WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): On Tuesday, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board voted 6-3 to fire Superintendent Marie Feagins. It's a decision that could have political consequences for the District. Education reporter Laura Testino has been covering this for the Daily Memphian. Thanks for joining me.
LAURA TESTINO: Thanks for having me, Christopher.
BLANK: Why is there so much controversy surrounding this decision?
TESTINO: First of all, the board really sought to re-establish trust in the community after Joris Ray departed in 2022 with this really long search. And when Feagins came in, she really identified that that trust was broken and almost immediately went toward all of those people to try and address their issues. Teachers got raises. There were, in the spring, all these really exciting rallies across the community.
But at the same time, there's a lot of trouble brewing behind the scenes with district staff, as she is embarking on this major restructure of the central office at the same time that the district was already planning to have a budget shortfall. This was because the one-time federal pandemic funds were getting ready to expire.
And while this is happening, she's done all of her really exciting stuff, [now] she's starts to keep the media a bit more of a distance, so there's less opportunity for media reports that are really scrutinizing what she is doing. All of that mixed together allows for the board's actions to be really stunning for a public that has only really seen positive publicity from her.
With regard to the board's allegations, they certainly didn't match with a community's perception was of who Feagins is as a person. They also didn't match the issues that school administrators have had with her -- the ones who have been frustrated with her leadership. And so I think that in that way there there's kind of not one singular group that the board's actions won over, and really let the public's view of her win out.
BLANK: Tuesday's board meeting featured a lot of heckling and some arguments. And when board member Michelle McKissack called some actions by the board inappropriate, here's how chair Joyce Coleman responded:
CLIP OF JOYCE COLEMAN: "This whole process, lot of this is highly inappropriate. A lot of things have been highly inappropriate."
BLANK: This process was so tumultuous, other state and local politicians started getting involved. Why are they weighing in?
TESTINO: The school district has been subject to a lot of scrutiny from other elected officials for a really long time. And it's all in their best interest for the school district, which takes a huge majority of taxpayer dollars here. Serving students well improves our outcomes across crime, our outcomes across the economy, outcomes across the state for a lot of reasons. And the thought, I think, for some of them of going back into this arduous search process potentially, or complicated leadership turmoil, just didn't seem to make the best sense, in that view, for the kids.
BLANK: Many lawmakers hope the board would create a path forward keeping Feagins. But they did not do that. What's the school district facing now in terms of political intervention?
TESTINO: Rep. Mark White, Republican who represents Memphis, immediately after the vote shared with me that he has drafted legislation for state takeover and state intervention. You know, this was something that Amber Huett-Garcia who sponsored the resolution to keep Feagins in her seat talked about when she proposed this counter resolution. She said, "we are going to to see Nashville take this as an opportunity to do something that there has been kind of percolating interest in doing that's perfectly timely with regard to the session that they're entering now." And we've also got recall legislation that appears to have bipartisan support that would allow for school board members to be recalled. And that was even supported by Rep. Justin Pearson, who was at the school board meeting last night.
BLANK: The board selected an interim superintendent on Tuesday, right after the firing. He's been a candidate for this job before. Feagins could still fight this in court. So, what do you think is going to be happening in the next few weeks?
TESTINO: Yes, her attorney, Alan Crone, told me Wednesday that she is absolutely mounting a legal challenge to this termination. She told reporters that she would see the school board in court. But yes, with with a new interim superintendent installed the board did not require any promises that I can recall from the board meeting that interim Superintendent Richmond be uninterested in the permanent position, which became like a very notable kind of wrinkle, if you will, in the first superintendent search when former interim Superintendent Toni Williams said she wouldn't be interested, took the job, then applied. And so that wasn't a promise that was made last night. And the board didn't really talk too much about next steps in terms of whether there would be a superintendent search.
BLANK: Of course, this could be a moot point if the legislature decides to just install their own superintendent or take over the entire district. So, anything could happen at this point, right?
TESTINO: Absolutely. There will be more than plenty to watch on the Memphis education front for the rest of 2025.
