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← Back to Shelby County, Tennessee: Election on 2026-05-05

Contest for County School Board District 1

Shelby County School Board 1
primary - Partisan - County School Board Division 1

About this office

Members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Board of Education are elected from nine districts covering all of Shelby County. The board hires and evaluates the superintendent, adopts district policies, reviews and approves the school-district budget, and sets the district's goals. Board members are elected officials, not district employees; as of 2025 they are limited to two consecutive four-year terms. Regular business meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month at the Frances E. Coe Administration Building, with a preceding work session.

Compensation: members receive a per-meeting stipend set by county government; state law requires a minimum of $4/day (T.C.A. Β§ 49-2-202).

Term length: 4 years.

This role calls for

  • Policy judgment on a large urban district β€” Memphis-Shelby County Schools serves roughly 110,000 students across more than 200 schools, with a budget over a billion dollars.
  • Budget literacy for both operating and capital budgets, in coordination with the County Commission (which appropriates) and the Tennessee Department of Education.
  • Ability to hire, evaluate, and when necessary replace the superintendent β€” historically the highest-stakes recurring decision the board makes.
  • Constituent relations with parents, teachers, principals, and community members across an economically and racially diverse district.
  • Willingness to complete the state-required seven hours of annual training through the Tennessee School Boards Association School Board Academy.

Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.

Campaigns

Democratic Primary 3 candidates
Michelle McKissack

Michelle McKissack
πŸ‘ πŸ‘Ž 🀑 😑 🀷
McKissack serves on the Shelby County School Board since 2018, providing direct policy judgment for the district. Her tenure includes serving as a founding board member of Crosstown High School, where she helped develop curriculum and hire leaders. She previously represented Shelby County on the Tennessee Board of Education Parent Advisory Council, engaging in state-level constituent relations. As PTA president at Downtown Elementary, she organized fundraisers supporting school operations.
Hailey Marie Thomas

Hailey Marie Thomas
πŸ‘ πŸ‘Ž 🀑 😑 🀷
Described as an early career educator and classroom teacher, the candidate focuses campaign efforts on addressing infrastructure issues like broken air conditioning and lack of janitorial services. This background suggests direct experience with school facility conditions relevant to constituent relations with parents and teachers. However, the biography provides no information regarding policy judgment for a large urban district, budget literacy for operating or capital funds, or experience in hiring and evaluating superintendents. The candidate holds no prior public office and has not listed specific educational degrees.
Dolores Missy Rivers

Dolores Missy Rivers
πŸ‘ πŸ‘Ž 🀑 😑 🀷
The candidate’s twenty-six-year tenure as an MSCS educator and role as interim director of the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association provide direct insight into teacher relations and operational realities within the district. Her advocacy for increased pay and tuition support demonstrates a focus on recruitment, retention, and workforce development policies.