Caldwell facing three newcomers in District 1

Longtime Shelby County school board member Chris Caldwell looks to retain his District 1 seat this election, but to do so, he’ll have to fend off challenges from three newcomers, including one with significant financial support.

Caldwell was appointed to the school board in 2011 and was elected twice to the position after that. District 1 includes Downtown and Midtown.

“I don’t think the work is finished,” Caldwell said of his desire to run again. “I think we have a lot to do to get where the district needs to be.”

Facing him in the Aug. 2 election are Kate Ayers, Michelle Robinson McKissack and Michael Scruggs.

Ayers works at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital managing a cancer education and outreach program. That work takes her into schools, she said, where she sees the barriers to science education and the disparities that exist for children in poverty.

“I think the biggest issue is the disproportionate number of students in poverty the district has to serve,” Ayers said. “Children growing up in poverty live under chronic stress, and their development needs are often not met.”

Ayers is also a parent in the district and has children at Idlewild Elementary.

McKissack, a former broadcast journalist in Memphis for Local 24, is the editor of Memphis Parent magazine.

A mother of four, her oldest son was in the first class of Downtown Elementary in 2003. She said she saw how the school struggled to provide what she saw as basic necessities such as art class.

“I just thought that art is just an integral part of learning and education,” she said.

As a result, she organized fundraisers and created a program called Heart for Art.

McKissack now serves on the board for Crosstown High, a charter school under SCS. She was part of the team that landed a $2.5 million grant for the school through the XQ Super School project, an initiative to redesign high schools in the U.S.

McKissack said her involvement in education has grown over time, and she wanted to push further and run for school board. Universal prekindergarten access is a key issue for her, she said.

“I just want to bring that perspective of, I’ve been a parent in the trenches and I see the need at all various different levels,” she said.

McKissack has raised nearly $15,000, according to second-quarter financial disclosures. Caldwell had Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer. pignolet@commercialappeal.com.