New MSCS plan could close schools with most severe maintenance needs
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins said MSCS plans to create a website for the public to track district facilities. The information would offer details from a recent outside assessment, as well as the district’s recommendation, and progress toward those goals, she said. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins suggested last week that schools with severe maintenance needs will be recommended for closure in her administration’s proposed facilities plan. School buildings with smaller maintenance bills may not have an immediate recommendation.
It is unclear when Feagins will make her recommendations, which would determine whether any closures happen in time for the 2025-26 school year.
Feagins has previously said she would offer a plan by April 2025, and use the results of the $2 million study to inform her suggestions. Results from that study are expected to give an assessment of each of the district’s 200 buildings and provide a cost estimate for restoring the building to a certain condition threshold. Costs could exceed $1 billion, officials have said, underscoring the financial pressure to align the district’s building portfolio with its enrollment.
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Laura Testino
Laura Testino is an enterprise reporter on The Daily Memphian’s metro team who writes most often about how education policies shape the lives of children and families. She regularly contributes to coverage of breaking news events and actions of the Tennessee General Assembly. Testino’s journalism career in Memphis began six years ago at The Commercial Appeal, where she began chronicling learning disruptions associated with the pandemic, and continued with Chalkbeat, where she dug into education administration in Memphis. Her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, The Times-Picayune, The Tuscaloosa News and USA Today.
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