Written By JR Robinson

Most political candidates start their day with a coffee and a briefing. Hailey Thomas starts hers with a broom.

At 7:15 AM—forty-five minutes before the first bell rings at her Memphis Shelby County elementary school—Thomas isn't reviewing lesson plans. She is sweeping trash, wiping down desks with Lysol wipes she bought with her own money, and doing the job the School Board failed to hire anyone to do.

"My message to the current board is simple," Thomas told me in a candid interview this week. "Get out of my way."

Thomas, a 4th-grade teacher and native Memphian, is running for the MSCS School Board in District 1. She isn't running on platitudes; she is running on the raw, unfiltered reality of what happens when leadership puts ego over operations.

The "2026 Cleaning Crisis" is Real

For those who think Thomas is exaggerating, the public record is on her side. In December 2025, the MSCS Board voted to reject a cleaning contract for the Northwest Region, leaving nearly 35 schools with zero contracted janitorial staff to start the new year.

The District’s solution? Rely on a single Plant Manager per building to clean an entire school.

"The Plant Manager is the only person," Thomas explains, visibly frustrated. "One person cannot do the work of a team of five. So, who cleans the classroom? I do. My students do. We are currently learning in filth because the Board didn't extend the contract and had no backup plan."

"Chaos Unleashed"

Thomas describes a school system in administrative freefall. Following the firing of Superintendent Marie Feagins last January, she says the Board has focused more on press conferences and "saving their own paychecks" than on the basic dignity of students.

"They fired the superintendent and unleashed chaos upon the city," Thomas says. "You have time to sue the city? You have time for interviews? Then answer this: Why am I cleaning my own classroom?"

The Candidate Who Knows the Cost

There is a distinct difference between a politician talking about schools and a teacher living in one. When Thomas speaks about the "filth" in the classrooms, it’s not a talking point—it’s her morning routine.

She views the state’s potential takeover of MSCS not as a rescue mission, but as another predatory move on Memphis children. "The state wants to take over not for the betterment of our children, but because they see them as a paycheck," she argues.

But unlike the current leadership, Thomas isn’t interested in the politics of the takeover. She is interested in the logistics of survival.

"While they were doing interviews to save their reputations, I was in the classroom trying to save my students from a failing system," she says.

Time to Clean House

Hailey Thomas represents a dangerous new threat to the status quo: a candidate who cannot be gaslit because she has the receipts—and the dustpan—to prove it.

Her platform is built on a premise that should be obvious but has been forgotten in the MSCS boardroom: Schools are for children, not for the egos of adults.

"The one thing they didn't do is their jobs," Thomas says, looking directly at the camera. "I’m not here to play politics. I’m here to clean up their mess. Class is in session."