Pastor Ricky Floyd (Photo: Pursuit of God Church Memphis | Facebook)
In a scenario occasioned by the tragic shooting death this past week of revered pastor Ricky Floyd, two prominent members of the Memphis political community found themselves at loggerheads.
The two were Javier “Jay” Bailey, CAO in the office of Assessor Melvin Burgess and newly announced candidate for assessor to succeed his term-limited boss, and Antonio “Two-Shay” Parkinson, influential state representative from District 98 in North Memphis and longtime chair of the legislature’s Black Caucus.
There was already a certain amount of bad blood between the two as a result of what Parkinson felt was an innuendo from Bailey that he had sided with the Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) board in the firing of former schools Superintendent Marie Feagins. But the dispute rose to incendiary dimensions when Bailey chose to comment on the Floyd killing on his Facebook page.
His commentary began with a seemingly uncontroversial sentiment: “Pastor Ricky Floyd was my friend. I am absolutely saddened by his death and this community will suffer the loss of a great man concerned about more than himself.”
Bailey would continue with an admonition for people to avoid passing judgment on Floyd’s accused slayer Samantha Marion, who was arrested for shooting Floyd after the two quarreled outside a South Memphis restaurant and bar in the early hours of Wednesday, March 12th.
“[L]et us take caution and not turn this sister into a villain or a demon,” Bailey wrote. “There are facts that most of you have not heard.” Although Bailey did not go on to divulge any “facts” per se, he seemed to Parkinson to be implying that the quarrel and the shooting stemmed from the existence of a prior relationship between Floyd and Marion, who was charged with manslaughter in his death.
That was enough to enrage Parkinson, well-known to be close to the deceased minister and his partner in many a public activism. In a Facebook post of his own, Parkinson noted that follow-up investigation appeared to show that Floyd and Marion had not known each other and wrote: “Many people who claimed to be Ricky Floyd[’s] friend, like Javier Bailey and others, that was posting for clout, comments and likes are about to feel real stupid now.”
Between the two of them, these Facebook posts generated several hundred responses from Facebook perusers, who exploded with expletives, high emotion, and every conceivable surmise as to the fatal confrontation between Floyd and Marion — the cause of which remains mysterious as of this writing.
The killing of Floyd was mourned among every social stratum of his home city, and especially among the members of Memphis’ African-American population, where the reverend was increasingly regarded as someone between a hero and a saint.
Nor were the denizens of the state’s General Assembly unaffected when the late pastor was honored with a moment of silence on the House floor.
The heated interchange between Parkinson and Bailey was in a sense just another symptom of the toll and human dimensions of the drama.
A commemoration of the Reverend Floyd, under the heading “Celebration Service,” will be held at Greater Imani Church on Austin Peay on the morning of Friday, March 28th, with visitation on the preceding date at R.S. Lewis & Sons Funeral Home.
• The aforementioned Marie Feagins affair and this week’s showdown in the General Assembly on a proposed state takeover of the MSCS school board were footnoted during Monday’s meeting of the Shelby County Commission in a suggestion by Commissioner Shante Avant that the commission’s vote several weeks ago of “no confidence” in the board had been an influence in the introduction of the takeover legislation.
Former MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins engages with students during an April 2024 visit to Grandview Heights Elementary School. (Photo: Ariel Cobbert)
I’ve watched every school board meeting since Dr. Marie Feagins was elected superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools a year ago.
I’ve read the board’s resolution that terminated her contract last month, and the special counsel’s 209-page investigation of the board’s allegations against her.
I’ve read Feagins’ response to the allegations in her two-page email to board chair Joyce Dorse-Coleman on January 6th, and her 14-page “official response” to the board January 14th.
I’ve read Feagins’ startling allegations against the board in the 31-page lawsuit she filed in Shelby County Circuit Court earlier this month.
I’ve read every relevant public document and heard every public statement made by all parties involved in the latest disaster that has befallen our local public school system. And I’ve read news articles, opinion columns, politicians’ comments, and angry social media posts about the sordid mess.
I still don’t get it. I still don’t understand why Feagins was fired after less than a year on the job.
Michelle McKissack (Photo: Memphis Shelby County Schools)
The three examples of “professional misconduct” the board leveled against her might have justified a public reprimand, but not a public execution. At best, as six-year board member Michelle McKissack argued, they reflect “growing pains” for a superintendent who started working in April and a board with four members elected in August. At worst, well, we don’t know.
In her recently filed lawsuit, Feagins paints a picture of school board members bowing to local political and financial interests and conspiring behind the scenes — in violation of the state’s open meetings law — to find reasons to fire her.
But board members who voted to fire her, and the special counsel’s January 21st report they relied on to do so, paint a very different picture, one of a renegade superintendent running roughshod over the district and making “false and/or misleading” statements to the board about her intentions and actions.
The public record so far, to say the least, is inconclusive.
The special counsel’s report concluded that Feagins “violated her employment contract no less than eight times and deviated from Board policy on at least nine occasions.”
Six of the nine alleged policy “deviations” pertained to a single board policy — 1013, or the Superintendent Code of Ethics. That three-page policy, approved in 2017, contains 15 “statements of standards” the superintendent must follow, including: “I will endeavor to fulfill my professional responsibilities with honesty and integrity.” Vague enough for you?
As for the eight alleged contract violations, all pertained to a single paragraph in her contract. “Ethical conduct: The superintendent in all aspects of her interactions and transactions related to carrying out her duties of superintendent, agrees to represent, enforce, and adhere to the highest ethical standards.” Whose ethical standards? Which ethical standards?
“I will point out,” McKissack wrote in a January 13th letter to the board, “that Superintendent Feagins is not accused of theft, fraud, or any criminal misconduct.” What she mostly is accused of is making “false and/or misleading” statements to the board about three allegations of “professional misconduct.” That covers 13 of the 17 alleged contract violations.
The four other “violations” were attributed to Feagins’ failure to provide a document or report to the board in a timely manner. Feagins said those failures were unintentional and the result of “staff oversights.” The public record seems to support her version.
Photo: Ariel Cobbert
The Termination Resolution
First, the termination resolution claims that Feagins “misled the board” about “overtime abuse” she brought to the board’s attention last July. “Dr. Feagins never presented any evidence suggesting that her statement was true, and she did not correct or clarify her statement to the public,” the board’s first allegation reads. But Feagins told the board last July and again in December and January that she based her comments on “documented fiscal reports” of overtime pay records for 2022, 2023, and 2024.
“I provided at least three years of data to the board,” Feagins said after hearing the charges against her read aloud at the December 17th special called meeting.
There are no records that the board ever asked for or reviewed the data or tried to substantiate Feagins’ claims about overtime abuse.
Second, the termination resolution claims that Feagins accepted and deposited in the district’s account a $45,000 donation to the district from the SchoolSeed Foundation “without Board approval.”
“At a [November 19th] Board Work Session, Dr. Feagins misrepresented her knowledge of and involvement in depositing the unapproved donation check in violation of Board Policy,” the board’s second allegation reads.
Feagins said she didn’t learn about the donation until November 8th, the result of “a staff oversight,” and “promptly submitted the donation to the Board” at its next meeting, November 19th. The board approved the donation December 3rd. Two weeks later, five board members used it to charge her with “professional misconduct.”
The special counsel’s report cites two emails Feagins sent to staff in July that “irrefutably establish” that she knew then about the check. But neither email mentions a $45,000 SchoolSeed check, which records show wasn’t received by the district until August 13th.
Third, the termination resolution claims that Feagins “was dishonest with the board and public” about missing a deadline for a $300,000 federal grant to help homeless students. Feagins acknowledged that her staff failed to meet the September 30th deadline, but said the state subsequently allowed the district to use the funds for various expenses related to helping homeless students. “We missed the deadline,” she told the board December 17th.
The board’s allegations and investigation do not say how much — if any — of the $300,000 grant (leftover Covid-relief funds) was used or forfeited. The special counsel’s report to the board states that Feagins’ comments about the grant were “only accurate to a degree, but not completely.” That could sum up the board’s allegations against Feagins: only accurate to a degree, but not completely.
“Clerical errors,” McKissack called them at the December 17th special board meeting. At least five board members at that meeting were clearly determined to fire Feagins. They didn’t explain why Feagins or board members in her corner didn’t see the resolution to fire her until a few minutes before the meeting. They didn’t respond to questions that Feagins or four other board members raised about the specific allegations in the resolution.
Sable Otey (Photo: Memphis Shelby County Schools)
Missing Pieces
They did raise a slew of other issues that weren’t in the resolution or the special counsel’s report. Board member Sable Otey, elected August 1st, blamed Feagins for the suicidal thoughts of an educator in her district, and the firing of a teacher in her district. She also claimed teachers were texting her with complaints about the superintendent. She didn’t present any evidence of her claims, and they weren’t included in the resolution.
Towanna Murphy (Photo: Memphis Shelby County Schools)
Board member Towanna Murphy, elected August 1st, blamed Feagins for the injury of a special needs child in her district, and for putting other special needs students at risk. She didn’t present any evidence of her claims, and they weren’t included in the resolution.
Natalie McKinney (Photo: Memphis Shelby County Schools)
Board member Natalie McKinney, elected August 1st, accused Feagins of creating “a climate of fear and intimidation” in staff across the district. She didn’t present any evidence of her claims, and they weren’t included in the resolution.
Various board members blamed Feagins for the district’s problems receiving sufficient staff and materials for online learning, dual enrollment, remedial instruction, and student assessment. They didn’t present any evidence that Feagins was to blame for those problems, and those complaints weren’t included in the termination resolution.
Amber Huett-Garcia (Photo: Memphis Shelby County Schools)
Board member Amber Huett-Garcia, who voted not to fire Feagins, said many of the complaints were “highlighting the woes of a district that is under-resourced [with] generational challenges” that began decades before Feagins arrived.
McKinney pushed back. “Our [board] seats have given us a bird’s-eye view of the working of the district,” McKinney said. “We see things the general public does not see.”
The general public still is not seeing those things. The superintendent works for the board, but the board works for the public. The board owes the public — not to mention Feagins, her staff, teachers and parents, and other public officials — a thorough, clear, compelling, and public explanation for why she was fired.
There was a fourth and final accusation in the termination resolution: “The board has also become aware of certain patterns of behavior by Dr. Feagins that are not conducive to the effective operation of the District in the best interests of students, including but not limited to her refusal to communicate and/or cooperate with valued District partners.”
That accusation was not included in the 209-page investigation, nor in the list of 17 alleged contract or policy violations. But I suspect it probably comes closest to explaining what went wrong. Feagins could be prickly, curt, and dismissive, even in public board meetings, in stark contrast to her predecessor Joris Ray, who resigned under a cloud in 2022.
A Direct Approach
At board meetings, Ray was unfailingly polite and solicitous, usually thanking board members profusely and formally by title and name for every question. His staff members did the same. Ray began meetings by asking his staff to join him in reciting the district’s motto: “Together we must believe. Together we can achieve. Together we are reimagining 901.”
Feagins didn’t have a motto or lead a cheer. Her responses to board members’ questions were more direct and could include a cold stare or a disdainful “for the record” or “let the record show.”
I suspect that Feagins was fired because a majority of board members didn’t like her, didn’t like how she was managing the district, and were getting complaints from central staff administrators, principals, local nonprofit leaders, and favored local contractors.
They were being told that Feagins was moving too fast and going too far and stepping on too many toes in her efforts to restructure the top-heavy district to address the loss of Covid funding and to give classroom teachers more support and more authority. But that’s just speculation. Just about everything you’ve read or heard about why Feagins was fired is speculation.
Feagins has called the allegations against her “meritless and baseless.” Earlier this month, she sued the school board and asked the court to void the board’s 6-3 vote to fire her.
In the lawsuit, Feagins claims that Althea Greene, Dorse-Coleman, and several other board members violated the state’s open meetings law by meeting secretly beginning in August to plan ways to terminate her contract.
It’s likely the litigation will end with a quiet, off-the-record settlement much like Ray’s agreement to resign in 2022. Which means the public may never know exactly why Feagins was fired.
What’s Next?
So now the school board is at odds and searching for its sixth superintendent since the 2013 merger upended the entire system. The Shelby County Commission has ordered a forensic audit of the school district’s budget. The state is threatening to take over the school board. State Representative Mark White (R-Memphis) plans to introduce legislation to create a new nine-member board that would oversee the local board. “This would be a management intervention,” White told Chalkbeat Tennessee.
Public education is under duress. The governor plans to spend nearly half a billion dollars a year offering private school vouchers to high-income parents. The Trump administration is prioritizing private “school choice” funding and gutting the U.S. Department of Education. Public schools are preparing for massive safety net cuts and immigration raids and conducting regular “active shooter drills.”
Meanwhile, schools and teachers continue to try to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of students traumatized by poverty, community violence, school shootings, and the pandemic. And constant political turmoil.
David Waters, a veteran journalist, has covered public education in Memphis and Tennessee off and on for 30 years. He is associate director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis.
Photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition via Unsplash
A new partnership will allow Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) to provide students and families with testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI), counseling, treatment, education, and more.
The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) announced the partnership with MSCS last week. The health department said it wants to provide more resources for younger people who have been diagnosed with HIV and to be proactive in preventing the disease.
Shelby County has historically had one of the highest new infection rates for HIV in the nation. In May of 2024 The SCHD noted an “alarming increase in newly diagnosed cases of HIV in our community.” Officials said the highest increase affected people aged 14 to 45, and was not “spread evenly throughout the county.”
The spread of HIV among teens rose 50 percent from 2022-2023
“Preliminary data from the Tennessee Department of Health indicates the infection rate for people aged 15 to 19 in Shelby County increased by about 50 percent from 2022 to 2023,” the health department said in a statement. “Rates of new HIV cases among young people aged 15 to 24 years old in Shelby County are more than five times higher than the same age group in the United States overall.”
Shelby County Health Department director and health officer Dr. Michelle Taylor said that the impact of HIV and STIs on young people is “significant” and is further complicated by stigma and “a lack of access to healthcare resources.”
“Rates of new HIV cases among young people aged 15 to 24 years old in Shelby County are more than five times higher than the same age group in the United States overall.”
Shelby County Health Department
Prior to this announcement the health department, United Way of Greater Nashville, and John Snow, Inc.(JSI) hosted the first Shelby County HIV summit in October at the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis. The summit not only facilitated conversations on how to coordinate efforts about HIV awareness and prevention, but how to address rising rates in Shelby County, which Taylor said represents a renewed sense of commitment to teamwork.
Taylor said, during these conversations, people realized that the health department had not been in MSCS, the largest school district in the state, since before the pandemic.
“It was a renewed sense of urgency to say, ‘Hey, why aren’t we in the schools?’” Taylor said. “Or, if we’re in the schools, ‘Why is it limited?’”
As a result of these conversations, Taylor and her team provided a memorandum of understanding to increase the health department’s presence at schools.
“Memphis Shelby County Schools services 106,000 students and a lot of those students are adolescents, people we know we need to educate with comprehensive sex education and teach them how to best protect their health in every way,” Taylor said. “We’re super excited.”
According to Taylor, education plays a large role in diminishing stigma and engaging young people. She said this still stands as a barrier to addressing HIV.
“Here in the traditional South, in what we know as ‘The Bible Belt,’ a lot of times stigma can get in the way,” Taylor said. “Stigma and stigmatizing people who are living with HIV gets us nowhere. Especially when we know even if you’re living with HIV you can live a long, fruitful life.”
Taylor said that HIV prevention and treatment have come a long way, resulting in more care for those living with the disease, which can aid in conversations that seek to address stigma.
“This valuable partnership with MSCS will help us provide our young people with the information, screenings, and preventive care they need to protect themselves. I am grateful to the Shelby County Board of Education and Memphis-Shelby County Schools leadership for putting the health of students and families first in making this beneficial collaboration possible,” Taylor said.
The Memphis Police Department (MPD) is aware of threats circulating on social media targeted towards schools in the area. While officers and Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) are investigating threats, the schools have been placed on soft lockdown per MPD.
Officer Christopher Williams of MPD said no injuries have been reported at this time and instructed media to reach out to MSCS for additional information.
Memphis Shelby County Schools posted a statement to their social media pages that they were aware of these threats.
“As a precautionary measure, please do not go to your child’s school as law enforcement is actively investigating,” the statement said. MSCS said they will provide updates as necessary.
A Facebook user by the name of Joseph Braxton posted photos of screenshots from Instagram stories from a user by the name of @austinsmith9624. These screenshots tagged Southwind High School with the user threatening to “take out 30 people or more with a sk and a ar15 [sic].”
The user also posted they will be delivering their message at lunch time and that people will regret bullying them.
“Anyone in my way may be dealt with outside or inside,” the user said in another post.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Memphis-Shelby County School (MSCS) teachers will not be allowed to carry handguns or weapons in school.
This announcement comes from the district, a month after the Tennessee legislature passed a law that allows school faculty and staff to carry weapons on campus “subject to certain conditions.” Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law on April 26.
The “united decision” for MSCS to not allow staff to carry weapons was made by superintendent Marie N. Feagins along with Shelby County sheriff Floyd Bonner and interim Memphis police chief Cerelyn (C.J.) Davis.
“On behalf of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, I want to thank Chief Davis and Sheriff Bonner for their ongoing partnership and support in keeping our students and families safe. Thank you also to the community for your commitment and collaboration in moving Memphis forward together,” Feagins said in a statement.
According to the district, a resolution was passed days after the announcement, which prohibited employees from carrying firearms on school grounds.
“The Board does not believe that arming school staff is the most effective approach for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. That is the expectation of the Board that school staff serve first and foremost as trained, focused, and dedicated educators, not law enforcement and/or security officers,” the resolution said.
They added this was not an “effective” solution for the district.
Feagins, Davis, and Bonner continue to emphasize that “firearms have no place in classrooms,” and they are “united on this issue.”
“Schools are for learning, and emergency situations should be handled by trained officers,” Bonner said.”
This controversial law went into effect in the aftermath of the Covenant School to address safety concerns in schools statewide.
Marie Feagins Photo Credit: Memphis-Shelby County Schools
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education will offer a superintendent contract to Marie Feagins, in a move that signals the end of an extensive search.
“Dr. Feagins emerged as the choice after a comprehensive search that included robust input from the community, parents, teachers, and staff,” the district said in a statement. “Through community meetings, listening sessions, and candidate visits, the board learned of Dr. Feagins’ deep understanding of urban education, commitment to equity, and academic vision for MSCS.”
School officials said Feagins has a deep understanding for the city and county as well as an “understanding of urban education successes and opportunities.”
Feagins is now the chief of leadership and high schools for Detroit Public Schools. She received her doctorate of education in educational leadership from Samford University, an education specialist/master of education in school counseling degree from the University of West Alabama, a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Alabama, and a certificate in education finance from Georgetown University.
The board search was narrowed to Feagins, Yolanda Brown, and Cheryl Proctor. Toni Williams has served as interim superintendent since August 2022 after Joris Ray resigned amid scandal.
Snowmageddon meant plenty of time for breakfast in bed and a competitive bowling session on Nintendo Switch Sports. (Photos: Patricia Lockhart)
It’s time for another tween/teen-friendly Memphis weekend! My kids are 15, 12, 12, (happy belated b-day, twins), and 10 years old. Unfortunately, this particular weekend landed on the Memphis Snowmageddon! So we went nowhere. But that doesn’t mean we did nothing!
Monday — Everything was covered in snow. It was MLK Day and I had planned on doing nothing anyway. I had stopped by High Point Grocery a few days before and picked up some items. (Hubby stopped by a store, too … a liquor store.) In other words, we had everything we needed. As I rolled over to go back to sleep, I heard a noise in the kitchen. First thought, “What could anyone possibly require from the kitchen at this hour?” Second, “I wonder how much those cabinets cost that close really slowly to prevent slamming them?” After listening to the cacophony that comes with someone cooking in — and destroying — the kitchen, a soft knock rapped at my door. My oldest child fixed me breakfast in bed! Hot Cream of Wheat topped with baked apples. We piddled around as we waited for MSCS to announce schools were closed. When they did, my hubby reminded the kids that they still had to brush their teeth and take baths.
Tuesday — When my kids are at school, I never hear tales of them starving. So can someone explain to me how at 10 a.m. we had to have a family meeting about the rationing of food? First, we took inventory of what we had on hand. Then we brainstormed and created a menu of lunch and dinner dishes. Lastly, we laid down the law! Under no circumstance could these crumb-snatchers eat anything that was needed for lunch or dinner. If they got hungry, they could eat a PB&J sandwich, ramen, or canned tomato soup. After spending a good chunk of the day doing work from home, I felt it would be nice to whoop the kids in a game of Monopoly. (I’d won the last two games!) We only had plain tortilla chips for a snack since they ate everything else. The game lasted four hours and I did not win. The last hour was brutal. I endured all sorts of verbal jabs from my oldest, who showed me no mercy. Upon bankrupting, I assigned him the chore of putting everything up neatly. I poured myself a glass of wine to lick my wounds only to be reminded by my daughter that I was supposed to have a “Dry January.” I stared at her in defiance as I drank straight from the bottle.
Wednesday — I woke up late to the smell of something burning. Irritated, I snuggled deeper into the covers. I know what you’re thinking, “You didn’t go see what was burning?” Absolutely NOT! Burnt food falls solidly in the categories of “None of My Business” and “I’m Not Eating It.” So you can imagine my surprise when hubby walks in with a plate of pancakes and coffee. I prepped my “I’m too old to be eating nasty food, even if my kids made it” speech, but was greeted with two perfect chocolate chip pancakes.
Later, I announced I was making chicken and dumplings for dinner. To be fair, I did Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe to decide who would be my sous-chef. I began, “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe … ” Before I could finish, one of the twins HOLLERS and then calmly walks away. I was confused. Then the penny dropped. “If he hollers, let him go.” So I had to let him go and choose from the remaining kids. That was never the rule when I was growing up, but it makes sense. As I plated the dumplings, I called the kids down for dinner. They stared at their bowls, back at me, and back to their bowls. Twin #2 asked, “Where are the chicken dumplings?” Befuddled, I pointed to his bowl. He replied, “No, I thought you were making chicken dumplings like the ones at a Chinese restaurant.” While they devoured the meal, I told them the history of Southern chicken and dumplings and Black cuisine. Later we played “Uno No Mercy.” I lost that game, too.
Thursday — I opened my eyes to hubby placing a cup of coffee on my nightstand. I had to make my own breakfast, so I headed to the kitchen. I was greeted by my oldest son with a hug and a request. Can I teach him how to make French toast? Of course! We served up some French toast, and he topped it with his homemade whipped cream and baked apples. I balanced my day with work, video games, and reading. Everything was going swell until we ran out of dishwasher detergent. It’s now every person and dish for themselves. New rule: If you mess up a dish, you must wash it by hand! We are also dangerously low on eggs and butter. But not low on deodorant, which the boys seem to think is not a necessity. We played the Exploding Cats card game. I lost that game, too. My Dry January has officially changed to a Damp January.
Friday — My sleep cycle is all off. I woke up at 5 a.m., read in bed, went back to sleep, and finally woke up for good at 11 a.m. I was not greeted with breakfast in bed or hot coffee. I was served a nice Memphis-style “roasting” for sleeping so late. Since my clapbacks are infamously lame, I kept my mouth closed.
We spent the afternoon playing Nintendo Switch Sports. I did okay in bowling and golf. Not good enough to call it winning, but I’m proud of myself regardless. My oldest asked if I could teach him how to make chocolate chip cookies, so I busted out my recipe book and baked a batch with him. I am thankful for my tweens/teens. Because snow days with little children are not for the faint of heart.
Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. Her days are filled with laughter with her four kids and charming husband. By day, she’s a school librarian and writer, but by night … she’s asleep. @realworkwife @memphisismyboyfriend
A post about a controversial after-school club has caused an uproar among parents, community leaders, and the public.
On Tuesday, December 12th, a flyer advertising an “After School Satan Club,” at Chimneyrock Elementary in Cordova was posted by The Satanic Temple. This flyer stated that the first meeting of the club would be January 10th, 2024.
Photo Credit: The Satanic Temple via Facebook
“The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religion that views Satan as a literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit,” reads the flyer.
The group said that this club does not “attempt to convert children to any religious ideology,” and instead “supports children to think for themselves.”
Some praised the club, including Facebook user Jayme Haley, who commented under the post: “If you actually read the description, this is an amazing program to offer. I very much respect this organization, thank you for coming to TN.”
Others expressed outrage, as the post began to make rounds on social media sites.
A user by the name @White.sosa commented under a post about the flyer on Unapologetically Memphis’s Instagram, saying “Wtf… that’s a whole devil as the logo, and y’all tryna tell me otherwise that it’s not bad. Memphis and whoever else got this shi done lost they damn mind. Y’all take the word of God out of schools just to replace it with this bs…. Man that’s crazy.”
Parents and other commenters pressed officials from Memphis Shelby County Schools for answers, even though the post claimed that the club was not endorsed or sponsored by the district.
The district released a statement that same day stating that they are “committed to upholding the principles of the First Amendment.” The Satanic Temple is an IRS-recognized nonprofit organization, the school district said, adding that the First Amendment grants “equal access to all nonprofit organizations seeking to use [their] facilities outside of school hours.” The district has granted the same access to groups such as the Christian-based Good News Club and the Boy Scouts of America.
“This means we cannot approve or deny a request based solely on the organization’s viewpoints or beliefs,” the statement reads. “Board Policy 7002 outlines this commitment, allowing community groups and government entities to rent school property outside of school hours.”
The next day, December 13, MSCS called a press conference for the district, faith-based leaders, and community partners.
MSCS superintendent Toni Williams stated that her sole focus is the needs of the students, families, and community.
“Like many of you, I have questions that resonate deeply with the questions and concerns in our community regarding an upcoming club rental,” said Williams. “I want to assure you that I do not endorse, I do not support the beliefs of this organization at the center of the recent headlines. I do however support the law.”
Williams said that as superintendent, she is “duty-bound to uphold [the] board policy, state laws, and the Constitution.”
“But let’s not be fooled by what we’ve seen in the past 24 hours, which is an agenda, initiated to ensure that we counsel all faith-based organizations that partner with our school district,” said Williams. “The law says that what we do for one organization. We must do for all.”
Williams was joined by more than a dozen faith-based leaders who partner with MSCS. She also mentioned that approximately 80 schools in the district are supported by faith-based organizations.
“In the wake of the recent news stories, some have demanded that we ban all faith-based organizations, but that penalizes thousands of children, feeds the fear, and bends to outsiders and their agendas,” said Williams.
The superintendent also called on officials, business leaders, and faith-based organizations to unite and support the schools in the district.
Toni Williams, interim head of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Credit: Memphis Shelby County Schools
Interim superintendent Toni Williams won’t become the permanent leader of Memphis-Shelby County Schools after all.
The school board voted to approve a contract extension for Williams that could keep her in charge of MSCS through the new school year. But Williams — who was one of three finalists named in April — has to give up her quest to be superintendent on a permanent basis.
The condition is spelled out in Williams’ extended contract, which she negotiated with Memphis attorney Herman Morris, he told the board Tuesday. Her name is not expected to appear on an updated list of finalists that the board expects to receive Wednesday.
Williams’ exit from the superintendent candidate pool signals a quieter end to the district’s tortuous national superintendent search, which derailed after Williams became a finalist and the board began to fracture over the prospect of elevating another interim leader to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Joris Ray.
Ray, who was elevated from the interim position in 2019, resigned under a cloud of scandal in August 2022. His predecessor, Dorsey Hopson, had also been elevated from interim chief.
Williams accepted the interim role in August with assurances that she wouldn’t seek the job on a permanent basis, but she changed her mind. Since then, the board has largely sidestepped discussions about that decision, never rejecting her application.
A coalition of community advocates — including some of the five people who were banned from district property after challenging the board’s stewardship of the search — had been pushing the board in recent weeks to clarify whether Williams would remain a candidate, and continued to do so in a series of coordinated public comments Tuesday evening.
Board members Tuesday made clear their support of Williams’ interim leadership, and she received a standing ovation after board Chair Althea Greene described her accomplishments. The board’s long delay in setting the parameters of its search could keep Williams in the interim role for as much as another year.
“I have inherited more challenges than you could ever imagine. A district in distress …. But I have not quit,” Williams said.
Greene, who has led the search for the past year, will now be assisted by newly elected vice chair Joyce Dorse-Coleman. Dorse-Coleman is replacing former board member Sheleah Harris, who resigned her board seat two weeks ago. The Shelby County Commission will select Harris’ replacement in mid-July. The board will reelect leadership in the fall.
Meanwhile, outside search firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates is poised to present the board an updated list of superintendent finalists Wednesday after reevaluating interested applicants against a revised set of qualifications approved by the board in mid-June.
The new list includes five to seven top candidates, compared with just three on the initial slate released in April, according to communication from the firm obtained by Chalkbeat. The board could choose to interview those candidates or reopen the pool to new applicants — “in essence beginning a new search,” two top Hazard Young officials wrote. That option could cost the district an additional $19,000. (The initial contract with the firm allowed for total costs between $38,000 and $70,000.)
Reopening the search would significantly extend the hiring timeline as well. The “optimal” window to accept new applications is in the fall, the firm wrote, suggesting a timeline that culminates with the board selecting a new superintendent by the end of January. The proposed start date for the new superintendent, in that case, would be July 1, 2024.
The firm did not propose a new timeline should the board interview and select a new superintendent from its current candidate pool.
Hazard Young updated a proposed job description for the role, this time including minimum qualifications required by board policy that the firm did not use for evaluating candidates in the spring, as Chalkbeat reported.
When she became a finalist in April, Williams did not meet the board requirements, which focused on experience as an educator, but the board later relaxed the policy.
Williams said that under her extended contract, she has the option to return to a district role after her interim tenure. Because the contract is still being finalized, Morris said, there was no copy to review Tuesday evening.
Morris, who also worked for the board to negotiate the terms of Ray’s departure, thanked Williams “for her openness and willingness to agree” during the negotiations.
Williams will continue earning a $310,000 annualized salary and will have more vacation days under the extended contract.
Williams told reporters she had no regrets about applying for the permanent position.
“Regrets on serving 110,000 students?” Williams said. “Absolutely not.”
The MSCS board will meet with the search firm at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in the basement auditorium of the Barnes Building, 160 S. Hollywood St.
Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
The selection process for Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ next superintendent got derailed Saturday when school board members raised questions about an outside search firm’s selection of three finalists, shortly after their names were announced.
Now, the board is asking the search firm for the names of all 34 applicants, and it put off plans to interview finalists until it gets those names.
Saturday’s meeting was the first time the board deliberated publicly about the selection process since it voted to select the search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates of Schaumburg, Illinois. But instead of discussing the individual finalists, board members peppered Hazard Young officials with questions that made clear they were unsatisfied with the process and the results.
Some of their questions had been raised before by members of a community advisory committee that has challenged the lack of transparency in the process.
“I am not saying we want you to go back,” board Chair Althea Greene told Hazard Young officials during the meeting. “We are not just going to accept this … . We appreciate what you have done, but what I hear is it’s just not good enough.”
The board’s pushback adds a new wrinkle to a high-stakes search for a leader for Tennessee’s largest school district, which is struggling to improve academic outcomes for its 100,000 students and to sustain trust in the community. The previous superintendent, Joris Ray, resigned in August 2022 amid an external investigation into allegations that he abused his power and violated district policies.
Hazard Young, tapped in February to find Ray’s successor, presented the three finalists to board members Saturday: Brenda Cassellius, recently of Boston Public Schools; Carlton Jenkins of Wisconsin’s Madison Metropolitan School District; and Toni Williams, the current interim superintendent of MSCS. (See sidebar below for more about these candidates.)
The response from board members suggested that they expected — at some point during the process — to find out more than just the names of the three finalists, including more information on the full pool of applicants and how they were evaluated. They told Hazard Young President Max McGee and associate Micah Ali that their pushback was rooted in ensuring public trust in the process.
“This is not a restart. This is simply: Give us additional information to be able to validate to this deserving community that the right person will ultimately sit in this seat,” board member Kevin Woods said.
Board member Sheleah Harris said the board felt “unprepared, because we hired you all to do a job, and you did not do it well.”
Tikeila Rucker, a former teacher union leader and current community organizer, said she was frustrated that the board hadn’t raised its concerns with the firm earlier.
“It sounds like the board is just as lost as we are, and that is unacceptable,” Rucker told Chalkbeat.
Board member Stephanie Love acknowledged after the meeting that additional deliberation by the board in public meetings before Saturday could have prevented what she described as the “eleventh hour” hitch in the search.
Applicants for the position were evaluated against a rubric with 16 categories, which included reviews of application documents plus references, “Memphis connection,” and fit with MSCS’ needs, Hazard Young explained. Of the 34 applicants, 21 met qualifications for an interview, and 12 proceeded to the last stage, the search firm said. The three finalists were selected from that group.
Some board members on Saturday questioned why they were not provided with the rubric earlier.
“I’m not going to say the people that we have here are not the best. But is there a way for us to have a little more input that these are who we want?” board member Joyce Dorse Coleman asked.
Hazard Young’s contract for the search suggests there is room for more board involvement: It says the firm is charged with facilitating “board discussions to narrow (the) candidate pool after each round of interviews.”
That the board wants to know the names of all the applicants was new to Hazard Young, Ali said Saturday. It is unclear what information the board will eventually receive in response to that request.
In a statement after the board meeting, Greene said the firm would contact applicants to find out whether they still want to be considered, then release those names publicly “for full transparency.” Under state law, as affirmed by a state attorney general’s opinion, records collected by Hazard Young in connection with the search are subject to open-records laws.
While Greene has previously said the board did not expect to receive a full applicant list, other board members Saturday said they had asked to know who all the candidates are.
Two of the finalists presented, Cassellius and Jenkins, have decades of experience in education. Williams, whose background is largely in finance, rose to the top tier for experience that Hazard Young called “nontraditional,” a term that could apply to applicants who came from a foundation, military, or business background.
Harris, the board member, challenged the firm — and the selection of Williams as a finalist — on this point. If the board had given input on the rubric earlier, she said, the search “probably would have some different finalists.”
Hazard Young told board members Saturday that Williams sought a legal opinion on the policy that found it was “void and unenforceable.”
Kenneth Walker, attorney for the school board, said that the board’s policy was valid and that it gives the board discretion to choose someone with experience equivalent to the academic experience cited in the policy.
Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
