Shelby County Commissioners delay vote on ‘no confidence’ resolution against Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education
Shelby County Commissioner Amber Mills speaks about recent efforts among Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education members to fire Superintendent Marie Feagins at Wednesday’s commission meeting. (screenshot)
The Shelby County Commission postponed a vote on a resolution Wednesday that would’ve expressed "no confidence" in the Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education due to the board’s recent efforts to oust superintendent Marie Feagins.
Amber Mills, a commissioner for District 8 and co-sponsor of the resolution, said recent divisions “have raised significant concerns about the stability of leadership” within the district. She said she believes some school board members are trying to use that division for their own political gain.
Mills said she and other community members have witnessed progress under Feagins’ leadership, adding that she believes recent moves to fire the superintendent are “not in the best interest of students, schools, or the community at large.”
“Some people need division and fearmongering, whether it’s racial division or whether it’s political division, to be relevant and say they’re doing something when really they’re not,” she said. “I brought this [resolution forward] because I am tired of everybody giving lip service. I’m tired of things not being done right. I’m tired of no accountability, and I’m tired of no leadership.
"Let’s get our school system in order, because most of our problems will be resolved if we can get our school system straightened out.”
However, some commissioners said they didn’t believe the commission should be involved in the debate within Memphis-Shelby County Schools over whether to fire Feagins over allegations of professional misconduct and mismanagement of district funds, despite their support for Feagins.
District 7 Commissioner Henri Brooks said she thinks the school board’s recent moves to fire Feagins are “about politics,” but believes the commission should stay out of the fight for now.
“This item that’s on the agenda absolutely is none of our business,” Brooks said.
The resolution was changed to only include school board members who oppose Feagins, according to Commissioner Erika Sugarmon, the resolution’s other co-sponsor who works as a teacher at White Station High School.
During the lengthy discussion about the resolution, Chairman Michael Whaley said he would also like to include additional amendments to “focus more on what we want to see versus what we didn’t like.”
"We need to turn the temperature down. We can go back and forth all day long, but that doesn't help students,” he said.
Whaley plans to introduce several amendments at their next meeting on Monday when commissioners continue their discussions about the resolution. The school board is set to reconvene the following day in a committee meeting to reconsider their resolution to fire Feagins.
