Ousted Memphis schools superintendent Marie Feagins violated an ethics clause in her contract eight separate times, according to an outside investigation completed for the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board. 

The former superintendent violated four school board policies in nine separate instances, Spence Partners attorneys found. 

The alleged violations stem from three specific claims school board Chair Joyce Dorse Coleman lodged against Feagins while calling for her termination in December. Feagins’ detailed rebuttal of the allegations, which focused on mishandling and miscommunicating about district finances, became part of the case against her.

Marie Feagins ousted as MSCS superintendent

The investigation appeared to focus on Feagins’ truthfulness with board members. 

Attorney Robert Spence briefed the MSCS board and public of his investigation during a Jan. 21 meeting ahead of a 6-3 vote from the board to fire Feagins for cause, and thus without pay. In a unanimous vote, the board approved publicizing the investigation materials, which appeared online by the early hours of Jan. 22. 

“Several weeks ago my law firm was engaged to perform an essential function … to ascertain the facts,” Spence said Tuesday, emphasizing the word “fact” each time. “Because there was in this community, a disbelief of the facts. And that is what we endeavored to do. With respect to the termination resolution: Was it based on fact? People are entitled to their own opinions, but they’re not entitled to their own set of facts.” 

The presentation was tense. Board members Amber Huett-Garcia and Michelle McKissack, who staunchly supported Feagins Tuesday, held up a sign from the dais that said “This was not the plan! Not a trial” and accused Spence of “editorializing” his remarks. Audience members called out, and Dorse Coleman instructed security to “clear the room” before calm eventually prevailed. 

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The documents show Spence also investigated a fourth, new claim, that was not part of the presentation or the found violations of law and policy. Feagins was accused of interfering in a procurement process for assessment tools for high schoolers. 

That allegation “was sufficiently documented” for consideration, according to the report. But Spence was “unable to fully substantiate the claim.”

(Read the full 209-page report at the end of this story.)

In comments to reporters after the meeting, Feagins said she was planning a legal challenge. “I’ll see them in court,” she said of the school board. Alan Crone, Memphis employment attorney, has been representing her since December.

New ‘ethics’ clause central to MSCS board’s case

All alleged contract violations were connected to an ethics clause built into Feagins’ contract as a reflection of lessons learned from the board after former Superintendent Joris Ray — who Feagins ultimately replaced — departed the district in scandal in 2022. (Spence represented Ray at the time.) 

Chalkbeat Tennessee reported in March, when Feagins’ contract passed, that then-board Chair Althea Greene said the “ethics clause was necessary.” 

Marie Feagins ousted as MSCS superintendent

“It’s necessary for the district,” Greene said at the time. “And so it covers the district in the event that something unfortunate happens. We’re able to terminate a contract and not have to go through a long, drawn-out process.”

Feagins violated four policies in nine instances, according to the investigation. Those were related to meetings, ethics and grant donations, as well as communications with the board. The policy violation regarding communications with the board, the investigation found, is also related to a violation of law that would have required Feagins, as superintendent, to report apparent misappropriation of funds. 

Spence’s investigation took place between Jan. 15 and 20, and was limited to documents provided by the school district. No interviews were conducted, according to the report. 

Three claims focused on Feagins’ dishonesty in remarks to board

Feagins both “misled” the board and public about overtime abuse, “misrepresented” her knowledge of a check donation, and was “dishonest” about the availability of federal grant funds, according to the investigation. The claims, in Spence’s review, appear to center on the truthfulness of her comments. 

Her Jan. 14 responses, according to the investigation, did not substantiate her claims that employees had abused overtime, and never showed that “employees had engaged in fraudulent activity.” The report took issue with Feagins’ assertion that cutting overtime expenses by $1 million between December 2023 and 2024 showed that abuse had existed. 

Marie Feagins ousted as MSCS superintendent

In her response, Feagins said, “it was clear that prior approval for overtime was not being obtained regularly and there was a history of failure to properly record and document overtime, which clearly constitutes abuse and waste.” 

But she didn’t identify any specific instances, Spence’s investigation reported. Making the claim without doing so “impugned the integrity of employees of MSCS.” 

With regard to the $45,000 check, Spence’s investigation found Feagins denied knowledge of the check to board members in November, but had asked her staff to find the funds in July.

“The explanation provided by Dr. Feagins is directly contradicted by her own email communication … and the Financial report,” the investigation found.

The check, from SchoolSeed Foundation, a nonprofit that was established alongside the school board several years ago, was for future funds to support a leadership symposium. SchoolSeed is a fundraiser for the symposium. 

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The donated funds appear in the district’s October 2024 financial report. 

Feagins, apparently citing reporting by The Daily Memphian, wrote in her rebuttal that the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury has said agencies like MSCS should follow a state law that requires checks to be deposited within three days of receipt. 

Spence’s report does not appear to dispute Feagins’ assertion that the district did not spend the funds.

The third claim is about how the district planned to use expiring grant funds for homeless students. Feagins is accused of being dishonest about the availability of the money. 

Feagins asserted that, while the deadline to give grant funds through a contract with SchoolSeed, the nonprofit, had passed, the district still had access to the funds for other related expenses. The Tennessee Department of Education told The Daily Memphian that the district had access to the money. 

Spence’s investigation found her rebuttal explanation to be “only accurate to a degree.” 

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“The truth is that the grant funds were lost and no funds were available to provide to the intended recipients — the homeless student population — with emergency shelter, food, and transportation,” according to the report. “After the deadline expired, the State allowed the District to be reimbursed for expenses and salaries only, but it could not use any funds for the intended grant purpose.” 

A fourth claim accuses Feagins of procurement interference

Spence’s report investigates a fourth claim that accused Feagins of interfering in a procurement process for a testing platform, in potential violation of policy and the ethics clause of her contract. 

But Spence’s investigation couldn’t “firmly” show Feagins violated board policies or her contract, Spence wrote.

The allegation surrounds a bid that posted when Feagins was a consultant, in March, and ended in April, during her first week as superintendent. MSCS sought vendors who could provide an assessment tool that helped them track how students were performing throughout the school year. 

Spence found that May emails show an executive for one of the nine responsive companies, a recent vendor with the district, requested a meeting. 

A timeline of Marie Feagins’ tenure in Memphis

By June, Spence found, Feagins had instructed staff to abandon the bid for services. Later, Feagins approved a contract with the vendor at no cost, Spence wrote.

But Spence wrote that he could not “firmly establish” that Feagins had attended a meeting with the vendor. 

Separate from Spence’s summary of the allegation, Feagins has faced criticism from a board member and some school leaders for not having the tool in place. Formative assessment platforms allow teachers to make real-time adjustments in lessons to students, and, absent data, the district can’t project students’ needs and outcomes of high-stakes state testing. 

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