, Mulroy said he already had teams working on both issues and intends to have new policies in place by the end of the year.

The meeting also included presentations about other community issues MICAH has addressed, such as public transit and housing development.

Niki Scheinberg is the FedEx and logistics reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at monika.scheinberg@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: MICAH questions officials on superintendent search, justice reforms