FAST FACTS:
(Memphis 11/18/09) Memphis City Schools are on the brink of collecting some $90-million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make our teachers better.
The official nod will come Thursday, but Memphis is one of just four districts across the country to be named for the grant. It's a lot of pressure on the school district and the teachers to improve, but the big-ticket promises are not a blank check. It comes with expectations including that the community shells out millions of its own money each year.
"This is not only a celebration for Memphis City Schools, this is a celebration for the City of Memphis," said one board member as MCS leaders began to ink a 6-7 year partnership with the Gates Foundation.
"If there was a way to be sure the teachers could get a part of that in their salaries to give them a little initiative to work a little harder, because they don't make a lot of money," says Jimmie Thompson, the mother of two MCS students.
That's exactly what the money is for -- teachers. The best teachers could get a financial boost. Also, The Gates Foundation grant will help MCS get the best teachers, and keep them, by hiring earlier in the year in order to hire the teachers before they go someplace else.
The message to teachers was made loud and clear: That the improvements rest on their backs.
"The only teachers that should be afraid are the teachers who probably don't need to be in our school system in the first place," says MCS Board Member Tomeka Hart. "But those who are already working hard, those who know that if they had the right support system that they can be even better, you should be very excited."
With the money comes responsibility. So, to parents, this promise.
"They're going to see a dramatic change in the culture, in the enthusiasm and the commitment to making sure that every child has an effective teacher in every school, every classroom, every subject, every year," says Superintendent Kriner Cash.
The district will receive another $1.9-million in order to study how to improve teaching by installing cameras in the classrooms of the best teachers, to see what they're doing right and how to duplicate it across the district.
- MCS expected to receive $90-million grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- MCS and community to invest millions as well
- Grant will last 6-7 years
(Memphis 11/18/09) Memphis City Schools are on the brink of collecting some $90-million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make our teachers better.
The official nod will come Thursday, but Memphis is one of just four districts across the country to be named for the grant. It's a lot of pressure on the school district and the teachers to improve, but the big-ticket promises are not a blank check. It comes with expectations including that the community shells out millions of its own money each year.
"This is not only a celebration for Memphis City Schools, this is a celebration for the City of Memphis," said one board member as MCS leaders began to ink a 6-7 year partnership with the Gates Foundation.
"If there was a way to be sure the teachers could get a part of that in their salaries to give them a little initiative to work a little harder, because they don't make a lot of money," says Jimmie Thompson, the mother of two MCS students.
That's exactly what the money is for -- teachers. The best teachers could get a financial boost. Also, The Gates Foundation grant will help MCS get the best teachers, and keep them, by hiring earlier in the year in order to hire the teachers before they go someplace else.
The message to teachers was made loud and clear: That the improvements rest on their backs.
"The only teachers that should be afraid are the teachers who probably don't need to be in our school system in the first place," says MCS Board Member Tomeka Hart. "But those who are already working hard, those who know that if they had the right support system that they can be even better, you should be very excited."
With the money comes responsibility. So, to parents, this promise.
"They're going to see a dramatic change in the culture, in the enthusiasm and the commitment to making sure that every child has an effective teacher in every school, every classroom, every subject, every year," says Superintendent Kriner Cash.
The district will receive another $1.9-million in order to study how to improve teaching by installing cameras in the classrooms of the best teachers, to see what they're doing right and how to duplicate it across the district.
