MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis-Shelby County School Board approved new budget amendments to increase the salary for school resource officers (SROs) and reallocate funds for the Whitehaven STEM lab in a work session on Tuesday.
The board approved budget adjustments for the 2024-2025 academic year just on Aug. 20, 2024, and said their next steps are to be more actively involved in the execution process.
The construction of the Whitehaven STEM lab and the salary increase for SROs have been very hot topic issues for the school board, and members said they are satisfied with the outcome.
Last week, SROs issued a letter demanding higher pay, better safety practices and more resources. After a series of meetings and the subsequent hiring and resignation of the former Executive Director of Safety Lt. George Harris, all in under a week, the MSCS board voted to approve the salary increase. This makes starting salaries $25 an hour.
The approval repurposes eleven vacant safety and security monitor positions to fund salary increases for 125 mobile security officer positions and eight sergeant positions, totaling just under $640,000. According to MSCS documents, there will be a net zero impact on the budget. Superintendent Marie Feagins said she commends SROs for their work and is happy to have worked to accomplish this.
“In a previous space, I walked the same way in getting the police department there to $25 as well,” she said. “And so that was not, a strange event for me. Nothing that caught me off guard. I just did not know that was something already promised to them in terms of a step raise.”
Regarding Harris’ resignation, Feagins said she had "no idea" about some of his background information and made an offer to him based on what she knew at the time.
She received a report late Friday evening and accepted his resignation because she thought this information would reflect poorly on the district. She said she acknowledges her part in that decision and wants to move forward to ensure that it does not happen again.