Interim Supt. Dan Ward has put a hold on hiring in the district's central office. His decision comes on the heels of a 10-3 vote earlier this week by the Memphis City Council that cut more than 60 million from the districts budget for next year.

While schools officials weigh a legal challenge, Ward is taking a thorough look at the budget to see where cost savings can be found.

The hiring freeze is the first of many steps the district will likely take if the funding is not restored.

Here's the text of Ward's e-mail to staff:

In light of the City Council’s decision to cut funding for Memphis City Schools, I am imposing a hiring freeze on all central office positions that have not been filled, except those positions where offers of employment have already been made. This freeze does not mean that these positions can never be filled. However, it does allow us to review how we can manage our resources better. Any request for an exception to this directive will be reviewed by our Budget Committee.

Memphis City Schools didn't get much love this morning during a Memphis City Council budget committee.

While ardent schools supporters Joe Brown and Barbara Swearengen Ware did their fiery best to convince colleagues that cutting school funding was a bad idea, other councilmembers seemed unmoved by their arguments, saying that with the poor economy, the council didn't have much choice.

And removing the city government's funding of city schools over the next two years is also a move by some councilmembers to force a look at consolidation.

The burning anger expressed during councilmember (and former school board member) Wanda Halbert's comments before the council led one school official to mutter, "We're screwed."

Once the council votes, the matter will likely end up in a courtroom. But school board president Tomeka Hart doesn't think that's a bad thing.

After so many years of uncertainty, Hart said, it is time to have a resolution to questions about the status of Memphis City Schools and responsibility for funding it.

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You can forgive Memphis school board members for looking a little tired these days.

More than enough has happened in the past month to make anyone feel a bit dazed and confused. The bad behavior of students made airwaves across the world before school ended and both city and county government officials are looking at possible cuts in school funding to help make ends meet in their tight budgets.

While Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton was at City Hall advocating for their overthrow and the consolidation of the two school districts, board members were across town in a conference room with the district's human resources executive director, figuring out the type of deeper questions they plan to ask superintendent candidates next week.

His shadow was felt in the city schools' central office, and Betty Mallott told her fellow board members she was concerned there are people in Memphis working behind the scene to intimidate the two superintendent finalists, a fear that was heightened after she read Thursday's story in The Commercial Appeal detailing efforts by some Memphis CEOs to promote Herenton as a candidate for the superintendency.

"I'm concerned about a deliberate attempt to intimidate the candidates," she said. "I have a concern there's strategy going on behind the scenes."

Board members have soundly rejected such efforts, saying they have no intention of abandoning the national search process they began in February and that they believe their two finalists are both talented educators who would push MCS forward.

Fellow board members told Mallott they were focused on the task ahead and believed the candidates would not bow to outside pressure, reassuring news to her ears.

"I'm truly impressed with the way this board has carried out this entire process," Mallott said. "I feel good about both of these candidates. Board president Tomeka Hart echoed similar sentiments, saying she appreciated the board's ability to remain focused even as outside forces attempt to sway their decisions.

The road ahead remains long for the board, with many of them having to take off all of next week to deal with the onslaught of meetings.

Monday brings another session before the County Commission, while the City Council is expected to make a decision on funding on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday brings the interview sessions with finalists Kriner Cash and Nicholas Gledich.

First, the Memphis City Council started looking at withdrawing its $93.5 million in funding from Memphis City Schools.

And now, the Shelby County Commission is looking at taking away $60 million in capital funds from MCS and Shelby County Schools, a move that would leave city schools without more than $42 million needed for school construction and renovations.

If the commission's conversation becomes more than just talk, those angry parents at Ross Elementary who came to the board meeting a few weeks ago to complain about overcrowding and safety concerns at the East Memphis school will have to wait longer to see improvements.

The $7 million, 20-classroom addition to the school won't happen without another installment of funding.

Of course, if the county choses to withdraw from the last year of its three-year agreement with schools, a lawsuit is almost inevitable.

Today is the last day of school for Memphis City and Shelby County school students.

Across the region, educators (and a few of us reporters) are breathing a sigh of relief.

For those who follow city schools, it was a year to remember.

As the Memphis Board of Education looks for a new leader, other challenges presented themselves as school shootings and inappropriate dancing garnered Tennessee's largest school district the national cable news coverage administrators and and board members would rather reserve for a discussion of academic progress.

You can read about the often-tumultuous school year in our story today.

From Bill O'Reilly to Mayor Willie Herenton, everyone had their say about Memphis City Schools and its current state.

Much more, no doubt, will be said in a few weeks when the superintendent finalists return to face the public and a few key stakeholder groups in their quest for the top job.

And while Shelby County Schools had a bit more to celebrate this year, the 47,000 school district had its share of controversy and challenges as well. My colleague Jacinthia Jones takes a look at the Year That Was in her story today.

What will you remember most from this school year?

Miami educator Kriner Cash, who was picked as one of two finalists for the Memphis City Schools superintendent job Monday, has also been selected as a finalist for a similar job in Massachusetts.

A divided Waltham (Mass.) School Committee picked Cash, chief of accountability and systemwide performance for the Miami-Dade (Fla.) Public Schools, as one of their four finalists last night. In a separate action, the School Committee also voted to allow their internal candidates not brought forward as finalists to also have a second interview, according to The Daily News Tribune newspaper in Waltham, Mass.

Cash, who applied for several superintendency jobs in New England, told The Commercial Appeal last week he was most interested in the Memphis job. He spent nearly 10 years as the superintendent in Martha's Vineyard before heading south to Miami in 2004.

Cash and Nicholas Gledich, chief operations officer of the Orange County (Fla.) Public Schools are scheduled to return to Memphis early next month for a two-day round of interviews with the public and other community members on June 4 and 5.

The ongoing investigation into mismanagement of the district's Central Nutrition Center has taken a new turn.

Two of the district's internal auditors are expected to appear before a state grand jury next week to discuss their findings, as my colleague Marc Perrusquia first reported this afternoon.

Several subpoenas have been issued in the matter. Empaneling a state grand jury is an unusual move but officials from the Shelby County District Attorney General's office asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to get involved. The TBI issued several subpoenas for e-mails, time sheets and other records earlier this spring.

After the Memphis Board of Education received letters last summer alleging mismanagement at the Central Nutrition Center, the board asked the district's internal auditor to investigate, even though they'd been previously assured by top district administrators that there was no "malfeasance" found at the CNC.

What auditors found led them to call in the health department and to the dumping of more than 200 tons of food, worth more than $800,000, as first reported by The Commercial Appeal.

The internal investigation led to the resignation, firing and resassignment of several employees, including former nutrition services director James Jordan.

Yvonne Brandon and Nicholas Gledich shared a commonality in their interviews before the Memphis Board of Education: sparse audience.

Both interviewed at 1:30 p.m., when most people were at work. That meant the audience of at their interviews for the top schools job was dominated by media representatives and curious members of the superintendent's cabinet. The few other audience members included a former board member, a retired education professor and representatives of the Memphis Education Association.

Rita Cooper, the district's chief communications executive, had cautioned board members during a previous meeting against holding interviews in mid-afternoon because of concerns teachers, parents and other community members would feel disenfranchised.

Perhaps in response to this concern, board members have scheduled the June 5 question and answer sessions with the two superintendent finalists to take place at night .

Interim Supt. Dan Ward is hanging around a little longer.

He announced during tonight's meeting that he is planning to stay on until the new superintendent is on the job, reversing a decision he recently made to head back into retirement June 10.

If the board has a new superintendent on board by July 1, it may mean just a few more weeks of work for Ward.

He made note of the letter he sent to board members Friday night announcing his previous intention and seemed to chafe at its wide publication in media accounts this weekend.

Broadcast journalists have shared similar frustration that they were not given a copy of the letter--a public record--when they requested it this weekend.