Who else will join the MSCS board this month? Meet the applicants

The three people vying for the open seat on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board are all current or former Memphis teachers and natives of the city.

Longtime school board member Miska Clay Bibbs, now vice chair of the Shelby County Commission, vacated the District 7 seat in September upon her election to the commission.

The Commercial Appeal obtained a list of applicants for the MSCS seat, which represents neighborhoods in southeastern Memphis and Shelby County.

The applicants are Frank Johnson, an environmental justice organizer and former teacher; Terrell Mitchell Sr., an elementary charter schoolteacher; and Jason Sharif, a former teacher and founder of RESPECT the Haven, a Whitehaven community development corporation.

Shelby County Commissioners plan to interview the candidates and select an appointee later this month on Oct. 17. The person selected will make the MSCS body whole as it embarks on its search for a permanent superintendent.

The board selected Toni Williams, the district's chief financial officer, as its interim superintendent in late August, a week after voting on former Superintendent Joris Ray's exit. The vote to accept the exit package included an 18-month severance payment and the suspension of an external investigation.

Whoever the commission appoints will be the third new member on the nine-member board this fall.

Read more about the candidate, listed in alphabetical order by last name, below.

Frank Johnson

Frank Johnson is an environmental justice advocate who credits his knowledge of and interest in Memphis' issues with what he learned after stumbling into a teaching at LaRose Elementary School.

"Actually working with children and teaching children ended up leading into other work surrounding their health," Johnson, president of the Alcy-Ball Community Association, told The Commercial Appeal in a phone interview about his application.

In 2014, Johnson was working with the Black Alliance for Educational Options, a now-defunct organization advocating for public school choice, when he became a substitute teacher in Memphis. By 2016, he was a teacher at LaRose, where he taught for four years.

Johnson wants to rethink school testing requirements and focus on students' needs outside the classroom, too.

“If you want these kids to excel, you have to deal with their issues," he said. "If you refuse to deal with their issues, they’re not going to excel.”

If appointed, Johnson would begin a listening tour of schools in District 7, to hear their problems and preferred solutions in their own words.

His previous work in politics include an unsuccessful bid for Memphis City Council in 2019, and work on U.S. Senate candidate Marquita Bradshaw's 2020 election campaign and former Nashville mayor Karl Dean's gubernatorial campaign in 2018 against current Gov. Bill Lee.

Terrell Mitchell Sr.

Terrell Mitchell Sr. became a teacher in the 2014-2015 school year and continues teaching today.

Inspired by his mom who worked in education, Mitchell made a career changed to become a teacher.

He taught his first year at a school in the MSCS iZone, which provides additional resources to some of the lowest performing schools in the district. Now, he teaches at Southern Avenue Charter School, an elementary school chartered by MSCS.

"It was eye-opening," he said of his first year on the job. "Teachers work hard. It’s a lot of work building a relationship with students, just knowing where they are and some of the challenges they’re facing, not just academically but socially.”

As a board member, he would approach the role from his experience teaching, being a parent to an MSCS student and being a former student of the Memphis school district.

Mitchell said he believes the board could benefit from a fresh perspective, and he would prioritize collaboration across the education community and retaining teachers.

Jason Sharif

Jason Sharif is a longtime youth advocate who has worked for the state, schools and community organizations over the last 20 years.

“My heart is in the work," Sharif told The Commercial Appeal. "I love the kids. Education is important.”

Currently, Sharif is a neighborhood organizer with Whole Child Strategies Inc., a nonprofit focused on removing barriers for kids to get to and succeed in school. He is also the founder of RESPECT the Haven, a Whitehaven community development corporation.

Sharif said he lives in the southeastern edge of the neighborhood, which is part of MSCS District 7. He previously worked for 10 years with the Department of Children's Services until 2011, then left Memphis for a few years before returning in 2019 to be with family.

From 2019 until 2021 he was a teacher at Craigmont Middle School, where he gathered a new appreciation for the work teachers do. He also started the Boys and Girls Club at Westwood High School.

As a board member, he would prioritize improving literacy resources, retaining teachers and increasing school and community engagement.

“Of course right now we’re in a unique situation because we don’t have a full time superintendent," Sharif said. "The number one role of a board member is to hire the superintendent, and then to hold that superintendent accountable for the vision set for the district.”

Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Who else will join the MSCS board this month? Meet the applicants