Tutoring organization responds to allegations from former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins

Dr. Marie Feagins (left) and Peer Power co-chair Charles “Dow” McVean (right) (Photos by Memphis-Shelby County Schools and McVean Trading and Investments, LLC)

Former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins made multiple eyebrow raising allegations in the lawsuit she filed against the district board of education this week, including a story involving a tutoring and mentoring program the district formerly contracted with.

Feagins’ suit claimed the co-chair of the Peer Power Foundation confronted her in the parking lot following a luncheon on August 8, 2024, about the organization’s expired $4 million contract. Feagins claims in the suit that she had never met Charles “Dow” McVean before and says things got heated with him when she said she’d connect with her team on the contract.

“I am angry! … this is some bulls***! … I am f***ing frustrated,” said McVean according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Feagins reported McVean’s behavior to the Memphis Police Department and filed a petition for an order of protection, only to later receive pressure from Memphis City Council Chair JB Smiley, Jr. and school board member Towanna Murphy to fix the strained relationship with Peer Power.

McVean pushed back on the allegations in a letter midweek. He says he didn’t learn the organization’s contract wouldn’t be renewed until Dr. Feagins informed him on the day of the parking lot confrontation.

“Additionally, Dr. Feagins advised me that the decision not to renew the contract had been made back in April 2024. I was caught off guard and upset by Dr. Feagins’ unilateral cancellation of the program, and I was frustrated that this April decision had not been communicated to Peer Power sooner,” wrote McVean. “Peer Power spent more than $700,000 during June-August retaining, hiring, and training University of Memphis students to tutor and mentor in the classrooms of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. In my reaction, I said some words I later regretted.”

McVean says he sent Feagins an apology letter via courier and FedEx but never received a response, though Feagins did request the order of protection for an order of protection be withdrawn the following month.

In her suit, Feagins describes the dispute over Peer Power’s contract and the politics involved in it, as the beginning of strained relations with school board members that ultimately led them to begin holding secret meetings and terminating her contract last month.

McVean claims his organization played no role in the dispute between Feagins and the board, and says Peer Power has pivoted to serving charter schools in the 2024-2025 school year.

“To be clear: Neither I nor Peer Power are a party in a pending lawsuit. Further, while my name has been associated with Councilman J.B. Smiley in recent articles, to the best of my knowledge I have never met him nor have I contributed to his campaigns,” wrote McVean. “I urge us all to not allow egos, politics, or any other potential distractions get in the way of providing the relationships and resources that our children, from one of the most impoverished communities in the nation, need to advance. We owe it to them.”