The Memphis-Shelby County School Board continued discussing personnel changes in the district on Tuesday, following last week’s special meeting where board members approved a resolution asking Superintendent Marie Feagins to hold off on further layoffs until she can present a more detailed personnel plan to the community.
The discussions follow a June 10 email to district staff detailing Feagins’ proposal to cut 1,110 positions, of which a little more than 40 percent are vacant. While the plan is currently paused, the district is still obligated to continue sending notices about potential job cuts under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, according to Justin Bailey, the district’s general counsel.
“It was necessary to get these out in a timely manner. There’s a 60-day window in which employees need to be notified, so we needed to get these notices out to comply with our statutory and regulatory obligations,” he said. “That notice is required to provide certain information – when the anticipated reductions are expected to start, what roles are expected to be impacted, the anticipated sites that will be impacted.”
Feagins, who was criticized for the way in which the plan has been communicated at last week’s special meeting, said Tuesday that nearly 240 district employees could be without a job by the end of the month if the personnel changes are ultimately approved.
Bailey clarified that the letters sent out to district employees were not official notices of termination but were intended to inform staffers of eliminated positions if Feagins’ proposal is approved by the board. Bailey said the termination notices will come from the board after the board votes on final dismissals. The board’s next business meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday.
“The ultimate decision on the dismissals that will take place rests with the board,” Bailey said. “But we did feel the need to get those notices out [in a] timely [manner].”
