MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Thursday afternoon, the Memphis-Shelby County School board met at district headquarters to discuss the upcoming evaluation process of Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins.
The board said it’s almost time for Dr. Feagins' midterm evaluation and it’s also time to start preparing for the district’s annual evaluation of the superintendent.
Feagins has been on the job for less than a year and has not been formally evaluated in her current position.
This evaluation process comes on the heels of multiple guns being brought into MSCS schools, job cuts and issues with communication between schools and parents.
Inside MSCS school headquarters, the school board gathered to listen to their options as they prepared to make their first evaluation of Feagins.
When we asked school board members what their top priorities are for this evaluation, they said communication is at the top of the list, followed by a strategic plan for the district and where the district is in regards to staffing, in addition to student achievement.
Before the school year started, the superintendent openly said the district was down hundreds of jobs even after Dr. Feagins reassigned several central office workers back into the classroom.
Additionally, school got cut short at multiple high schools the first week of the 2024-2025 school year because of air conditioning issues.
And then recently, guns were discovered at multiple MSCS schools, in addition to a serious safety threat against multiple district schools when social media users claimed that they were going to open fire and kill both students and staff in Shelby County.
School board members said the evaluation of Dr. Feagins is important to set the direction for the entire school district and all of its students and staff.
“We need to focus on student achievement," MSCS board member Natalie McKinney said. "What is going to move the needle? What does the superintendent believe that will move the needle?...We have to talk about our duty and responsibility and set the goals, and she comes up with the strategic plan on how to do that, and we agree to that.”
Board members said Dr. Feagins is working with the school board to bring clear backpacks to all of the district's K-5 students.
The midterm evaluation will be submitted by Nov. 1.