In a few months, Marie Feagins has made big changes at MSCS, inspiring admiration & anger

When Marie Feagins was asked how many hours of sleep she’s getting, she laughed, and said, “I get a few here, and a few there.”

“But I wake up excited,” she added. “There's so much that needs to be done. It's about just balancing the timing of getting it done with the urgency of needing to get it done. One hundred and fifteen thousand kids can't wait on me. They don't care if I'm getting sleep or not.”

Her response is in line with what she has said previously. Since becoming the Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent on April 1, Feagins has repeatedly laid out the challenges the district is facing ― like low test scores and aging infrastructure ― and expressed the need for bold action. Trumpeting the mantra “next is now,” she has made more major decisions in three-and-a-half months than some superintendents make in a year.

Feagins has injected $28.4 million into teacher pay, raising the starting salary to $50,000. She has incorporated additional student support services into the district’s $1.8 billion budget and pledged that all students will read and write every day. She has slashed 1,163 jobs ― nearly half of which were vacant ― to redirect more resources and personnel to classrooms. She has frequently met with other local leaders and pushed them to support MSCS. Expressing the need for the district to effectively tell its own story, she has used her skills as a public speaker at community events and held regular check-ins with the media.

She has elevated the profile of the district, and in doing so, elevated the profile of the superintendency itself. Nearly 700 people attended a celebration of her first 100 days at the Hilton Memphis, including Memphis Mayor Paul Young; and Feagins was introduced to the audience with a countdown video, music, and a booming voice similar to what you’d hear at the openings of Grizzlies games.

Her leadership has won her heaps of praise from the community. A lot of parents and teachers love her and feel she is moving the district in the right direction. She has also had her share of detractors, who have questioned her experience level and accused her of not listening to veteran education leaders. Public records show that her supervisor with her previous employer, the Detroit Public Schools Community District, was at times frustrated with her performance. In June, MSCS was deluged in controversy over her job cuts.

Still, many believe Feagins has the potential to be a consequential leader for not just MSCS, but the entire city.

“Each day that I get the opportunity to do this is a high point for me,” she said. “I don't take this for granted.”

Delayed, not denied

As a child, Feagins never wanted to miss an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. If she couldn’t catch it live, her mother recorded it for her. Winfrey awed Feagins. Here was a woman who spoke eloquently and confidently enough to engage millions.

“She had a spirit and energy,” Feagins said, “That was palpable through the television.”

Inspired, Feagins decided to improve her own speaking ability. She started standing in front of the mirror and talking, watching the way her lips moved and her face looked. She listened closely to the tone of her voice, determining when she sounded captivating, and when she sounded boring.

Feagins didn’t want to be Oprah, but she did want to speak like her. The best leaders, she realized, could command a room; they could use the power of speech to motivate and uplift those around them.

It was typical of the young Feagins, who was born into poverty in Alabama but encouraged by her tight-knit family to rise above her circumstances. She hadn’t crawled, her mother told her, she had gone straight to walking. She liked purses and lip gloss and dancing, but she also “played school” at home, and read and wrote every day. Neither of her parents had a college degree, but for her, “college was the only option.” She loved learning, and when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she often said teacher.

That wish became a reality.

In 2006, Feagins became a teacher and head coach with Jefferson County Schools in the Birmingham area. When she realized she wanted to move into administration, she was advised to become a school counselor first, because it would set her apart. So, she became a school counselor in 2013. From there, she became an assistant principal and then a principal. In 2021, Feagins was named the chief of leadership and high schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, and in early 2023, she applied for the open superintendent position with MSCS.

Feagins wasn’t named a finalist, which disappointed her. But she only ever gives herself 24 hours to “wallow,” because “after that, you’re giving yourself excuses and becoming a victim.” Feagins accepted that she wasn’t ready, wrote “delayed not denied” in her calendar and worked hard to prepare herself for future opportunities. In the second half of 2023, when she learned that the MSCS board had closed and re-opened the search, she applied again.

This time, she was named a semifinalist, then a finalist.

There were concerns about her experience level. In Detroit, she had led the high schools in a district with about 51,000 students, and never overseen a budget of more than a few million dollars. In Memphis, she would lead an entire school district with over 100,000 students and oversee a budget of nearly $2 billion.

But Feagins received overwhelming support from teachers and meshed well with families. She proved she had done thorough research about the district. She impressed board commissioners and community members during her interviews, using the public speaking skills she had honed years before, as a child watching the Oprah Winfrey Show.

And on Feb. 9, the nine-person board selected Feagins to be the next superintendent of MSCS.

“I just thought she was what Memphis-Shelby County Schools needed right now,” said board commissioner Michelle McKissack, who nominated Feagins when the board voted on finalists. “She speaks from the heart, from the soul… and I thought she had a story that many of our students here also have.”

'About the business'

As superintendent, Feagins keeps a tight, full schedule, and she’s efficient and punctual.

When she holds check-ins with the media, reporters are expected to arrive on time; late ones likely won’t be let in. In one-on-ones with school board commissioners, she is focused and professional. Board member Mauricio Calvo described her as being “very objective, and very much, all about business” in meetings.

McKissack shared a similar sentiment. When asked if she knew if Feagins had any hobbies, she wasn’t sure, because the two always talk about MSCS in their meetings. Education, she explained, seems to be not just work for Feagins, but her hobby, too.

“She is about the business,” McKissack said. “When you come into her have a meeting with her, there's even an agenda for that… There’s not a whole lot of flowery chit-chat because she’s on a very strict timeline. Everybody wants a piece of her.”

That’s not to say Feagins is constantly serious. As McKissack pointed out, she lights up around children, shedding the businesslike persona. During her first week as superintendent, The CA watched as she playfully but thoughtfully fielded questions from students at Kate Bond Elementary, then posed for photos.

“You guys are tough,” she told them. “Stay strong.”

“You get to see that softer side of her,” McKissack said of Feagins’ interactions with kids. “She completely gets eye-to-eye level with them, and you can see her passion. It’s not something that is clinical or just all in her head. It’s really in her heart.”

'Dr. Feagins has given me hope'

Feagins’ focus on students ― which she maintained guides all her decisions ― has won her support from much of the community.

Activists who once used the public comment period of board meetings to deride district actions now use it to thank her. Many parents have been thrilled.

Ashley Baker is an MSCS alum, whose three children go to Snowden School. She was previously the parent-teacher organization president of the school, and she had been advocating for safety and sanitary improvements that were desperately needed. For years, she said, the district hadn’t acted. But when Feagins joined the district and was informed of the situation, she developed an action plan, met with Snowden parents and staffers twice, took responsibility for the problems, and addressed them.

To Baker, this represented a “mega-shifting of the culture within the district.”

“It was shocking for parents and teachers. Like, wait, this is a leader actually focused on students?” Baker said. “Dr. Feagins has given me hope. When she sees a problem, she fixes it now. Her hashtag slogan, ‘Next is now,’ is real. She’s bringing in new talent, fresh ideas, and energy; and to top it all off, she’s incredibly relatable and positive.”

Teachers, too, have been pleased with Feagins.

“She’s very open. She listens. She is actively taking notes, trying to make changes where necessary, and trying to assist any anything that will help kids move the needle forward,” said Liz Marable, an MSCS teacher and president of the United Education Association of Shelby County. “Most of the teachers feel a level of excitement because they feel like they’re going to get more support in the school buildings.”

'This lies totally with Dr. Feagins'

Feagins, however, has received criticism ― particularly for the way she handled the 1,163 job cuts in June.

Her plan was to offer central office staffers affected by job cuts positions in schools.

But some veteran employees received classroom roles that came with dramatic pay cuts of more than $20,000, which angered them. And when Feagins sent out an all-staff email on June 10, detailing a proposal to cut 1,100 jobs ― nearly half of which were vacant ― panic and chaos spread throughout the district.

Teachers strongly supported the measure, but board commissioners were inundated with calls and emails from upset staffers who were insulted by the offers they had received ― or fearful about their future with the district.

On June 11, the board passed a resolution during a special meeting pausing any job cuts until commissioners got information. Commissioners stood by the superintendent and supported her proposal, but they were frustrated by the way changes were being implemented and communicated.

Tensions in the district remained high. Quinton Robinson, then-MSCS chief of HR, sent an angry email to Feagins and board commissioners on June 13. He asserted that he had received “countless” phone calls from employees who had learned from a community meeting and the online copy of the proposed budget that their positions were being eliminated.

“My wisdom and 25 years of professional HR experience has been disregarded by this superintendent," he said in the email, which was obtained by the CA. "So, what we are experiencing now I nor my team will accept any responsibility for. This lies totally with Dr. Feagins and the team around her that refused to challenge and question her thought process around how she is executing on critical personnel and budget decisions. General Counsel Odell Horton and I provided sound HR and Legal guidance to Dr. Feagins. Unfortunately, she chose to ignore.”

Letters about potential job eliminations continued to go out. Feagins couldn’t cut the jobs yet; axing the non-vacant ones required board approval. But to comply with federal law, the district had to inform people whose positions were likely to be affected. Notices began with the line “Greetings valued employee” ― which didn’t exactly make employees feel valued.

At the time, Jarvis Cook, an affected HR staffer, said Feagins hadn’t been transparent.

“How do we plan to correct the morale? Because at the end of the day, I don't care if you are an educator, or you have a support position. We all are on the same team,” he said. “It appears that she has turned teachers against the board. She has turned teachers against the central office. We all need each other. It should not be the way that it is.”

The board ultimately approved the job cuts on June 25, and though commissioners were initially frustrated by the way she communicated and implemented the cuts, they have noted the positives she has done and continued to support her.

“Our board has shared with Dr. Feagins the importance of being a better communicator with her governing board, and she now has a better understanding of her role," said board Chair Althea Greene. "The board and I continue to look forward to working with her as she tackles some of the challenges before our school district."

Added Commissioner Kevin Woods:

“Dr. Feagins is a first-time superintendent. She has been charged with leading the largest school district in the state of Tennessee. … So, I think she has to be given a level of grace, within her first 100-plus days, to not only build relationships with external stakeholders but also to build the trust and support of internal partners, which is the board and its employees as well. I think she’s understanding that magnitude and improving on that each day.”

As Feagins looked back at the job cuts, she considered the process a low point in the first few months of her tenure. But she doesn’t necessarily believe she made any mistakes as she communicated and implemented the changes.

When asked if there was anything she would have done differently, she said, “I would have been here sooner,” asserting that the district should have had the conversations with affected employees a year in advance ― but that she and her team didn’t have this luxury, given when she started and when she felt changes needed to take place.

“We did what we could do in this short timeframe, that is possible,” she said.

'A lack of ownership'

Criticism of Feagins has not been limited to Memphis.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, The CA obtained her employment records from her time with the Detroit Public Schools Community District and found that she received two written reprimands in 2023 from Nidia Ashby, her supervisor and the Detroit chief of schools.

The first reprimand, dated March 8, 2023, was for giving staffers the green light to go to out-of-state leadership conferences before getting final approval from the district's superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, and for asking him for that approval on short notice.

The second reprimand, dated July 31, 2023, was for “insubordination.” On June 30, Ashby said in the letter, Feagins had left a design meeting an hour-and-a-half early, and on July 24, she did not attend a leadership conference that was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. that day.

“Again, as previously communicated,” Ashby said, “you are required to attend all meetings I schedule for you to attend. If there is a challenge or barrier you need to let me know so I can excuse you from the meeting.”

This expectation, she noted, had previously been shared multiple times.

She continued:

“You continue to display the same behaviors time and again. Your behavior, tone, and lack of follow through for the above-mentioned concerns have demonstrated disregard of your administrative responsibilities. Upon being provided these concerns, your response has continued to be defensive, while exhibiting a lack of ownership for the issues being addressed."

At the end of the letter, Ashby wrote, "Any recurrence of the above infractions may lead to further disciplinary actions."

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Feagins did not sign either reprimand. On each of them, the words “refused to sign” are written under the line “I am in receipt of this memorandum.”

The Detroit district declined to comment on the documents, with Chrystal Wilson, assistant superintendent of communications and marketing, saying, “We are unable to discuss personnel matters.”

Feagins provided the following statement: "Unfounded and without merit. The urgent and exciting work that lies ahead for more than 115,000 students is priority."

The reprimands were not discussed during public interviews for the superintendent job.

Others in Detroit have been complimentary of Feagins.

During her tenure, the four-year graduation rate rose significantly. And in March, Justin Hauser, a former principal with the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said, “I don’t think Memphis should have anything to worry about… She's going to knock it out of the park for your city.”

What comes next

Whether he’s correct remains to be seen. But just over three-and-a-half months into her tenure, few in Memphis would question Feagins' work ethic.

She is keenly aware of the rigors and high stakes that come with overseeing a large school district ― especially in a city like Memphis, where the school system has the potential to change the trajectory of thousands of families weighed down by generational poverty.

Yet high stakes don’t seem to scare Feagins.

When she has time, she enjoys skydiving and jet skiing, “stuff on the wild side” that requires her to call her mother and father before and after she’s done, to let them know she’s still okay. It gives her a reprieve from the heavily structured work environment of the district.

She’s started taking golfing lessons. She’s taking time every now and then to “just sit still,” because it’s something she struggles doing.

Not that she has all that much leisure time. As Feagins has frequently noted, there’s a lot to do.

“I know we’ll get some great results. We'll hit bumps, so I'm hopeful that people understand that it won't be perfect. That's not the goal,” she said. “But it will be done well. And I think the community's opportunity to still go the distance with us, is what will make it all just profoundly memorable. And when you write your stories on the other side of this year, I feel confident, that you'll be asking, ‘How did we do it?’”

John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at John.klyce@commercialappeal.com.