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.
The high school graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools students rose 1.4 percent to 81.5 percent in 2022-23, continuing a rebound from the pandemic years. MSCS still lagged behind the statewide graduation rate of 90.6 percent. (Andrea Morales for Chalkbeat)
The high school graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools students rose to 81.5 percent in 2022-23, according to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), continuing a rebound from the pandemic years.
MSCS still lagged behind the statewide graduation rate of 90.6 percent. But the results reflected a 1.4 percent improvement from the previous year’s rate of 80.1 percent, and a big turnaround from 2019-20 and 2020-21, when the graduation rate sank to 77.7 percent.
Fourteen high schools — including six charter schools — posted graduation rates of 90 percent or higher, while 21 high schools increased their graduation rate by at least one percentage point.
“We commend our educators, students, and families for their hard work and we are proud of the gains we continue to see in our graduation rates,” interim superintendent Toni Williams stated in an MSCS press release.
MSCS officials credited strategies such as Project Graduation, in which students can earn elective credits in the evening, as well as expanded tutoring with federal stimulus money and funding to hire graduation coaches.
TDOE officials pointed out areas of improvement across the state. Twenty-nine school districts boosted graduation rates for economically disadvantaged students by five percentage points or more, while 37 school districts improved graduation rates for students with disabilities by five percentage points or more, according to a department press release.
“Tennessee’s continuous commitment to ensuring students are successful in graduating from high school on time is demonstrated in this year’s statewide graduation rate and is a direct result of the hard work of Tennessee directors of schools, administrators, and educators have done with our families and students,” Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds stated in a press release.
MSCS high schools with 2023-24 grad rates of 90 percent or higher
Charter schools are indicated by an asterisk.
*City University School of Independence, 100 percent
Hollis F. Price Middle College, 100 percent
East High, 98 percent
*Memphis School of Excellence, 96.6 percent
*Power Center Academy High, 96.6 percent
Middle College High, 95.9 percent
Germantown High, 95.3 percent
*Crosstown High, 93.9 percent
*Memphis Academy of Science Engineering Middle/High, 93.3 percent
Whitehaven High, 92 percent
*Soulsville Charter School, 91.8 percent
White Station High, 91.2 percent
Ridgeway High, 90.6 percent
Central High, 90.2 percent
Bureau Chief Tonyaa Weathersbee oversees Chalkbeat Tennessee’s education coverage. Reach her at tweathersbee@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
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.
SCS board Vice Chair Sheleah Harris said she was resigning from her seat, denouncing the board’s decision to relax minimum requirements for the superintendent role. Ariel Cobbert for Chalkbeat
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board relaxed its minimum requirements for the district’s superintendent role, allowing interim Superintendent Toni Williams to remain a candidate for the permanent leadership job, even though she lacks classroom experience.
But despite months of discussions aimed at forging consensus about what they want in a leader and how to proceed with the search, board members nearly put off making a decision on the policy, and ultimately fell short of presenting a united front.
Eight of the board members voted for the change in the job requirements. The ninth, Vice Chair Sheleah Harris, abstained from the vote and denounced the board’s decision. Then she announced she would quit her elected seat.
Before the amendments approved Tuesday, board policy required candidates to have a certain amount of in-school experience and training in education. Under the new requirements, the board could consider a candidate who has 10 years of work experience and advanced degrees in any of several fields, rather than just education. Board member Amber Huett-Garcia suggested the updates to the existing policies.
Board members also voted to reopen the application for the superintendent role, hoping to solicit more candidates. Those who apply will have to meet the updated requirements, plus a revised set of desired qualifications the board also approved.
The decisions Tuesday reactivate a search that has been suspended for nearly two months, as board members tried to resolve differences and misunderstandings about the search process.
“We’ve been hanging this over the heads of the public for far too long,” board member Frank Johnson said of the policy vote.
Some board and community members, including Harris, raised concerns about the disconnect, putting a spotlight on perceived lapses in the board’s stewardship of the search. Board members have spent the past two months reexamining those lapses and seeking closer alignment on their priorities in the search.
But they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. Harris consistently opposed relaxing the minimum requirements, right up to Tuesday’s vote. She declined media interviews after the meeting but said she was serious about quitting the board. If she formally resigns, the Shelby County Commission would begin a process to appoint a replacement.
This is the first time the merged Memphis-Shelby County district has conducted a search since it was formed a decade ago, and the first time since 2008 that Memphis has sought to choose a superintendent through a search rather than internal appointment.
The board is expected to share its new guidelines for the search with Hazard Young, which then could advise the board on a new timeline. The additional qualifications the board agreed upon include:
Tomeka Hart Wigginton, a former board member who has facilitated board discussions about the search, has suggested that by the end of the month, the board create plans for implementing and communicating the changes and continuing community engagement.
Speaking with media after Tuesday’s meeting, Chair Althea Greene said the board should meet with a Hazard Young representative in person to discuss the timeline. But the timeline won’t affect a planned vote for next Tuesday on possible amendments to Williams’ interim superintendent contract, which expires in August.
“We know that we have to have someone to continue to lead us until we get a permanent superintendent … So if it is the will of this board for interim superintendent to continue to lead us, that’s a vote that we will make next week,” Greene said.
The board has yet to complete a required evaluation of Williams’ leadership, which was due May 1.
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.
