How Feagins, the ‘right leader’ for MSCS, became the center of an ouster vote
MSCS superintendent Marie Feagins sits with students while touring John P. Freeman Optional School April 11, 2024. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
It was December of 2023 when Marie Feagins made her first public appeal to Memphians and school board members that she was the woman for the job.
“What I know for sure is that the right leader, at the right place, at the right time changes everything,” Feagins said. She wanted to be the next superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
The Alabama native, then an education administrator in Detroit’s public school system, acknowledged then that she didn’t have the resume of some of her competitors. But in her pursuit of the leadership role, an endeavor that lasted at least 10 months, Feagins absorbed Memphis’ culture and education landscape in a way that helped her make a successful appeal.
Related story: A timeline of Feagins’ short tenure, with links to The Daily Memphian’s key stories about her leadership.
Feagins won over the majority of the school board and earned her first superintendency. And Memphians experienced an end to the board’s turbulent quest to replace former Superintendent Joris Ray.
But with an ouster vote looming, Feagins’ tenure in the Memphis superintendent position could be just as long as her pursuit of it.
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Laura Testino
Laura Testino is an enterprise reporter who writes about how public policy shapes Memphis. She is currently reporting from Frayser about education and housing. Please write her with your suggestions and story tips.
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