July 28, 2025 • 59 mins
Episode Notes My guests include State Representative Torrey Harris. One of the biggest issues in our community is the drama surrounding the MSCS Board members and the County Commission regarding a possible shortened term and term limits. He was one of state sponsors of the proposal and will tell me why he thinks it’s a good move. Next, Cardell Orrin is the Executive Director of Stand For Children, a non profit advocacy organization designed to create policy change to help our children. He joins me to share his hopes and agenda as we prepare to begin another school year. Finally, speaking of the new school year, Porter Leath has announced it’s taking over the reins of Shelby County’s Head Start services. MSCS will no longer hold the $30 million federal contract. Preschool Director of Porter Leath, Towanda Peete Smith joins me to discuss what the change will mean in terms of additional students, services and staff. That and more on air and online Monday, 6 pm on WYXR 91.7 FM. Also, the WYXR app, the Tunein app, Facebook Live, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. It’s time to talk!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's talk about it. Oh guy, I can do something
about it. And she's got to throw wide open if you've.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Got questions about it.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Man, it's to show that breaks until you're.
Speaker 4 (00:08):
Wrong to solve all problems. It's talking, real talk, real cold.
It's real cop.
Speaker 5 (00:14):
It's real.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
It's real cop.
Speaker 6 (00:17):
It's real. It's real coke.
Speaker 7 (00:19):
It's real cold like it's free cod. It's real.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It's real talk.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
It's real. It's real coal. It's real. It's real talk.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's real cough.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, welcome to real tell your real host Jim watching
him you like. It's a real talk. It's a real talking,
it's real cough.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
And here we go.
Speaker 8 (01:05):
Here we go on this very hot and steamy Monday
afternoon in the city. It is the twenty eighth day
of what month?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Is this July?
Speaker 8 (01:16):
Actually you will be in August by the end of
the week, twenty twenty five, six o'clock straight up, which
means it is time for Rio Talk Memphis and a
prelude before we get too far into this. And you know,
for those of you who checked the show out on
Facebook Live, I'm looking at myself right now. I told Lola,
I said I got a little something going on here.
I look like I'm about to blend into the background
(01:37):
in terms of my in terms of my skin, that
means is hot, ladies and gentlemen, it is.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
We are under an.
Speaker 8 (01:43):
Extreme heat warning, which means heat in decease anywhere from
one O five to one eleven. And that is very,
very dangerous, which means that you do not need to
be outside your skin exposed to this heat for any
great length of time because it could do some tremid
this damage.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
To you health wise.
Speaker 8 (02:02):
Watch out for yourself, watch out for the seniors, make
sure they're cool and comfortable. Make sure that your children
don't stay outside too long and be exposed to all
of this heat. And of course watch out for your
pets and things like that. We have a good show
for you tonight. Welcome in, Welcome in, Come on in,
Come on in now, sit down and relax, get cool,
(02:24):
get your nice little drink, and I have some water
here myself. But you know, relax and stay comfortable for
the next hour. We have a nice show for you
this evening. I will tell you this. The theme of
the today's show is education. In one form or another.
It is education, and all three of my guests have
something to do with that. I will lay that out
for you in just a minute. But there are many
(02:46):
ways for you to get this fine piece of radio broadcasting,
and of course for many of you right now, ninety
one point seven we immediately follow DJ Lola. You can
find us on ninety one point seven wy x R.
On the FM side. Of course, you can find us
on the wy x R app.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
We are live streaming the show tonight.
Speaker 8 (03:08):
Yeah, that fellow that's on the screen looks like me,
sounds like me. I guess it is me, but just
a much darker version of me. So you'll be able
to see us on Facebook Live and of course from
the show post the next couple of days, we will
be on YouTube and as we are a podcast, once
the show is posted, you will be able to find
(03:28):
us wherever it you know you'd like to find your
favorite podcast, right All y'all got different channels that you
like to show different shows. Will make us part of
that little group in your favorite podcast platforms, all right.
In terms of the show tonight, we are going to
be speaking with state Representative Tory Harris, and he is
(03:50):
he's actually one of the sponsors for a meeting that
is happening right now, Counting Commission in reference to the
state passing giving the County Commission the authority to move
the Memphis Sheppy County school Board folks to the same
election cycle, which would be twenty twenty six. Now, for
(04:11):
those who were elected in twenty twenty four, this means
that your time in office would be cut in half.
So they're having a big meeting on that tonight as
a matter of fact, to decide whether or not the
County Commission is going to vote to move in that direction,
or who knows what could happen. When I was listening
to the County Commission meeting on my way here, and
(04:32):
it sounds like they might defer this. They're always pushing
stuff back, so they might end up deferring this situation
back a couple of weeks. We will find out what
happens with that. Cardell or In is the executive director
of Stand with Children, that youth organization. It's always looking
(04:54):
at creating policy and making better policy decisions based on
our young people. He's going to talk with us a
little bit about the organization and of course what we
just talked about a minute ago at how he feels
about this term limited situation and possibly cutting the school
board commissioners or some of them.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
At least they're terms in half.
Speaker 8 (05:13):
So he'll join me in just a couple of minutes,
and a little bit later on, we're gonna have Karen
Harrell Harrol from port Leaf. Last week, port Leaf snatched
the I shouldn't say snatch, but they got the contract
for a preschool from the Memphison Shelby County Schools till
the tune of thirty million.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Dollars, which is a great big deal for port Leaf.
Speaker 8 (05:38):
But they're going to have a lot more people en
road and they need a lot of help in that
regard to So if you're a teacher and you're thinking
about talking about dealing with preschool folks, you might want
to listen into that interview a little bit later on.
So that's to look at the guest list for this
evening and before we move forward, July is about wrapped
(05:59):
up here. We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate today,
and I know a lot of these folks celebrating on
birthday today. So what do you say? We get to it.
But I can't do that until I say hit it Brown,
Happy birthday, going out through the following foch for Gina
Morrison Newlan that would be your Cheby County Trustee.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
She celebrating her birthday today.
Speaker 8 (06:19):
Happy Birthday Songstress, Stephanie Bolton, Mister Clay Gibb The Bibs,
I'm sorry, mister Clay Bibbs is celebrating her birthday today.
Valerie Person, a church member of mine, celebrating her birthday
as well. And Lane Henderson Hillary Lane, Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to Cliff then Johnson. To Jacqueline Denise celebrating
(06:43):
her birthday today, as is Carolyn Coffee Brown Banks and
Low Love has a birthday of her Happy.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
Birthday, Live Friend, Fat Night, I am Georgia Party one yesterday.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Did you say sat match fat Map.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
He's a local comedian.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yahy had a good time.
Speaker 9 (07:04):
Had a great time, a lot of fun. Yeah local home.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Absolutely, there you go.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
And also happy birthdays and my dear.
Speaker 9 (07:10):
Friend star Keisha Star Keisha.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yes, make sure you go over to another day another
fight and.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Cop something.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Where you go.
Speaker 8 (07:19):
Ladies and gentlemen, all of those folks are celebrating birthdays today.
We hope that your day will filled with love and
laughter and we hope to be around you next year
for your next trip around the sun, celebrating and enjoy. Whooo,
happy birthday, Toad you everyone. Thanks Brian. A couple of
quick hits on the news and notes today. As I
was saying a minute ago, the County Commission is taking
(07:43):
up the issue of moving the election cycle for school
board members to next year to fall in line with
the rest of the county election cycle. They're talking about
that right now. And if that's the case, then there
will be an election in twenty twenty six, and the
new members, of course, so we were elected in twenty twenty four,
would have to find themselves up for reelection should they
(08:06):
decide to do so next August. So one way or
another we will get a decision in reference to that.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
As well.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
We are still waiting for a decision by a judge
from an emergency injunction that was filed last week with
doctor Marie Fagins, who wants her termination voided, who wants
back pay, and she wants to resume her seat as
the Superintendent of Education because she says she has unfinished
(08:35):
business in reference to that, So, yeah, a lot of
things that are open right now. We're waiting to see
what happens on the back end of it and how
all of these things become resolved. One thing I will
say about the school board issue. When doctor Fagin's was
terminated last year in December, there was a lot of
(08:57):
friction from the community. A lot of folks were very
angry about what happened, and they said that the school
board absolutely, without question, did not listen to anything they
had to say. They made their decision, they moved forward.
The people had a chance to speak. Apparently it didn't
do a whole lot, because doctor Fagan's was indeed terminated. Now,
(09:19):
the one thing about all of this is there are
four or five school board members who if the board
the County Commission does move to shift the election perspective
to the rest of the county next year, those four
to five who were elected last year in twenty twenty
four are gonna have to be up for reelection. Now,
(09:39):
many of you who were very upset about what happened
with doctor Fagan said at those meetings, you use the
word recall, recall, recall, recall. We're gonna recall you, We're
gonna we're gonna get you out. We're gonna move you
along and for what you did. Well, If there indeed
is an election for school board members next year and
these school board members who who were short sighted, who
(10:02):
might be short sighted, decide to run, this is your opportunity.
This city and county don't do a real good job
in terms of going to the polls. U And you know,
when you have an opportunity to make a difference, you
should be able to do that by going to the polls.
So if, of course this is voted one way or another,
(10:22):
well then you know you might have a chance to
be able to do that. We'll have to watch that
very carefully and see how all of that tracks Prime Time.
Dion Sanders revealed today in a press conference with his
medical staff that he's been dealing with some pretty serious
medical issues. It was discovered that he had a tumor,
a cancerous tumor in his bladder. Well, he had an
(10:45):
operation to have his bladder removed and they actually replaced
it with another with another bladder, and the doctor said
that the cancer is gone now. So we're very thankful
that that happened. And of course, you know, his message
to everybody is don't wait, don't wait, you know, make
sure that you know, in terms of your body, if
(11:06):
there's some discomfort or something going on, make sure you
get checked.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
And that's for all of you out there.
Speaker 8 (11:11):
Make sure you get checked and make sure that you
keep up with things like that, because you never ever,
ever know, like he found out, how serious things could become.
And before we get out of here real fast, I
want Loland to come back to the mic. You know,
we talk about the fact that the federal government has
cut a lot of programs in reference to the arts,
(11:33):
and that of course covers WKNO, PBS stations and a
lot of radio stations across this country, community radio stations
like ours, and we were affected as well. Now we
have funding for this year, but we lost funding for
next year ten percent, and that equals for this station
to an eighty four thousand dollars loss. And Lolan, this
(11:57):
really is a big deal and it's a chance for
all of us who enjoyed the programming here to do
something about it.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Yes it was, I'm sorry. Yes you guys can do
something about it. You can go over to our beautiful
website WISAR dot org and we have this beautiful button
that says donate, donate, donate a little something can make
a huge difference while we go through this. If you
want to become a monthly sponsor, twenty dollars a month
(12:25):
is more than enough to help us get going, and
we would appreciate the support. If you enjoy what you
hear in your ears.
Speaker 8 (12:33):
This is a very serious situation. And again it's not
just us. If you if you've been paying attention to
the news, the federal funding to for many, for many
in the arts is billions of dollars, and the federal
government is cutting all of those programs for whatever reason.
But the back end of all of that is many
(12:53):
places in this country, not just Memphis, but but all
over the country, and places in particular who have small
rule reral stations who depend on news information and things
like that are in danger of being cut. So you know,
we need your help here at wyx ORR if we
want to stay on there, if you enjoy the programming,
and for us as a station to continue to be
(13:15):
immersed as much as we are in the community lovel
I think that's a big, big deal as well.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
It's a big big deal, so definitely support us. If
you listen to any other smaller stations like I think
Robbie was saying, there's a station in Ripley, Tennessee. Yeah,
it's like eighty percent of their funding. Yeah, yeah, this
is definitely a big deal. It really hurt us small
local radio stations and broadcasting like PBS, which.
Speaker 9 (13:43):
Isn't as small.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
I mean I grew up on it my whole entire life.
Their funding was cut also. Yeah, er like Chip said,
whatever reason in this big crappy bill.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So we need to help.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
Ladies and gentlemen, if you enjoy what we do here
WYXR and some of the other stations out there, please
dig deep and reach and help us out. Thank you
little appreciate that we're going to take a quick breaking.
When we come back, we're going to get into the broadcast.
As I said at the time, this is all education themed.
So pay close attention to what you're here tonight, and
you know, at the end of it, you'll make a
(14:17):
summary and you know, we'll hopefully that we will provide
the type of information that you are looking for. I'm Chip,
you know where you are. Let's take a quick break,
and I say I'm Chip. Regardless of what you see
on Facebook Live. If you're watching me on Facebook Live,
I'm still me. Let's take a quick commercial breaking we'll
come back. Get the show studied. This is Real Talk Memphis.
Don't go away. We will be right back.
Speaker 10 (14:53):
If you like real Talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion I want to be sit at a guest
or have a guest idea, Then send Hip a message
on his Real Talk show page and you can be
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always says, go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It's It's It's.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
Programming on WYXR is brought to you by a grant
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Now back to more Real Talk with Jim Washington's.
Speaker 8 (16:23):
And welcome back to Real Talk Memphis on this very
warm Monday evening in the city ship with you, and
I'm very glad that you are joining us for the
ride that this evening. As I said, this is going
to be a kind of an education theme show this evening.
And my first guest is uh the executive the executive
director of a great organization that is dedicated, uh.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
To the future of our young people.
Speaker 11 (16:49):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (16:49):
You've heard of an organization called Stand with Children. Well,
I am very happy to have the their executive director
joining me. His name is cardel Orn and he's on
with me right now. Cardal is great to see you,
my friend. How you doing tonight.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
I'm doing pretty good. Let's be with you.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Well, I'm glad to have you with us today. It
is an interesting day of consequence.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Now.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
I did read a couple of posts from you on
Facebook in reference to this meeting today that the county
commissioners were having and why they might be having it
and what are some of the reasons for it. And
we're talking about term limits of course, for school board
members and moving them under the same election cycle. In
(17:30):
a nutshell, I take it that you're not for this,
But if you're not for it, necessarily tell us why.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So, overall, I don't think this law that was passed
had the best intentions possible and actually solve problems that
we have. I think the one thing that it does
is it provides for term limits for school board which
I think everybody, even school board members, agree with. What
it does morally is to shift the election cycle so
that it takes away the stagger terms that we have
(18:00):
for school board members and tries to put them all
on the same ballot as the County Commission races, which
would be next year. One that potentially unconstitutionally abridges the
elections of the terms of the people the school board
members who were elected last year. Two that shifts us
away from staggered terms. I believe staggered terms are good.
(18:20):
I think the County Commission, City Council should be on
staggered terms. That allows for some knowledge, to attention, some experience,
some things to be on the school board without having
it wholesale flip out potentially every four years. With having
them on the same ballot. Some have said this will
save money. Representative Harris has said this at the very time,
it doesn't save money because we're still going to have
(18:42):
elections in those off years. Some have said, well, we'll
get better elections or better results from elections because we'll
have higher turnout in those years. And that's not necessarily
the case because Representative Harris, who passed this bill, and
all the state representatives are elected in the very same
election in August of last year as the school board members.
(19:02):
So we're saying we didn't get good results from the
school board elections wol low turnout. What are we saying
about the state reps? I don't think they say that
about themselves.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
A lot of people which would would subscribe to the
argument that this is that this has become This is
really political in terms of it. Now, you know as
well as I do, that when it comes to elections,
we don't have a good record here in Memphis and
Shervy County. We don't show up. I don't know why,
but this happens every election cycle. We have these very
(19:31):
low numbers for positions that seem to be so critical
in reference to all of this, and I have heard
the same arguments that you have just laid out there
for a moment. But let me go back for a
minute too. As I said earlier, the removal of doctor
Fagan's from her position last year, and one of the
(19:54):
things that was talked about from the people was that
the will of the people was not served in all
of that, and that they thought that however they could
do it, they would have an opportunity to recall some
of the members who they felt turned their back on
this situation. Well, an election next year, even though it
(20:16):
cuts off many of their terms in half, would be
a good opportunity to be able to do that.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
No, I mean, I don't think that we should have
policy political parameter said go away from democracy because we
disagree with the decisions of the people who are elected.
That's what elections are for. So you're exactly right. This
is meant to be punishment for those school board members
(20:45):
and meant to be a de facto recall. It's meant
to be a recall. If you want to recall, put
in a recall provision and recall board members. Don't go
along with State Senator Brent Taylor and the other people
who want to just create more power and control and
preemption on Memphis and Shelby County. This just widens the
door from them that goes into the state takeover. If
(21:07):
they can do this to the school board, what stops
them from doing it too? The city council, the county commission.
If you don't agree with the decisions that are made,
that they can make within their lawful abilities for what
they were elected for. Whether you agree or not with
the termination of Superintendent Fagan's that's why we have elections.
That's not the way to go about restricting having the
(21:29):
state come in and make decisions there rules of voters out.
Speaker 8 (21:33):
Well, you know, one of the things that you just
said is and that's still on the table on there
are two bills that will be brought up when the
legislature meets in January of next year in reference to
some type of takeover or overseeing of the occurrent to
school board members.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Would you be happier?
Speaker 8 (21:51):
And I thought about this initially, and I'm going to
have state representatory here as he comes on right after
you and talk about all of this, But would this
not be a better serve in terms of what the
people want if it was put on the ballot as
a referendum to give them an opportunity. What do you
think about that?
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Sure, I think you can put it on a ballot
as a referendum. I think, you know, one of the
challenges that we've seen in the past is that again,
it all matters about how we put it on the ballot.
When we went on the city side, we passed staggered
terms and moving city elections from octobers ID year octobers
to even years during presidential races, and that was all
(22:34):
that we passed that by referendum, and then the city
council didn't like that because they didn't want more people
coming out for elections, and they overturned it and want
back and put something on the referendum, and voters again
voted to take away what they had just voted for.
So I do think that's a fairer way to do it,
and then you battle it out in the court of
public opinion and have voters go at it. I think
that everybody agrees on term limits, everybody agrees on recall.
(22:57):
I think that it's solely a question of do you
do you move away from what is best practice in
terms of having staggered terms. So that we can maintain
some continuity on the on the one of the most
important bodies in our community.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
I talked to a couple of the school board members
who were elected in last year's election cycle, and one
of them brought up to me that that not only
is this not really fair to the community, this is uh,
this could be unconstitutional. And I think that she made
it very clear that you know, they would be seeking
(23:33):
possible legal action in reference to all of this. Do
you think that there's a case for them.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
I mean, I certainly think so. I think that you
know that in our constitution, our state constitution, there it
says that you cannot take away basically the terms are
cut short terms that people are elected to and this
seems to violate that. So Representative G. A. Hardaway at
the County Commission today presented and said that he had
(23:59):
asked her an Attorney general opinion on the constitutionality of
this lamaw and so we will find out at least
what that opinion is, and then the County Commission can
still do it, and then you know, we'll see in
the courts what actually happens. I think that there are
other options to get to the solutions and The other
thing that we need to come back to is that
if the problem, as you stated, is a voter turnout,
(24:23):
let's all get specifically focused on that and try to
get higher voter turnout. So in the elections when Representative
Harris gets elected, we have a higher turnout. When we
have the primaries for the County Commission in May of
next year, where the same low turnout as in last
year's office election happens, Let's make sure we get higher
turnout in the May elections. Let's solve the problems we
(24:43):
actually have, let's not create new problems and issues.
Speaker 8 (24:48):
Let me ask you, as we are prepared to start
a brand new school year, and of course today was
the first day back to report for staff, faculty and
staff of the Memphis Chevy County Schools. The children will
be back in class starting next Monday.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (25:02):
In reference to your organization Staying with Children, who is
an extraordinarily great advocate for our young people.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Uh, what what do you want to see? You know,
we're starting a brand new school year.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
And of course we're starting out unfortunately here with a
shortage of over three hundred teachers. Three hundred teachers short
when school starts in about a week. Well what are
you looking for as you look forward and move forward
with your agenda at your organization?
Speaker 4 (25:28):
So just a little correction to stand for children, although
we do sting.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Sorry, you know what, You're right, I'm sorry.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
I'm very sorry, and I changed that somewhere, but I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Stand for children. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Great, but hey, we stand with each other. We organized,
we have a Youth Justice Action Coalition that actually has
justice involved you who do their own advocacy. So we
definitely staying with children as well. So I'm looking you know,
I think coming into the school year, Uh, they're coming
in with a lot of challenges. I think that we
saw coming out of going into this this this the
(25:59):
end of this last school year. Of course, the shifts
and leadership. We know from some of the reports that
we had that we lost some of the gains that
we were trending towards. We had a lot of people,
let go from the district who were important around the
structures that we need in place for teachers to be
successful and for young people to have student achievement. So
(26:21):
I think superintendent interim Superintendent Richmond is bringing back some
of those things. So that's encouraging including you know, some
of the interim assessments that we're taken away. So I
think that we're on you know, a more clear and
stable trajectory than we had been. And clearly we have
some of the same challenges. You know, a teacher shortage
(26:41):
that's a nationwide issue. We have to identify new ways
to identify teacher pathways and how we get more people
into the profession and keep them there. In addition to
the challenges around literacy and chronic apsenteeism, there's some specific
things that the district is working on I know about that,
you know, focused on literacy. I'm a part of the
Strategic partners for Literacy Community and District partnership where we're
(27:04):
focused on what are the things that the district is doing,
how do we push for more high dosage tutoring, how
do we make sure that we're focused around literacy, the
chronics absenteeism, the challenges around the other issues of math
and career pathways. I think there are a lot of opportunity,
challenges and opportunities that you know, as a community we've
(27:27):
got to try to face together. These are the kind
of things where we need to be setting up. Here's
what our expectations are as a community. Here's what we
want as a community. Here's what we communicate to the
district administration, to the school board members, and here's the
level that we hold them to. Not based around you know,
one or two decisions. I've disagreed with tons of decisions
over the twenty years I've been involved in politics here,
(27:48):
and so you've got to pick and choose your battles
and understand how we all headed towards the same goal.
How do we set up an agenda and hold our
elected officials and our administration accountable to achievement for our students.
That's what we all should be focused on.
Speaker 8 (28:02):
Well, I'll tell you what man high hopes for another
great school year. You mentioned some targets there that really
need to be focused in on and addressed by not
only our school board, but our superintendent of Education as well.
Cardile Rain, Ladies and gentlemen, he is the executive director
of Stand for Children. My bad on that and doing
(28:23):
an amazing job. We'll keep a very close eye on
what happens with the County Commission one way or another
as pertains to this school board. But cardell As always
thank you, my frien, for coming on the show, and
I'll be checking with you during the school year for sure, no.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Doubt about that.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 8 (28:40):
Yes, sir, absolutely, So there you go, ladies and dell Man.
That's a bird's eye view of what is happening. And
it's a lot at stake, there really is. And we
need to do a better job as a community, as
a people of being involved. And we can't just talk
about being involved with our kids, and our kids need
this and we need to do this, and blah blah blah.
We need to We need to get our feet, hands dirty,
and our feet, you know dirty. We need to get
(29:01):
in this thing. And if you want to see change,
and if you want to create change, then you have
to be involved and be a change maker. And that's
just really the bottom line. And we'll find out later on.
I happen to think that this whole deal tonight with
whether they move this thing forward, I think they're gonna
defer it. To be honest with you, they may get
an attorney general's opinion, but if it's a Republican house
(29:23):
up there in Nashville and they get an attorney's opinion,
what makes you think that this is gonna turn out
any other way.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
That's just Chip talking. Let me take another.
Speaker 8 (29:31):
Break, and when we come back we will continue our conversation.
We're gonna speak with one of the men who helped
to get this whole thing passed to where we are tonight.
He is Tory Harris's state representative. We'll do that right
after this. This is real Talk Memphis. I'm Chipped.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Don't go away. There's more to come.
Speaker 10 (30:03):
If you like real talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion, want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea? Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the real talk experience. So as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
It's It's.
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Now back to more Real Talk with Jim Washington's.
Speaker 8 (31:30):
And welcome back to Real Talk Memphis on this Monday evening,
Chip with you, and we were talking a couple of
minutes ago with cardell Rin, the executive director of Stanford Children,
and we were talking about the whole issue that the
County Commission is taking up this evening, which has to
do with uh uh creating term limits for school board
(31:50):
members and moving them uh changing the election cycle from
the odd to to UH where all of the county
votes which would be next year, and that would cut
at least four or five members. If this thing passes,
that would cut at least four or five members terms
in half. Well, one of the authors of this bill
in Nashville, who got us where we are tonight, joins
(32:14):
us on the show. He is State Representative Tory Harris
and toy it's great to see you, my friend. Thanks
for taking time to be on the show tonight. I
appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Oh, always glad to be here.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
So you, along with Senator Brent Taylor, offered this bill
last year in the State House. First of all, why
do this? Why did you think it was important to
change the parameters of all of this? And I know
that we talk about voting and the number of people
(32:44):
voting and some other things, but I'm interested to find
out what is really behind all of this effort which
was passed up there and now we're trying to wait
to see what happens here.
Speaker 13 (32:54):
Yeah, definitely, And so with the legislation that ended up passing,
which was House Built thirteen eighty three Senate Bill thirteen
thirty six. With that legislation, where it came from, of course,
is that every year I do my absolute best to
make sure that I ask the community what it is
that they want to see happen. Oftentimes, I'm sure you've
(33:14):
probably seen it on my social media, through email, text,
whatever it is. I send out communication to people asking
them to give me opinions, thoughts, amendments, documents, whatever it
is that they want to see take place. And overwhelmingly
I received response in regards to something dealing with resetting
how we structure our school board. All right, So that's
(33:35):
how we got to this point now. And I think
ultimately once I got down to writing the legislation with
the community, because there was so many individuals who had
pushed for this legislation, whether in whole or in part,
I mean, I got a lot of response from this. Luckily,
our records are a public record, so if anybody needs
(33:57):
to pull all the emails that we receive in phone
calls and communication around who wanted to see this happen,
it was quite overwhelming. I ended up getting this piece
of legislation over on the Senate side. I had to
make sure I found someone who I felt like could
actually pass our goal. When we get legislation, we only
(34:19):
get a certain amount throughout the year, and we want
to make sure that you put legislation up that can pass.
And there's only a couple individuals on the Senate side
that I feel like could actually pass legislation of this
magnitude at least, and so I wanted to make sure
that I partnered with somebody that could do that. And
so in doing that, we basically you pass it on
(34:41):
one side and then the other person goes in and said,
after you've already done all the work and tries to
pass that thereselves. So this is technically my legislation. So
if I think there was some confusion, and I think
wordplay used by some of the political puns about how
it's working with the Republicans or working with and that's
it's kind of odd, but this has the civil legislation
(35:03):
comes straight from.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
The community, hands down.
Speaker 13 (35:07):
People actually stood up and spoke today who were in
support of it.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
So many people have talked to this. So yeah, so
that's where we've we've started.
Speaker 8 (35:15):
So so you know, and mentioning that uh, you know,
in terms of the account Commission meeting, I think everybody
is doesn't have a problem with term limits. I think
that's that that that's a universal, almost unanimous thing. But
what do you say to the people that say saying
that you know you created this, Uh, this is just political.
This is just a more political theater and drama. And
(35:36):
I'm and and another question I have for you. One
of your colleagues, Yeah, Hardaway at this meeting tonight suggested
that this go before uh this state, I guess attorney right,
Attorney general uh to to to to weigh in on
this one way or the other. Uh, what what is
your take on that?
Speaker 13 (35:57):
Yeah, yeah, So going back to whether it's political or
related or not, absolutely not. Actually the individuals who I
guess feel they will be affected directly by their terms
being cut. If this was actually something political, you think
back to when I think, I think back to November.
So in November, shortly after their term they had gotten
(36:21):
put into office, we had to travel for a conference
and some of the new school board members pulled me
in one of my other colleagues to the side and
had a conversation about how they were wanting to get
rid of the school superintendent. Right, And at that point
you would have thought that I would have made it political,
but it was not, And so it was more of
a conversation at that point. And it's never been about
(36:44):
on the political side of this.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
This is just the streamline.
Speaker 13 (36:47):
Our city Council is all on one, our County Commission,
which is the funding arm is all on one. We're streamlining,
streamlining how our elections actually happened. And to the point
that one of my one of the political puns, had
mentioned regarding how the voting turnout in the state elections
(37:07):
is also low in the primaries. We're also on that
same primary election with the school board, and that was
in August of last year. And when I look back
at just my numbers alone and for my district, I
had three thousand nine to seventy nine in voters turnout
in August, but I had seventeen thousand people vote for
me and the bigger election with the rest of the
(37:28):
individuals on the ballot, which shows that when there's more
interest on a ballot, more people want to actually turn
out and show up. And so that is a huge
difference in what maybe he was stating earlier to you.
I think that with this legislation, our the goal is
that we didn't want the state to make decisions for us, right,
(37:49):
That's what we've all been saying, we don't want the
state to make decisions for us.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
There was a.
Speaker 13 (37:53):
Whole state intervention legislation that was on the books earlier
this year. We're trying to come up with little things
to not have the state per se takeover out our
school system. So instead I wrote a legislation that says that,
and if you read it specifically, at the very top,
it says, notwithstanding another law to the countrary. A local
(38:14):
legislative body for a county that has adopted a charter
form of government may require may and so instead of
the state making these decisions, I put it to where
it gave our county the options to have these three things.
They can pick one, they can pick two, they can
pick three. They don't have to pick all three of them.
They may require That's all it gave. It gave our
(38:35):
county the option. So that way our states stayed out
of making these decisions.
Speaker 8 (38:39):
Speaking of that, of course, both Representative of White and
Senator Brent Taylor both have proposals up, and you talked
about the takeover. You may be trying to provide options
based on what you were saying in terms of your bill,
But I mean they both plan on bringing up the
(39:01):
first of the year, and in one way or another,
they're looking at the board being basically overseen by somebody
not elected, but folks who are appointed. Maybe one I
think has the County Commission overseeing of this process and
the other one has some appointed members to all of this.
(39:22):
Based on what you just said a minute ago, I
take it you're you're not for that either one of
those bills.
Speaker 13 (39:27):
No and so instead of us trying to make sure
that we are creating other avenues for us to move
our school system alone, we are in a place where
we are actually pushing them more to a reason why
they want to go ahead and move forward. So next
year will come, January will come, and it looks like
we'll probably be happening the same fight all over again
(39:50):
this year that we had this year.
Speaker 8 (39:51):
Yeah, this is I mean, and you know we're right
at the precipice of school starting again. I mean literally
next week school starts, and and this is for all
of us. I think it becomes a bit confusing. I
wanted to get your thought about this particular aspect of
all of this, in terms of the kind of commission
(40:12):
and the decision that they will make one way or
the other. Should this not be something, at least from
your perspective, that you think might be put on a
ballot as a referendum. If this is about people and
about people's decisions and about the voice of the citizen
being heard, should they not be heard in that particular manner.
I know this is not about your bill, but I'm
(40:33):
asking your thought and your opinion.
Speaker 13 (40:34):
No, that's a great question, and so I do agree
that a voter should be the ones making these decisions, right,
And so when we propose this bill, this bill was
written by citizens, has been supported and pushed by people
in our community, not by elected officials per se. This
has specifically been pushed by them, and so the goal
(40:54):
would be that individuals, if they are able, to put
it on as a referendum.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
The timing of all of that, what the people were.
Speaker 13 (41:01):
Wanting was immediate response to something, right, and so the
other option that was out there was recalls, and so
we'll have a strong discussion in January about recalls. So that,
but have we done a recall? Have we moved legislation
forward for school boards to have a recall option in January?
(41:22):
I don't know if those individuals would still be sitting
in those seats right now. So I've technically bought them
time in many in many aspects. So putting it as
a recall is another way to be able to buy
some extra time.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
For sure.
Speaker 8 (41:36):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, I think you know, for many people,
I think, you know, we want the right to be
a part of the conversation. And when I was listening
in earlier to the County Commission, meeting, I heard people
saying that, and as I mentioned earlier, I think I
don't think there's no argument about the fact that term
limits need to be established. But how but you know,
but again, is it fair for people who were elected
(41:59):
who a four year term to be cut in half
in terms of that and have to make a decision
whether they want to run again or not. But this
is a form of recall. I mean, if this thing
does pass, but by the kind of commission, this would
be a form of recall, would it not in terms
of people having a right to vote up or down?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah or nay, one way or the other.
Speaker 13 (42:22):
Yeah, absolutely, And so that's exactly what this is. I mean,
if you look at I'm looking at section one, elections
for the county Board of Education to be held at
the same time and on the same election cycle as
elections for members of the local legislative body for the county.
If the county wanted to pass that part of it,
then the county could do that. What we have to
determine afterwards, or what we're still trying to figure out
(42:46):
and we're working through right now, which is what the
ag opinion will let us know more of, is if
we can constitutionally do that, and if not, we'll just
come back in January correct it and make sure that
it's fixed so that way for the future and break
any constitutionality. I think what we've ran into now is
that it's the people versus electeds, and electeds are really
(43:09):
strongly wanting to protect each other, and unfortunately, the way
my setup is, I have to go with what the
voters want, like what the people ask for. I have
had a lot of response regarding this and those not
in favor of it, even if you go back and
look at posts for individuals who on social media who
(43:31):
have advocated against it. Those who have liked it or
commented are usually elected officials or those working in the
political realm. But if you look at some other ones
who are in favor of term limits and in favor
of a staggered election, those individuals are just the regular voter.
And we want to make sure that the voter's voices
actually matter. I know that doesn't matter to some, but
(43:52):
we've got to make sure that we are pushing for
the voice of those who.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Voted state representatives or Harris.
Speaker 8 (44:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, Tory, thank you so much for taking
time I know you're out of town, and I really
appreciate you taking a few minutes to come on and
talk about this very important issue. We will be keeping
an eye on it, and I'm sure you and I
will be talking more down the girl.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (44:14):
All Right, there you go, ladies and gentlemen. That's that's
the view from the other side. And again, this all
boils down to at the end of the day. This
is going to boil down to people if they decide
to get a ruling from the Attorney General up there
in Nashville, whether this is indeed constitutional or not. Uh,
that's going to go a long way to the side
exactly what happens, uh in terms of these term limits
(44:35):
and what happens in terms of the elections next year.
Let's take a break and when we come back, we're
gonna continue the theme of education. Porter Leath got a
whole bunch of money last week in terms of pre
uh pre k and uh uh, you know, teaching our babies,
you know, at an early age.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Porter Liza is a great organization.
Speaker 8 (44:56):
By the way, we're going to be talking with someone
who can talk to us about this thirty million dollar
infusion they got and what they plan on doing with
all of this.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
This is Real Talk Memphis. I'm Chip. Don't you dare
go away? We'll be right back.
Speaker 10 (45:22):
If you like real talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion, want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea, Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the Real Talk experience. So as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
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Speaker 8 (46:41):
Washington's and as we get ready for another school year.
We have an organization here who has been doing the
work with our young folks for a very very long time.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
And many of you have heard of porter Leaf.
Speaker 8 (47:06):
Well, they recently announced that it's taking over the reins
of Shelby County's head Start services and which is something
that the Mempherson Chrby County Schools have for a very
very long time. But the thirty million plus dollar award,
the federal contract was given to the fine folks at
(47:26):
porter Leaf.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
And I have Karen Harrold.
Speaker 8 (47:29):
She is the senior vice president of Early Childhood Services
for porter Leaf and.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
Karen is great to see you, welcome to the show.
Glad to have you tonight.
Speaker 9 (47:39):
Thank you for having me Chip listen.
Speaker 8 (47:42):
So, congratulations, this is the big deal, you know, this
is this this program was kind of overseen by Mifferson
Sherby County Schools for a very long time, this head
Start program. And to understand you, all the bidding processes
open every year. You all submitted a bid and you
all won this contract first of all at Senior VP.
(48:04):
How surprised were you and when you all got notificated
about all of this, congratulations too, by the way, that's
a big deal.
Speaker 9 (48:10):
Thank you so much. Chip. We were somewhat surprised. We've
been in early childhood services, specifically early heads Starry grantee
since nineteen ninety nine, and we were previously a head
Star Delegate agency under Sherry County government and then we
partnered with the school district. So I think more surprised
(48:33):
that we were able to receive the entire grant, but
we were optimistic when we submitted the application, Chip, just
because of our experience.
Speaker 8 (48:41):
Yeah, you've been doing it for a long time, as
you said, so now you have all of this money.
Now you have slots available. Did I hear close to
maybe over two thousand slots? Close to three thousand slats?
How many slots are available now for these youngsters?
Speaker 9 (48:58):
It's actually two thousand, nine hundred and twenty to be exact.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Pretty close, pretty close?
Speaker 9 (49:03):
Yeah, pretty close?
Speaker 4 (49:04):
Can you did? Well?
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 8 (49:07):
Well, that's that's that's quite a bit an attitude of
what you what you deal with on a daily basis now,
and I would imagine now that the work starts like
almost immediately in trying to in trying to fill those slots.
But in order to fill a more slots, you have
to have somebody to be able to oversee and teach
these young people. So you're doing a bit of a
(49:28):
recruiting drive as well.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Talk to us about that.
Speaker 9 (49:31):
We are. So we're actually sponsoring a job fairship on
this Friday, August first, I'm ten to four o'clock in
the morning. That job fair is specifically for anyone who
previously worked for head Start. So it doesn't matter how
long ago. If you were with us three years ago,
if you were with us twenty years ago, and you
(49:52):
want to come back home, we have a space for you.
So that job fair will be held at thirty four
hundred Prescott Road, Create one one eight from ten to
four on this bride.
Speaker 8 (50:03):
So, uh, and you're looking for how many how many
people are you looking for?
Speaker 9 (50:08):
Actually we have to hire about three hundred people.
Speaker 8 (50:11):
Man, that's a lot of folks, a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
That's a lot of people.
Speaker 8 (50:15):
And uh, you know, so, so what what are you
hoping in terms of?
Speaker 3 (50:20):
And I know, if please forgive the question.
Speaker 8 (50:23):
I know this is brand new, y'all just got this
and everybody's been working trying to figure out figure this.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
Whole thing out.
Speaker 8 (50:28):
But in terms of a timetable, how soon, uh do
you want to start bringing in children? How soon would
you like to have an increased staff to be able
to handle all of this?
Speaker 3 (50:41):
So you're going to be doing stagger. I'm sure it's
gonna take some time to do all of this.
Speaker 9 (50:45):
I would imagine it is going to take a little time. However,
I will say that once we submitted the application chip,
we don't wait to the last minute. We already started planning.
So at the point that we were notified, we actually
had plans in place regarding the enrollment process. So we
have several enrollment enrollment events for parents. We have one
(51:06):
at Hook's Demic, which has taking place on this Wednesday
and Thursday for any family or parent that's interested in
enrolling in Headstart. That address is forty nine eighty two
night on a Road and it will be from nine
to one o'clock. We're asking parents to bring all copies
(51:26):
of your documentation. So we have about forty different childcare
partnership and charter schools that are actually doing this work
with us, so we're not doing it alone. We have
some schools that are actually ready to receive students as
early as August four, So we're trying to get parents
and roll as quickly as possible with the target date
(51:49):
of September first, So we will have some staggered entry
depending on which location parents are interested in rolling in.
Speaker 8 (51:56):
So you're talking about a month about a month time
you said September first, So yeah, that gives us about
about five weeks give or take something in that vicinity, right,
Yeah for some.
Speaker 9 (52:07):
Yes, but some are ready to go like next week,
so I'm ready to.
Speaker 8 (52:10):
Yeah, this is I mean, this is a this is
this is a big deal on provisionally speaking, like you
said at the top, and I and I want to
because the history of Portly goes back a long way
and you've done some amazing work and we all have
heard and it seems like, I mean, maybe you can
tell me if I'm wrong, but increasingly so, uh, we
talk about giving our kids an early start educationally speaking,
(52:34):
and head started of course is that that's been around
for a very long time. How important is it You've
been doing this for for for a while, but early
childhood uh training and teaching and Headstart programs. How important
is this for for for our babies to get an
early start?
Speaker 9 (52:53):
Early headstart is very critical. Chip we're fortunate now that
we offer a continuum of services, so we have early
hit Star where children can actually start with us at
six weeks old to age three, and now we have
head Start for children ages three to five. We're also
(53:14):
in partnership with First State Memphis, who is the who's
leading the pre k for all initiatives. So we're fortunate
that we're able to offer families and children a continuum.
It's vitally important for us to catch children as early
as possible so that they can be developmentally appropriate or
(53:35):
prepared for kindergarten as they finish early childhood services. So
we're working with the entire family. Not only are we
preparing children educationally academically, but we're making sure that social,
emotionally they're prepared. We work with children who have mod
moderate and severe disabilities, and then we're also working alongside
(53:58):
the parents. We're working with the entire family unit. And
that's the benefit and the beauty of Headstar because it's
a comprehensive program that works with the entire family.
Speaker 8 (54:09):
Yeah, no, kidd, And you talked to about from six
months up and all of the the everything that surrounds
all of that. But one thing I heard you say
was the importance of working with the whole family. Everybody
has to everybody has to have a partnership and a
role in all of this.
Speaker 3 (54:27):
Do they not?
Speaker 9 (54:29):
Absolutely? Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (54:30):
So.
Speaker 9 (54:30):
We have family service staff which we're hiring a number.
We have to have hire about seventy plus family service
workers and they are the key to making sure that
families are connected to community resources that are available in
order to help them reach the goals that they've identified
(54:50):
as they work through our program.
Speaker 8 (54:52):
So before I let you get out of here, you
know you talked a lot about a need and a
lot about people who might be interested in finding out more.
I would like to give you an opportunity to give
all of the contact information whatever people need to know
who might be interested in being a part of all
of this.
Speaker 3 (55:10):
The floor is yours.
Speaker 9 (55:11):
I appreciate that. So first of all, you can call
our main office at nine oh one five seven seven
two five hundred if you have any questions regarding Headstart.
I do want to make sure. I reiterate that the
headstart program of which we're in rolling for now is
specifically for children ages three to five. They can also
(55:32):
visit us via our website at porterleaf dot org forward
stab slash Headstart. So if they visit our website at
the porterleaf dot org forward slash Headstart, then they can
say and roll now, and they can actually select a
partner site or a porter leaf site that they're interested
(55:54):
in rolling in. There's a pre application available. They can
upload documents that they're required when they come to an
enrollment event, they've already completed part of that paperwork process.
Speaker 8 (56:06):
And once again, on Friday, this coming Friday, you have
a hiring event. I want everybody to hear that one
more time if you don't mind so.
Speaker 9 (56:14):
Our event specifically this Friday, is from ten to four
at thirty four hundred Prescott Road. If you're interested in
positions we have available, they can visit quorterleaf dot or
forest Slash heads Start. I mean, I'm sorry for your
slash careers. So therefore they can see what we have
(56:34):
available beyond August fourth. After that, we will have job
fairs every Wednesday and Friday, with the first one start
in August six, and that would be from two to
six pm. So every career fair that we're offering is
at our main location at thirty four hundred Prescott Rop.
Speaker 3 (56:54):
Well, this is a big deal, really big deal.
Speaker 8 (56:56):
And congratulations to all of the fine folks you and
all of the fine folks at Port Leaf for for for.
Speaker 3 (57:03):
All of this.
Speaker 8 (57:04):
We know that it would be a very successful venture.
We wish you nothing but the best, and thanks for
coming on the show tonight. And tell your husband I
said hello, you all right, take care of yourself. Thank
you so much for coming. Uh, yes, ma'am, there you go.
Ladies and gentlemen, Yeah, porta Leaf man doing big things.
They got they have you. You looking for a job,
and you like young folks and you like the preschool kids.
(57:26):
This is an opportunity for you. Go to their website
and find out more information. That wraps up this edition
of a real talk Mefferce. Coming up next is Event
Horizon with that up and coming superstar. Should I say, well,
just say Brand Brandon brand is you know he's becoming
(57:49):
a thing now at seven o'clock on Monday evening.
Speaker 3 (57:51):
So Brand, as I always ask you, but what's on?
What's on? The menu tonight on the Event Horizon broadcast.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Oh thank you for that. And I think tonight, well,
if you've been checking it out for the past couple
of weeks, it's been a little electronic and a little
rock oriented, so I might stick with with that stuff.
A couple of new releases and some some nineties work
as well.
Speaker 8 (58:14):
Well, there you go, ladies and gentlemen. And that's just
in another minute or two. Uh uh, he will he
will be. Brin will be on the mic from seven
to eight pm tonight, So check out Evan Horizon and
as he plays us out, it's been a great show.
Thank you so much for being the part of it.
We appreciate you as always, and I love my team
(58:36):
and I love my folks. So for all of us
in Real Talk Memphis, and she slowly works her way
over for Lola and for Brin, who you're gonna be
hearing in about a minute on his own show, I'm Chip.
But we really appreciate you. Thank you for your support.
Thank you for everything that you do to help to
(58:56):
make your show success.
Speaker 3 (58:58):
You like what we do?
Speaker 8 (58:59):
Uh tell somebody in goodness say I try to lighten.
Speaker 3 (59:03):
Up between now and the next week.
Speaker 8 (59:04):
Without doubt. But that's gonna work anyway. For all of
us here, have a great week. Please be sived. He'd
be careful in this heat. Uh and as always, watch
out for yourself, watch out for other folks U.
Speaker 3 (59:15):
And until next time we are out see as soon.
Speaker 1 (59:19):
It's real, it's real, it's real kill. Welcome to real
host Jill.
Speaker 7 (59:29):
Watch your w
Let's talk about it. Oh guy, I can do something
about it. And she's got to throw wide open if you've.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Got questions about it.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Man, it's to show that breaks until you're.
Speaker 4 (00:08):
Wrong to solve all problems. It's talking, real talk, real cold.
It's real cop.
Speaker 5 (00:14):
It's real.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
It's real cop.
Speaker 6 (00:17):
It's real. It's real coke.
Speaker 7 (00:19):
It's real cold like it's free cod. It's real.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It's real talk.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
It's real. It's real coal. It's real. It's real talk.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's real cough.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, welcome to real tell your real host Jim watching
him you like. It's a real talk. It's a real talking,
it's real cough.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
And here we go.
Speaker 8 (01:05):
Here we go on this very hot and steamy Monday
afternoon in the city. It is the twenty eighth day
of what month?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Is this July?
Speaker 8 (01:16):
Actually you will be in August by the end of
the week, twenty twenty five, six o'clock straight up, which
means it is time for Rio Talk Memphis and a
prelude before we get too far into this. And you know,
for those of you who checked the show out on
Facebook Live, I'm looking at myself right now. I told Lola,
I said I got a little something going on here.
I look like I'm about to blend into the background
(01:37):
in terms of my in terms of my skin, that
means is hot, ladies and gentlemen, it is.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
We are under an.
Speaker 8 (01:43):
Extreme heat warning, which means heat in decease anywhere from
one O five to one eleven. And that is very,
very dangerous, which means that you do not need to
be outside your skin exposed to this heat for any
great length of time because it could do some tremid
this damage.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
To you health wise.
Speaker 8 (02:02):
Watch out for yourself, watch out for the seniors, make
sure they're cool and comfortable. Make sure that your children
don't stay outside too long and be exposed to all
of this heat. And of course watch out for your
pets and things like that. We have a good show
for you tonight. Welcome in, Welcome in, Come on in,
Come on in now, sit down and relax, get cool,
(02:24):
get your nice little drink, and I have some water
here myself. But you know, relax and stay comfortable for
the next hour. We have a nice show for you
this evening. I will tell you this. The theme of
the today's show is education. In one form or another.
It is education, and all three of my guests have
something to do with that. I will lay that out
for you in just a minute. But there are many
(02:46):
ways for you to get this fine piece of radio broadcasting,
and of course for many of you right now, ninety
one point seven we immediately follow DJ Lola. You can
find us on ninety one point seven wy x R.
On the FM side. Of course, you can find us
on the wy x R app.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
We are live streaming the show tonight.
Speaker 8 (03:08):
Yeah, that fellow that's on the screen looks like me,
sounds like me. I guess it is me, but just
a much darker version of me. So you'll be able
to see us on Facebook Live and of course from
the show post the next couple of days, we will
be on YouTube and as we are a podcast, once
the show is posted, you will be able to find
(03:28):
us wherever it you know you'd like to find your
favorite podcast, right All y'all got different channels that you
like to show different shows. Will make us part of
that little group in your favorite podcast platforms, all right.
In terms of the show tonight, we are going to
be speaking with state Representative Tory Harris, and he is
(03:50):
he's actually one of the sponsors for a meeting that
is happening right now, Counting Commission in reference to the
state passing giving the County Commission the authority to move
the Memphis Sheppy County school Board folks to the same
election cycle, which would be twenty twenty six. Now, for
(04:11):
those who were elected in twenty twenty four, this means
that your time in office would be cut in half.
So they're having a big meeting on that tonight as
a matter of fact, to decide whether or not the
County Commission is going to vote to move in that direction,
or who knows what could happen. When I was listening
to the County Commission meeting on my way here, and
(04:32):
it sounds like they might defer this. They're always pushing
stuff back, so they might end up deferring this situation
back a couple of weeks. We will find out what
happens with that. Cardell or In is the executive director
of Stand with Children, that youth organization. It's always looking
(04:54):
at creating policy and making better policy decisions based on
our young people. He's going to talk with us a
little bit about the organization and of course what we
just talked about a minute ago at how he feels
about this term limited situation and possibly cutting the school
board commissioners or some of them.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
At least they're terms in half.
Speaker 8 (05:13):
So he'll join me in just a couple of minutes,
and a little bit later on, we're gonna have Karen
Harrell Harrol from port Leaf. Last week, port Leaf snatched
the I shouldn't say snatch, but they got the contract
for a preschool from the Memphison Shelby County Schools till
the tune of thirty million.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Dollars, which is a great big deal for port Leaf.
Speaker 8 (05:38):
But they're going to have a lot more people en
road and they need a lot of help in that
regard to So if you're a teacher and you're thinking
about talking about dealing with preschool folks, you might want
to listen into that interview a little bit later on.
So that's to look at the guest list for this
evening and before we move forward, July is about wrapped
(05:59):
up here. We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate today,
and I know a lot of these folks celebrating on
birthday today. So what do you say? We get to it.
But I can't do that until I say hit it Brown,
Happy birthday, going out through the following foch for Gina
Morrison Newlan that would be your Cheby County Trustee.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
She celebrating her birthday today.
Speaker 8 (06:19):
Happy Birthday Songstress, Stephanie Bolton, Mister Clay Gibb The Bibs,
I'm sorry, mister Clay Bibbs is celebrating her birthday today.
Valerie Person, a church member of mine, celebrating her birthday
as well. And Lane Henderson Hillary Lane, Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to Cliff then Johnson. To Jacqueline Denise celebrating
(06:43):
her birthday today, as is Carolyn Coffee Brown Banks and
Low Love has a birthday of her Happy.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
Birthday, Live Friend, Fat Night, I am Georgia Party one yesterday.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Did you say sat match fat Map.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
He's a local comedian.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yahy had a good time.
Speaker 9 (07:04):
Had a great time, a lot of fun. Yeah local home.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Absolutely, there you go.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
And also happy birthdays and my dear.
Speaker 9 (07:10):
Friend star Keisha Star Keisha.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Yes, make sure you go over to another day another
fight and.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Cop something.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Where you go.
Speaker 8 (07:19):
Ladies and gentlemen, all of those folks are celebrating birthdays today.
We hope that your day will filled with love and
laughter and we hope to be around you next year
for your next trip around the sun, celebrating and enjoy. Whooo,
happy birthday, Toad you everyone. Thanks Brian. A couple of
quick hits on the news and notes today. As I
was saying a minute ago, the County Commission is taking
(07:43):
up the issue of moving the election cycle for school
board members to next year to fall in line with
the rest of the county election cycle. They're talking about
that right now. And if that's the case, then there
will be an election in twenty twenty six, and the
new members, of course, so we were elected in twenty twenty four,
would have to find themselves up for reelection should they
(08:06):
decide to do so next August. So one way or
another we will get a decision in reference to that.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
As well.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
We are still waiting for a decision by a judge
from an emergency injunction that was filed last week with
doctor Marie Fagins, who wants her termination voided, who wants
back pay, and she wants to resume her seat as
the Superintendent of Education because she says she has unfinished
(08:35):
business in reference to that, So, yeah, a lot of
things that are open right now. We're waiting to see
what happens on the back end of it and how
all of these things become resolved. One thing I will
say about the school board issue. When doctor Fagin's was
terminated last year in December, there was a lot of
(08:57):
friction from the community. A lot of folks were very
angry about what happened, and they said that the school
board absolutely, without question, did not listen to anything they
had to say. They made their decision, they moved forward.
The people had a chance to speak. Apparently it didn't
do a whole lot, because doctor Fagan's was indeed terminated. Now,
(09:19):
the one thing about all of this is there are
four or five school board members who if the board
the County Commission does move to shift the election perspective
to the rest of the county next year, those four
to five who were elected last year in twenty twenty
four are gonna have to be up for reelection. Now,
(09:39):
many of you who were very upset about what happened
with doctor Fagan said at those meetings, you use the
word recall, recall, recall, recall. We're gonna recall you, We're
gonna we're gonna get you out. We're gonna move you
along and for what you did. Well, If there indeed
is an election for school board members next year and
these school board members who who were short sighted, who
(10:02):
might be short sighted, decide to run, this is your opportunity.
This city and county don't do a real good job
in terms of going to the polls. U And you know,
when you have an opportunity to make a difference, you
should be able to do that by going to the polls.
So if, of course this is voted one way or another,
(10:22):
well then you know you might have a chance to
be able to do that. We'll have to watch that
very carefully and see how all of that tracks Prime Time.
Dion Sanders revealed today in a press conference with his
medical staff that he's been dealing with some pretty serious
medical issues. It was discovered that he had a tumor,
a cancerous tumor in his bladder. Well, he had an
(10:45):
operation to have his bladder removed and they actually replaced
it with another with another bladder, and the doctor said
that the cancer is gone now. So we're very thankful
that that happened. And of course, you know, his message
to everybody is don't wait, don't wait, you know, make
sure that you know, in terms of your body, if
(11:06):
there's some discomfort or something going on, make sure you
get checked.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
And that's for all of you out there.
Speaker 8 (11:11):
Make sure you get checked and make sure that you
keep up with things like that, because you never ever,
ever know, like he found out, how serious things could become.
And before we get out of here real fast, I
want Loland to come back to the mic. You know,
we talk about the fact that the federal government has
cut a lot of programs in reference to the arts,
(11:33):
and that of course covers WKNO, PBS stations and a
lot of radio stations across this country, community radio stations
like ours, and we were affected as well. Now we
have funding for this year, but we lost funding for
next year ten percent, and that equals for this station
to an eighty four thousand dollars loss. And Lolan, this
(11:57):
really is a big deal and it's a chance for
all of us who enjoyed the programming here to do
something about it.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Yes it was, I'm sorry. Yes you guys can do
something about it. You can go over to our beautiful
website WISAR dot org and we have this beautiful button
that says donate, donate, donate a little something can make
a huge difference while we go through this. If you
want to become a monthly sponsor, twenty dollars a month
(12:25):
is more than enough to help us get going, and
we would appreciate the support. If you enjoy what you
hear in your ears.
Speaker 8 (12:33):
This is a very serious situation. And again it's not
just us. If you if you've been paying attention to
the news, the federal funding to for many, for many
in the arts is billions of dollars, and the federal
government is cutting all of those programs for whatever reason.
But the back end of all of that is many
(12:53):
places in this country, not just Memphis, but but all
over the country, and places in particular who have small
rule reral stations who depend on news information and things
like that are in danger of being cut. So you know,
we need your help here at wyx ORR if we
want to stay on there, if you enjoy the programming,
and for us as a station to continue to be
(13:15):
immersed as much as we are in the community lovel
I think that's a big, big deal as well.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
It's a big big deal, so definitely support us. If
you listen to any other smaller stations like I think
Robbie was saying, there's a station in Ripley, Tennessee. Yeah,
it's like eighty percent of their funding. Yeah, yeah, this
is definitely a big deal. It really hurt us small
local radio stations and broadcasting like PBS, which.
Speaker 9 (13:43):
Isn't as small.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
I mean I grew up on it my whole entire life.
Their funding was cut also. Yeah, er like Chip said,
whatever reason in this big crappy bill.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So we need to help.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
Ladies and gentlemen, if you enjoy what we do here
WYXR and some of the other stations out there, please
dig deep and reach and help us out. Thank you
little appreciate that we're going to take a quick breaking.
When we come back, we're going to get into the broadcast.
As I said at the time, this is all education themed.
So pay close attention to what you're here tonight, and
you know, at the end of it, you'll make a
(14:17):
summary and you know, we'll hopefully that we will provide
the type of information that you are looking for. I'm Chip,
you know where you are. Let's take a quick break,
and I say I'm Chip. Regardless of what you see
on Facebook Live. If you're watching me on Facebook Live,
I'm still me. Let's take a quick commercial breaking we'll
come back. Get the show studied. This is Real Talk Memphis.
Don't go away. We will be right back.
Speaker 10 (14:53):
If you like real Talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion I want to be sit at a guest
or have a guest idea, Then send Hip a message
on his Real Talk show page and you can be
a part of the real Talk experience. So as he
always says, go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It's It's It's.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
Programming on WYXR is brought to you by a grant
from Arts Memphis who has invested ninety four million dollars
into our local arts community to teach, uplift, unite, and
engage Memphians of all ages and zip codes.
Speaker 6 (15:32):
Did you know you could donate your vehicle and support
WYXR at the same time. We offer free pickup and
it's tax deductible. Go to cars dot WYXR dot org
to donate your car.
Speaker 10 (15:42):
Today talk on the tune in mobile app under w
y XR, and he's now streaming live on Facebook and
(16:05):
you can also catch a rebroadcast on YouTube. Just put
w y XR in the search box and hit subscribe.
Now back to more Real Talk with Jim Washington's.
Speaker 8 (16:23):
And welcome back to Real Talk Memphis on this very
warm Monday evening in the city ship with you, and
I'm very glad that you are joining us for the
ride that this evening. As I said, this is going
to be a kind of an education theme show this evening.
And my first guest is uh the executive the executive
director of a great organization that is dedicated, uh.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
To the future of our young people.
Speaker 11 (16:49):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (16:49):
You've heard of an organization called Stand with Children. Well,
I am very happy to have the their executive director
joining me. His name is cardel Orn and he's on
with me right now. Cardal is great to see you,
my friend. How you doing tonight.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
I'm doing pretty good. Let's be with you.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Well, I'm glad to have you with us today. It
is an interesting day of consequence.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Now.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
I did read a couple of posts from you on
Facebook in reference to this meeting today that the county
commissioners were having and why they might be having it
and what are some of the reasons for it. And
we're talking about term limits of course, for school board
members and moving them under the same election cycle. In
(17:30):
a nutshell, I take it that you're not for this,
But if you're not for it, necessarily tell us why.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So, overall, I don't think this law that was passed
had the best intentions possible and actually solve problems that
we have. I think the one thing that it does
is it provides for term limits for school board which
I think everybody, even school board members, agree with. What
it does morally is to shift the election cycle so
that it takes away the stagger terms that we have
(18:00):
for school board members and tries to put them all
on the same ballot as the County Commission races, which
would be next year. One that potentially unconstitutionally abridges the
elections of the terms of the people the school board
members who were elected last year. Two that shifts us
away from staggered terms. I believe staggered terms are good.
(18:20):
I think the County Commission, City Council should be on
staggered terms. That allows for some knowledge, to attention, some experience,
some things to be on the school board without having
it wholesale flip out potentially every four years. With having
them on the same ballot. Some have said this will
save money. Representative Harris has said this at the very time,
it doesn't save money because we're still going to have
(18:42):
elections in those off years. Some have said, well, we'll
get better elections or better results from elections because we'll
have higher turnout in those years. And that's not necessarily
the case because Representative Harris, who passed this bill, and
all the state representatives are elected in the very same
election in August of last year as the school board members.
(19:02):
So we're saying we didn't get good results from the
school board elections wol low turnout. What are we saying
about the state reps? I don't think they say that
about themselves.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
A lot of people which would would subscribe to the
argument that this is that this has become This is
really political in terms of it. Now, you know as
well as I do, that when it comes to elections,
we don't have a good record here in Memphis and
Shervy County. We don't show up. I don't know why,
but this happens every election cycle. We have these very
(19:31):
low numbers for positions that seem to be so critical
in reference to all of this, and I have heard
the same arguments that you have just laid out there
for a moment. But let me go back for a
minute too. As I said earlier, the removal of doctor
Fagan's from her position last year, and one of the
(19:54):
things that was talked about from the people was that
the will of the people was not served in all
of that, and that they thought that however they could
do it, they would have an opportunity to recall some
of the members who they felt turned their back on
this situation. Well, an election next year, even though it
(20:16):
cuts off many of their terms in half, would be
a good opportunity to be able to do that.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
No, I mean, I don't think that we should have
policy political parameter said go away from democracy because we
disagree with the decisions of the people who are elected.
That's what elections are for. So you're exactly right. This
is meant to be punishment for those school board members
(20:45):
and meant to be a de facto recall. It's meant
to be a recall. If you want to recall, put
in a recall provision and recall board members. Don't go
along with State Senator Brent Taylor and the other people
who want to just create more power and control and
preemption on Memphis and Shelby County. This just widens the
door from them that goes into the state takeover. If
(21:07):
they can do this to the school board, what stops
them from doing it too? The city council, the county commission.
If you don't agree with the decisions that are made,
that they can make within their lawful abilities for what
they were elected for. Whether you agree or not with
the termination of Superintendent Fagan's that's why we have elections.
That's not the way to go about restricting having the
(21:29):
state come in and make decisions there rules of voters out.
Speaker 8 (21:33):
Well, you know, one of the things that you just
said is and that's still on the table on there
are two bills that will be brought up when the
legislature meets in January of next year in reference to
some type of takeover or overseeing of the occurrent to
school board members.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Would you be happier?
Speaker 8 (21:51):
And I thought about this initially, and I'm going to
have state representatory here as he comes on right after
you and talk about all of this, But would this
not be a better serve in terms of what the
people want if it was put on the ballot as
a referendum to give them an opportunity. What do you
think about that?
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Sure, I think you can put it on a ballot
as a referendum. I think, you know, one of the
challenges that we've seen in the past is that again,
it all matters about how we put it on the ballot.
When we went on the city side, we passed staggered
terms and moving city elections from octobers ID year octobers
to even years during presidential races, and that was all
(22:34):
that we passed that by referendum, and then the city
council didn't like that because they didn't want more people
coming out for elections, and they overturned it and want
back and put something on the referendum, and voters again
voted to take away what they had just voted for.
So I do think that's a fairer way to do it,
and then you battle it out in the court of
public opinion and have voters go at it. I think
that everybody agrees on term limits, everybody agrees on recall.
(22:57):
I think that it's solely a question of do you
do you move away from what is best practice in
terms of having staggered terms. So that we can maintain
some continuity on the on the one of the most
important bodies in our community.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
I talked to a couple of the school board members
who were elected in last year's election cycle, and one
of them brought up to me that that not only
is this not really fair to the community, this is uh,
this could be unconstitutional. And I think that she made
it very clear that you know, they would be seeking
(23:33):
possible legal action in reference to all of this. Do
you think that there's a case for them.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
I mean, I certainly think so. I think that you
know that in our constitution, our state constitution, there it
says that you cannot take away basically the terms are
cut short terms that people are elected to and this
seems to violate that. So Representative G. A. Hardaway at
the County Commission today presented and said that he had
(23:59):
asked her an Attorney general opinion on the constitutionality of
this lamaw and so we will find out at least
what that opinion is, and then the County Commission can
still do it, and then you know, we'll see in
the courts what actually happens. I think that there are
other options to get to the solutions and The other
thing that we need to come back to is that
if the problem, as you stated, is a voter turnout,
(24:23):
let's all get specifically focused on that and try to
get higher voter turnout. So in the elections when Representative
Harris gets elected, we have a higher turnout. When we
have the primaries for the County Commission in May of
next year, where the same low turnout as in last
year's office election happens, Let's make sure we get higher
turnout in the May elections. Let's solve the problems we
(24:43):
actually have, let's not create new problems and issues.
Speaker 8 (24:48):
Let me ask you, as we are prepared to start
a brand new school year, and of course today was
the first day back to report for staff, faculty and
staff of the Memphis Chevy County Schools. The children will
be back in class starting next Monday.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (25:02):
In reference to your organization Staying with Children, who is
an extraordinarily great advocate for our young people.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Uh, what what do you want to see? You know,
we're starting a brand new school year.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
And of course we're starting out unfortunately here with a
shortage of over three hundred teachers. Three hundred teachers short
when school starts in about a week. Well what are
you looking for as you look forward and move forward
with your agenda at your organization?
Speaker 4 (25:28):
So just a little correction to stand for children, although
we do sting.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Sorry, you know what, You're right, I'm sorry.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
I'm very sorry, and I changed that somewhere, but I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Stand for children. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Great, but hey, we stand with each other. We organized,
we have a Youth Justice Action Coalition that actually has
justice involved you who do their own advocacy. So we
definitely staying with children as well. So I'm looking you know,
I think coming into the school year, Uh, they're coming
in with a lot of challenges. I think that we
saw coming out of going into this this this the
(25:59):
end of this last school year. Of course, the shifts
and leadership. We know from some of the reports that
we had that we lost some of the gains that
we were trending towards. We had a lot of people,
let go from the district who were important around the
structures that we need in place for teachers to be
successful and for young people to have student achievement. So
(26:21):
I think superintendent interim Superintendent Richmond is bringing back some
of those things. So that's encouraging including you know, some
of the interim assessments that we're taken away. So I
think that we're on you know, a more clear and
stable trajectory than we had been. And clearly we have
some of the same challenges. You know, a teacher shortage
(26:41):
that's a nationwide issue. We have to identify new ways
to identify teacher pathways and how we get more people
into the profession and keep them there. In addition to
the challenges around literacy and chronic apsenteeism, there's some specific
things that the district is working on I know about that,
you know, focused on literacy. I'm a part of the
Strategic partners for Literacy Community and District partnership where we're
(27:04):
focused on what are the things that the district is doing,
how do we push for more high dosage tutoring, how
do we make sure that we're focused around literacy, the
chronics absenteeism, the challenges around the other issues of math
and career pathways. I think there are a lot of opportunity,
challenges and opportunities that you know, as a community we've
(27:27):
got to try to face together. These are the kind
of things where we need to be setting up. Here's
what our expectations are as a community. Here's what we
want as a community. Here's what we communicate to the
district administration, to the school board members, and here's the
level that we hold them to. Not based around you know,
one or two decisions. I've disagreed with tons of decisions
over the twenty years I've been involved in politics here,
(27:48):
and so you've got to pick and choose your battles
and understand how we all headed towards the same goal.
How do we set up an agenda and hold our
elected officials and our administration accountable to achievement for our students.
That's what we all should be focused on.
Speaker 8 (28:02):
Well, I'll tell you what man high hopes for another
great school year. You mentioned some targets there that really
need to be focused in on and addressed by not
only our school board, but our superintendent of Education as well.
Cardile Rain, Ladies and gentlemen, he is the executive director
of Stand for Children. My bad on that and doing
(28:23):
an amazing job. We'll keep a very close eye on
what happens with the County Commission one way or another
as pertains to this school board. But cardell As always
thank you, my frien, for coming on the show, and
I'll be checking with you during the school year for sure, no.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Doubt about that.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 8 (28:40):
Yes, sir, absolutely, So there you go, ladies and dell Man.
That's a bird's eye view of what is happening. And
it's a lot at stake, there really is. And we
need to do a better job as a community, as
a people of being involved. And we can't just talk
about being involved with our kids, and our kids need
this and we need to do this, and blah blah blah.
We need to We need to get our feet, hands dirty,
and our feet, you know dirty. We need to get
(29:01):
in this thing. And if you want to see change,
and if you want to create change, then you have
to be involved and be a change maker. And that's
just really the bottom line. And we'll find out later on.
I happen to think that this whole deal tonight with
whether they move this thing forward, I think they're gonna
defer it. To be honest with you, they may get
an attorney general's opinion, but if it's a Republican house
(29:23):
up there in Nashville and they get an attorney's opinion,
what makes you think that this is gonna turn out
any other way.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
That's just Chip talking. Let me take another.
Speaker 8 (29:31):
Break, and when we come back we will continue our conversation.
We're gonna speak with one of the men who helped
to get this whole thing passed to where we are tonight.
He is Tory Harris's state representative. We'll do that right
after this. This is real Talk Memphis. I'm Chipped.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Don't go away. There's more to come.
Speaker 10 (30:03):
If you like real talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion, want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea? Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
of the real talk experience. So as he always says,
go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
It's It's.
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Speaker 10 (31:05):
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Now back to more Real Talk with Jim Washington's.
Speaker 8 (31:30):
And welcome back to Real Talk Memphis on this Monday evening,
Chip with you, and we were talking a couple of
minutes ago with cardell Rin, the executive director of Stanford Children,
and we were talking about the whole issue that the
County Commission is taking up this evening, which has to
do with uh uh creating term limits for school board
(31:50):
members and moving them uh changing the election cycle from
the odd to to UH where all of the county
votes which would be next year, and that would cut
at least four or five members. If this thing passes,
that would cut at least four or five members terms
in half. Well, one of the authors of this bill
in Nashville, who got us where we are tonight, joins
(32:14):
us on the show. He is State Representative Tory Harris
and toy it's great to see you, my friend. Thanks
for taking time to be on the show tonight. I
appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Oh, always glad to be here.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
So you, along with Senator Brent Taylor, offered this bill
last year in the State House. First of all, why
do this? Why did you think it was important to
change the parameters of all of this? And I know
that we talk about voting and the number of people
(32:44):
voting and some other things, but I'm interested to find
out what is really behind all of this effort which
was passed up there and now we're trying to wait
to see what happens here.
Speaker 13 (32:54):
Yeah, definitely, And so with the legislation that ended up passing,
which was House Built thirteen eighty three Senate Bill thirteen
thirty six. With that legislation, where it came from, of course,
is that every year I do my absolute best to
make sure that I ask the community what it is
that they want to see happen. Oftentimes, I'm sure you've
(33:14):
probably seen it on my social media, through email, text,
whatever it is. I send out communication to people asking
them to give me opinions, thoughts, amendments, documents, whatever it
is that they want to see take place. And overwhelmingly
I received response in regards to something dealing with resetting
how we structure our school board. All right, So that's
(33:35):
how we got to this point now. And I think
ultimately once I got down to writing the legislation with
the community, because there was so many individuals who had
pushed for this legislation, whether in whole or in part,
I mean, I got a lot of response from this. Luckily,
our records are a public record, so if anybody needs
(33:57):
to pull all the emails that we receive in phone
calls and communication around who wanted to see this happen,
it was quite overwhelming. I ended up getting this piece
of legislation over on the Senate side. I had to
make sure I found someone who I felt like could
actually pass our goal. When we get legislation, we only
(34:19):
get a certain amount throughout the year, and we want
to make sure that you put legislation up that can pass.
And there's only a couple individuals on the Senate side
that I feel like could actually pass legislation of this
magnitude at least, and so I wanted to make sure
that I partnered with somebody that could do that. And
so in doing that, we basically you pass it on
(34:41):
one side and then the other person goes in and said,
after you've already done all the work and tries to
pass that thereselves. So this is technically my legislation. So
if I think there was some confusion, and I think
wordplay used by some of the political puns about how
it's working with the Republicans or working with and that's
it's kind of odd, but this has the civil legislation
(35:03):
comes straight from.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
The community, hands down.
Speaker 13 (35:07):
People actually stood up and spoke today who were in
support of it.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
So many people have talked to this. So yeah, so
that's where we've we've started.
Speaker 8 (35:15):
So so you know, and mentioning that uh, you know,
in terms of the account Commission meeting, I think everybody
is doesn't have a problem with term limits. I think
that's that that that's a universal, almost unanimous thing. But
what do you say to the people that say saying
that you know you created this, Uh, this is just political.
This is just a more political theater and drama. And
(35:36):
I'm and and another question I have for you. One
of your colleagues, Yeah, Hardaway at this meeting tonight suggested
that this go before uh this state, I guess attorney right,
Attorney general uh to to to to weigh in on
this one way or the other. Uh, what what is
your take on that?
Speaker 13 (35:57):
Yeah, yeah, So going back to whether it's political or
related or not, absolutely not. Actually the individuals who I
guess feel they will be affected directly by their terms
being cut. If this was actually something political, you think
back to when I think, I think back to November.
So in November, shortly after their term they had gotten
(36:21):
put into office, we had to travel for a conference
and some of the new school board members pulled me
in one of my other colleagues to the side and
had a conversation about how they were wanting to get
rid of the school superintendent. Right, And at that point
you would have thought that I would have made it political,
but it was not, And so it was more of
a conversation at that point. And it's never been about
(36:44):
on the political side of this.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
This is just the streamline.
Speaker 13 (36:47):
Our city Council is all on one, our County Commission,
which is the funding arm is all on one. We're streamlining,
streamlining how our elections actually happened. And to the point
that one of my one of the political puns, had
mentioned regarding how the voting turnout in the state elections
(37:07):
is also low in the primaries. We're also on that
same primary election with the school board, and that was
in August of last year. And when I look back
at just my numbers alone and for my district, I
had three thousand nine to seventy nine in voters turnout
in August, but I had seventeen thousand people vote for
me and the bigger election with the rest of the
(37:28):
individuals on the ballot, which shows that when there's more
interest on a ballot, more people want to actually turn
out and show up. And so that is a huge
difference in what maybe he was stating earlier to you.
I think that with this legislation, our the goal is
that we didn't want the state to make decisions for us, right,
(37:49):
That's what we've all been saying, we don't want the
state to make decisions for us.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
There was a.
Speaker 13 (37:53):
Whole state intervention legislation that was on the books earlier
this year. We're trying to come up with little things
to not have the state per se takeover out our
school system. So instead I wrote a legislation that says that,
and if you read it specifically, at the very top,
it says, notwithstanding another law to the countrary. A local
(38:14):
legislative body for a county that has adopted a charter
form of government may require may and so instead of
the state making these decisions, I put it to where
it gave our county the options to have these three things.
They can pick one, they can pick two, they can
pick three. They don't have to pick all three of them.
They may require That's all it gave. It gave our
(38:35):
county the option. So that way our states stayed out
of making these decisions.
Speaker 8 (38:39):
Speaking of that, of course, both Representative of White and
Senator Brent Taylor both have proposals up, and you talked
about the takeover. You may be trying to provide options
based on what you were saying in terms of your bill,
But I mean they both plan on bringing up the
(39:01):
first of the year, and in one way or another,
they're looking at the board being basically overseen by somebody
not elected, but folks who are appointed. Maybe one I
think has the County Commission overseeing of this process and
the other one has some appointed members to all of this.
(39:22):
Based on what you just said a minute ago, I
take it you're you're not for that either one of
those bills.
Speaker 13 (39:27):
No and so instead of us trying to make sure
that we are creating other avenues for us to move
our school system alone, we are in a place where
we are actually pushing them more to a reason why
they want to go ahead and move forward. So next
year will come, January will come, and it looks like
we'll probably be happening the same fight all over again
(39:50):
this year that we had this year.
Speaker 8 (39:51):
Yeah, this is I mean, and you know we're right
at the precipice of school starting again. I mean literally
next week school starts, and and this is for all
of us. I think it becomes a bit confusing. I
wanted to get your thought about this particular aspect of
all of this, in terms of the kind of commission
(40:12):
and the decision that they will make one way or
the other. Should this not be something, at least from
your perspective, that you think might be put on a
ballot as a referendum. If this is about people and
about people's decisions and about the voice of the citizen
being heard, should they not be heard in that particular manner.
I know this is not about your bill, but I'm
(40:33):
asking your thought and your opinion.
Speaker 13 (40:34):
No, that's a great question, and so I do agree
that a voter should be the ones making these decisions, right,
And so when we propose this bill, this bill was
written by citizens, has been supported and pushed by people
in our community, not by elected officials per se. This
has specifically been pushed by them, and so the goal
(40:54):
would be that individuals, if they are able, to put
it on as a referendum.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
The timing of all of that, what the people were.
Speaker 13 (41:01):
Wanting was immediate response to something, right, and so the
other option that was out there was recalls, and so
we'll have a strong discussion in January about recalls. So that,
but have we done a recall? Have we moved legislation
forward for school boards to have a recall option in January?
(41:22):
I don't know if those individuals would still be sitting
in those seats right now. So I've technically bought them
time in many in many aspects. So putting it as
a recall is another way to be able to buy
some extra time.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
For sure.
Speaker 8 (41:36):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, I think you know, for many people,
I think, you know, we want the right to be
a part of the conversation. And when I was listening
in earlier to the County Commission, meeting, I heard people
saying that, and as I mentioned earlier, I think I
don't think there's no argument about the fact that term
limits need to be established. But how but you know,
but again, is it fair for people who were elected
(41:59):
who a four year term to be cut in half
in terms of that and have to make a decision
whether they want to run again or not. But this
is a form of recall. I mean, if this thing
does pass, but by the kind of commission, this would
be a form of recall, would it not in terms
of people having a right to vote up or down?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah or nay, one way or the other.
Speaker 13 (42:22):
Yeah, absolutely, And so that's exactly what this is. I mean,
if you look at I'm looking at section one, elections
for the county Board of Education to be held at
the same time and on the same election cycle as
elections for members of the local legislative body for the county.
If the county wanted to pass that part of it,
then the county could do that. What we have to
determine afterwards, or what we're still trying to figure out
(42:46):
and we're working through right now, which is what the
ag opinion will let us know more of, is if
we can constitutionally do that, and if not, we'll just
come back in January correct it and make sure that
it's fixed so that way for the future and break
any constitutionality. I think what we've ran into now is
that it's the people versus electeds, and electeds are really
(43:09):
strongly wanting to protect each other, and unfortunately, the way
my setup is, I have to go with what the
voters want, like what the people ask for. I have
had a lot of response regarding this and those not
in favor of it, even if you go back and
look at posts for individuals who on social media who
(43:31):
have advocated against it. Those who have liked it or
commented are usually elected officials or those working in the
political realm. But if you look at some other ones
who are in favor of term limits and in favor
of a staggered election, those individuals are just the regular voter.
And we want to make sure that the voter's voices
actually matter. I know that doesn't matter to some, but
(43:52):
we've got to make sure that we are pushing for
the voice of those who.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Voted state representatives or Harris.
Speaker 8 (44:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, Tory, thank you so much for taking
time I know you're out of town, and I really
appreciate you taking a few minutes to come on and
talk about this very important issue. We will be keeping
an eye on it, and I'm sure you and I
will be talking more down the girl.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (44:14):
All Right, there you go, ladies and gentlemen. That's that's
the view from the other side. And again, this all
boils down to at the end of the day. This
is going to boil down to people if they decide
to get a ruling from the Attorney General up there
in Nashville, whether this is indeed constitutional or not. Uh,
that's going to go a long way to the side
exactly what happens, uh in terms of these term limits
(44:35):
and what happens in terms of the elections next year.
Let's take a break and when we come back, we're
gonna continue the theme of education. Porter Leath got a
whole bunch of money last week in terms of pre
uh pre k and uh uh, you know, teaching our babies,
you know, at an early age.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Porter Liza is a great organization.
Speaker 8 (44:56):
By the way, we're going to be talking with someone
who can talk to us about this thirty million dollar
infusion they got and what they plan on doing with
all of this.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
This is Real Talk Memphis. I'm Chip. Don't you dare
go away? We'll be right back.
Speaker 10 (45:22):
If you like real talk, here's the way you can
get involved. Do you have a show topic, idea or
a suggestion, want to be considered a guest or have
a guest idea, Then send Chip a message on his
Real Talk show page and you can be a part
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go out and tell somebody, We'll be right back.
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Speaker 8 (46:41):
Washington's and as we get ready for another school year.
We have an organization here who has been doing the
work with our young folks for a very very long time.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
And many of you have heard of porter Leaf.
Speaker 8 (47:06):
Well, they recently announced that it's taking over the reins
of Shelby County's head Start services and which is something
that the Mempherson Chrby County Schools have for a very
very long time. But the thirty million plus dollar award,
the federal contract was given to the fine folks at
(47:26):
porter Leaf.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
And I have Karen Harrold.
Speaker 8 (47:29):
She is the senior vice president of Early Childhood Services
for porter Leaf and.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
Karen is great to see you, welcome to the show.
Glad to have you tonight.
Speaker 9 (47:39):
Thank you for having me Chip listen.
Speaker 8 (47:42):
So, congratulations, this is the big deal, you know, this
is this this program was kind of overseen by Mifferson
Sherby County Schools for a very long time, this head
Start program. And to understand you, all the bidding processes
open every year. You all submitted a bid and you
all won this contract first of all at Senior VP.
(48:04):
How surprised were you and when you all got notificated
about all of this, congratulations too, by the way, that's
a big deal.
Speaker 9 (48:10):
Thank you so much. Chip. We were somewhat surprised. We've
been in early childhood services, specifically early heads Starry grantee
since nineteen ninety nine, and we were previously a head
Star Delegate agency under Sherry County government and then we
partnered with the school district. So I think more surprised
(48:33):
that we were able to receive the entire grant, but
we were optimistic when we submitted the application, Chip, just
because of our experience.
Speaker 8 (48:41):
Yeah, you've been doing it for a long time, as
you said, so now you have all of this money.
Now you have slots available. Did I hear close to
maybe over two thousand slots? Close to three thousand slats?
How many slots are available now for these youngsters?
Speaker 9 (48:58):
It's actually two thousand, nine hundred and twenty to be exact.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Pretty close, pretty close?
Speaker 9 (49:03):
Yeah, pretty close?
Speaker 4 (49:04):
Can you did? Well?
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 8 (49:07):
Well, that's that's that's quite a bit an attitude of
what you what you deal with on a daily basis now,
and I would imagine now that the work starts like
almost immediately in trying to in trying to fill those slots.
But in order to fill a more slots, you have
to have somebody to be able to oversee and teach
these young people. So you're doing a bit of a
(49:28):
recruiting drive as well.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Talk to us about that.
Speaker 9 (49:31):
We are. So we're actually sponsoring a job fairship on
this Friday, August first, I'm ten to four o'clock in
the morning. That job fair is specifically for anyone who
previously worked for head Start. So it doesn't matter how
long ago. If you were with us three years ago,
if you were with us twenty years ago, and you
(49:52):
want to come back home, we have a space for you.
So that job fair will be held at thirty four
hundred Prescott Road, Create one one eight from ten to
four on this bride.
Speaker 8 (50:03):
So, uh, and you're looking for how many how many
people are you looking for?
Speaker 9 (50:08):
Actually we have to hire about three hundred people.
Speaker 8 (50:11):
Man, that's a lot of folks, a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
That's a lot of people.
Speaker 8 (50:15):
And uh, you know, so, so what what are you
hoping in terms of?
Speaker 3 (50:20):
And I know, if please forgive the question.
Speaker 8 (50:23):
I know this is brand new, y'all just got this
and everybody's been working trying to figure out figure this.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
Whole thing out.
Speaker 8 (50:28):
But in terms of a timetable, how soon, uh do
you want to start bringing in children? How soon would
you like to have an increased staff to be able
to handle all of this?
Speaker 3 (50:41):
So you're going to be doing stagger. I'm sure it's
gonna take some time to do all of this.
Speaker 9 (50:45):
I would imagine it is going to take a little time. However,
I will say that once we submitted the application chip,
we don't wait to the last minute. We already started planning.
So at the point that we were notified, we actually
had plans in place regarding the enrollment process. So we
have several enrollment enrollment events for parents. We have one
(51:06):
at Hook's Demic, which has taking place on this Wednesday
and Thursday for any family or parent that's interested in
enrolling in Headstart. That address is forty nine eighty two
night on a Road and it will be from nine
to one o'clock. We're asking parents to bring all copies
(51:26):
of your documentation. So we have about forty different childcare
partnership and charter schools that are actually doing this work
with us, so we're not doing it alone. We have
some schools that are actually ready to receive students as
early as August four, So we're trying to get parents
and roll as quickly as possible with the target date
(51:49):
of September first, So we will have some staggered entry
depending on which location parents are interested in rolling in.
Speaker 8 (51:56):
So you're talking about a month about a month time
you said September first, So yeah, that gives us about
about five weeks give or take something in that vicinity, right,
Yeah for some.
Speaker 9 (52:07):
Yes, but some are ready to go like next week,
so I'm ready to.
Speaker 8 (52:10):
Yeah, this is I mean, this is a this is
this is a big deal on provisionally speaking, like you
said at the top, and I and I want to
because the history of Portly goes back a long way
and you've done some amazing work and we all have
heard and it seems like, I mean, maybe you can
tell me if I'm wrong, but increasingly so, uh, we
talk about giving our kids an early start educationally speaking,
(52:34):
and head started of course is that that's been around
for a very long time. How important is it You've
been doing this for for for a while, but early
childhood uh training and teaching and Headstart programs. How important
is this for for for our babies to get an
early start?
Speaker 9 (52:53):
Early headstart is very critical. Chip we're fortunate now that
we offer a continuum of services, so we have early
hit Star where children can actually start with us at
six weeks old to age three, and now we have
head Start for children ages three to five. We're also
(53:14):
in partnership with First State Memphis, who is the who's
leading the pre k for all initiatives. So we're fortunate
that we're able to offer families and children a continuum.
It's vitally important for us to catch children as early
as possible so that they can be developmentally appropriate or
(53:35):
prepared for kindergarten as they finish early childhood services. So
we're working with the entire family. Not only are we
preparing children educationally academically, but we're making sure that social,
emotionally they're prepared. We work with children who have mod
moderate and severe disabilities, and then we're also working alongside
(53:58):
the parents. We're working with the entire family unit. And
that's the benefit and the beauty of Headstar because it's
a comprehensive program that works with the entire family.
Speaker 8 (54:09):
Yeah, no, kidd, And you talked to about from six
months up and all of the the everything that surrounds
all of that. But one thing I heard you say
was the importance of working with the whole family. Everybody
has to everybody has to have a partnership and a
role in all of this.
Speaker 3 (54:27):
Do they not?
Speaker 9 (54:29):
Absolutely? Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (54:30):
So.
Speaker 9 (54:30):
We have family service staff which we're hiring a number.
We have to have hire about seventy plus family service
workers and they are the key to making sure that
families are connected to community resources that are available in
order to help them reach the goals that they've identified
(54:50):
as they work through our program.
Speaker 8 (54:52):
So before I let you get out of here, you
know you talked a lot about a need and a
lot about people who might be interested in finding out more.
I would like to give you an opportunity to give
all of the contact information whatever people need to know
who might be interested in being a part of all
of this.
Speaker 3 (55:10):
The floor is yours.
Speaker 9 (55:11):
I appreciate that. So first of all, you can call
our main office at nine oh one five seven seven
two five hundred if you have any questions regarding Headstart.
I do want to make sure. I reiterate that the
headstart program of which we're in rolling for now is
specifically for children ages three to five. They can also
(55:32):
visit us via our website at porterleaf dot org forward
stab slash Headstart. So if they visit our website at
the porterleaf dot org forward slash Headstart, then they can
say and roll now, and they can actually select a
partner site or a porter leaf site that they're interested
(55:54):
in rolling in. There's a pre application available. They can
upload documents that they're required when they come to an
enrollment event, they've already completed part of that paperwork process.
Speaker 8 (56:06):
And once again, on Friday, this coming Friday, you have
a hiring event. I want everybody to hear that one
more time if you don't mind so.
Speaker 9 (56:14):
Our event specifically this Friday, is from ten to four
at thirty four hundred Prescott Road. If you're interested in
positions we have available, they can visit quorterleaf dot or
forest Slash heads Start. I mean, I'm sorry for your
slash careers. So therefore they can see what we have
(56:34):
available beyond August fourth. After that, we will have job
fairs every Wednesday and Friday, with the first one start
in August six, and that would be from two to
six pm. So every career fair that we're offering is
at our main location at thirty four hundred Prescott Rop.
Speaker 3 (56:54):
Well, this is a big deal, really big deal.
Speaker 8 (56:56):
And congratulations to all of the fine folks you and
all of the fine folks at Port Leaf for for for.
Speaker 3 (57:03):
All of this.
Speaker 8 (57:04):
We know that it would be a very successful venture.
We wish you nothing but the best, and thanks for
coming on the show tonight. And tell your husband I
said hello, you all right, take care of yourself. Thank
you so much for coming. Uh, yes, ma'am, there you go.
Ladies and gentlemen, Yeah, porta Leaf man doing big things.
They got they have you. You looking for a job,
and you like young folks and you like the preschool kids.
(57:26):
This is an opportunity for you. Go to their website
and find out more information. That wraps up this edition
of a real talk Mefferce. Coming up next is Event
Horizon with that up and coming superstar. Should I say, well,
just say Brand Brandon brand is you know he's becoming
(57:49):
a thing now at seven o'clock on Monday evening.
Speaker 3 (57:51):
So Brand, as I always ask you, but what's on?
What's on? The menu tonight on the Event Horizon broadcast.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Oh thank you for that. And I think tonight, well,
if you've been checking it out for the past couple
of weeks, it's been a little electronic and a little
rock oriented, so I might stick with with that stuff.
A couple of new releases and some some nineties work
as well.
Speaker 8 (58:14):
Well, there you go, ladies and gentlemen. And that's just
in another minute or two. Uh uh, he will he
will be. Brin will be on the mic from seven
to eight pm tonight, So check out Evan Horizon and
as he plays us out, it's been a great show.
Thank you so much for being the part of it.
We appreciate you as always, and I love my team
(58:36):
and I love my folks. So for all of us
in Real Talk Memphis, and she slowly works her way
over for Lola and for Brin, who you're gonna be
hearing in about a minute on his own show, I'm Chip.
But we really appreciate you. Thank you for your support.
Thank you for everything that you do to help to
(58:56):
make your show success.
Speaker 3 (58:58):
You like what we do?
Speaker 8 (58:59):
Uh tell somebody in goodness say I try to lighten.
Speaker 3 (59:03):
Up between now and the next week.
Speaker 8 (59:04):
Without doubt. But that's gonna work anyway. For all of
us here, have a great week. Please be sived. He'd
be careful in this heat. Uh and as always, watch
out for yourself, watch out for other folks U.
Speaker 3 (59:15):
And until next time we are out see as soon.
Speaker 1 (59:19):
It's real, it's real, it's real kill. Welcome to real
host Jill.
Speaker 7 (59:29):
Watch your w
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