Memphis-Shelby County Board of Education disagrees with Superintendent Feagins about how she should be evaluated

MSCS Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins speaks with board members about her evaluation criteria at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting. (Screenshot) 

The Memphis-Shelby County Board of Education resumed discussions about how to evaluate Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins’ tenure at Tuesday’s board meeting, with much of the focus being on Feagins’ relationship with district employees.

According to documents provided by the district, the board wants to increase focus on staff relations to 20 percent, while Feagins wants the evaluation to keep the previous weight of 15 percent in that area. She said she believes 30 percent of the focus should also remain on student achievement, while the board wants that aspect to account for 25 percent of the evaluation.

Feagins stressed the need to place more emphasis on efforts to improve student achievement within the evaluation, due to the need to increase math and reading proficiency rates in the district.

“When the board said, ‘Hey, let’s just use the same tool,’ I thought that was a fair way forward as we work together to sharpen the tool itself,” she said. “I understand the evaluation is important but to invest the time having the back and forth about changing by five percent just does not seem to keep the focus on what it needs to be on.

“I believe the district’s North Star is student achievement, and that has been my language,” she continued. “I just did not find the need to have the exchange about changing anything.”

Board member Amber Huett-Garcia said that she would be fine keeping the weights the same to avoid contention, adding that she doesn’t think the change is completely necessary.

“This is so we all get better and we serve kids. I don’t want this to be adversarial,” she said. “I’m amenable to keeping the weights the same. I don’t think it’s going to make a huge difference in the end.”

Board member Keith Williams, however, questioned how the board would be able to place more focus on student achievement without having additional data on hand.

“I know that achievement and growth is a large measure in this. I get that, but there is no measure at this time of year for it, so where do we get it from for this particular evaluation?” he said. “Because the tests are not administered until the end of the year, and it is not received until June or July.”

The discussion about staff relations comes after Jarvis Cook, a former HR staff member, said during a meeting last month that he and three other members of his Central Office team lost their jobs shortly after criticizing Feagins’ leadership in June and did not receive “any rationale” for their termination. He said that he believes the team’s dismissal was “a result of retaliation” for speaking out against recent personnel changes spearheaded by Feagins, which have been a topic of controversy in the Tennessee school district in recent months.

In addition to criticisms such as these, district employees and other board members have also criticized Feagins’ leadership for a lack of clear communication about personnel planning earlier this year.

“I think it would be ignorant of me six months into my tenure to act like the support has been high and the feedback has been high because it has not been,” Feagins said.

The board is expected to revisit the topic within the next two weeks, in order to complete the evaluation by the end of the month as instructed by board policies.