How Feagins, the ‘right leader’ for MSCS, became the center of an ouster vote
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 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.
News Stream
Memphians show up to support Marie Feagins
As the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members gathered to vote on Marie Feagins’ future as the district’s superintendent, members of the public turned out to support her.
A timeline of Marie Feagins’ tenure in Memphis
Almost 10 months after she started the job, Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins faces a removal vote by MSCS board members. Here’s a timeline of Feagins’ short tenure, with links to key stories about her leadership.
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