School board member reacts to Feagins’ response to misconduct accusations
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – The superintendent of the largest school system in Tennessee responded to misconduct allegations by the Memphis-Shelby County School Board on Monday.
In Dr. Marie Feagins’ response, she made it clear that she is not resigning.
She said since this response was originally expected to be given on January 14, she would continue to share more of her report as that date approaches.
Feagins said she sent the response despite the fact that the board declined to give her more specific reasons on why they are calling for her termination.
She said in part, “To directly speak to the meritless claims, I have never, under any circumstances, intentionally or unintentionally misled a board member or the board as a whole. Furthermore, I have not mismanaged district funds.”
Accusations of losing grant money, misleading the board about overtime pay, and accepting a donation are included in her termination resolution.
School board member Michelle McKissack says she read Feagins’ response late Monday night. She said she hopes the board as a whole can move forward.
“These are issues, the ones that have been put forth in the resolution, are ones that we can move beyond. We can say, ‘How can we better communicate?’” said McKissack. “So, therefore, whatever the concerns are, we can address them.”
Communication has been an overall factor in the discussions of termination.
McKissack says she is already working on ways to restore those lines of communication.
“It meets the qualifications of how can we work better together,” she said. “If it’s about communication, we can improve that. We can bring in some conferencing, some mediation. I’ve actually been working with TSBA (Tennessee School Board Association), saying, ‘How can you help us?’”
Feagins said in her written response to the board, “I have prioritized enhancing internal grant management processes and fortifying internal controls to prevent similar issues in the future while ensuring the board remains fully informed through transparent and consistent reporting.”
Action News 5 also reached out to the school board chair, Joyce Dorse-Coleman, and other board members about Feagins’ response.
We have either not heard back from some and others even said they had not seen the response yet.
Wednesday, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners will discuss the vote of no confidence against the school board in committee.
McKissack said it was surprising.
“And the vote of no confidence, no one ever wants to hear that, from certainly your funding body,” she said. “These are the folks who give us the money and they’re trying to send a strong message to the board that, ‘please listen to the community.’ That’s how I interpreted that response.”
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