Rhoda Stigall

Rhoda Stigall believes that it takes a village to raise a child, and as the director of the Memphis City Schools’ Division of Parent and Community Engagement (PACE), Stigall has the opportunity to encourage the involvement of parents and other community members in the raising of Memphis’s children.

The PACE division offers a plethora of workshops, seminars, and services to furnish parents and other community members with information they can use to help students. Some of the workshops being offered this year are about Financial Literacy/Special Needs, TCAP/Gateway Skills, No Child Left Behind Updates, Maintaining a Healthy Family/ HIV Education, Healthy Relationships/Safety, and Helping Your Child Succeed in School. These programs are offered through the PACE division’s Parent Learning Academy.

In addition to offering these frequent educational programs for parents, the PACE division oversees the Parent Assembly, an organization composed of two parent representatives from each school and an executive board. The Parent Assembly advises the Superintendent on parents’ issues and concerns, advocates on behalf of Memphis City Schools, and plans citywide activities for parents.

The PACE division also oversees the MCS and Shelby County Schools’ Homeless Children and Youth Program, which offers assistance to homeless children through after-school tutoring programs.

The MCS Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is also operated through the PACE division. The Watch D.O.G.S. program encourages fathers of students to serve as positive role models by spending time volunteering at schools as security monitors and in other volunteer positions.

The PACE division also offers parenting classes to teens, and sponsors Family Resource Centers at schools to educate parents of all ages about the many community resources that are available to them, as well as providing an informal space at schools where parents may meet with each other and discuss parenting concerns.

As a parent herself, Stigall firmly believed that her own role as a mother to her children was the most important occupation she would ever have. Her priorities while raising her children were being involved in her children’s education, reading to and with them, attending their sports events, nurturing their spiritual development, and taking them to music lessons, charm school, and other activities. Stigall believed that, by being involved in her children’s lives, she would be contributing toward their academic and personal successes.

When Stigall was a child herself, she attended Memphis City Schools, which is a source of pride to her, now that she works for the District.  Her formal education began at Prospect Elementary School. She also attended Corry Junior High School and graduated as a junior from Hamilton High School. 

After graduating, Stigall began working for Memphis City Schools as a full-time educational assistant, working with the Computer Assisted Instruction Program. Soon after her employment began, MCS offered a program that would allow any teacher’s assistant who had a desire to teach to earn their teaching degree at the expense of the District.  Stigall quickly took advantage of this opportunity and received her Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Memphis (then Memphis State University).  Upon graduating, Stigall’s dreams of becoming a full-time teacher were fulfilled.

While teaching, Stigall continued to further her own education, and she received a Master’s degree in Administration and Supervision from Trevecca Nazarene College.

After teaching for 12 years, Stigall served as an assistant principal at Westwood and Grahamwood elementary schools before assuming the role of principal at Gardenview Elementary School, where she served for nine years.

Stigall credits the guidance and motivation she received from her former teachers, supervisors, and principals for the success that she achieved as a principal. Some of Stigall’s mentors were Oliver Johnson, Opal Bowen, John White, Robert Terrell, Clark White, William Hawkins, and Margaret Ware, along with many others who guided and inspired her. According to Stigall, the most important gift that these mentors gave her was the gift of time. Stigall said that each of these mentors always took the time to talk to her, to encourage her, and to model character, morals, and values for her to emulate.

The role of these mentors in Stigall’s life instilled in her the belief that each of us must do what we can to encourage and guide those younger than us. This belief continues to inspire Stigall in her role of offering training opportunities to help parents and community members nurture and encourage students. Stigall firmly believes in the importance of providing educational opportunities for today’s parents through the Parent Learning Academy and other PACE programs. Stigall believes that, with parents, business leaders, community leaders, religious leaders, and other stakeholders serving as role models, our children will become productive citizens who give back to their communities in positive ways.

 “It is time for parents to take a stand and focus on being parents instead of friends,” Stigall said. “My goal is to reach out to other parents and assist them in becoming active partners with Memphis City Schools in preparing our students for our diverse, forever-changing societies.”