Who is Marie Feagins? What a former colleague and student said about the next MSCS leader

In less than a month, Marie Feagins is poised to become the next superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, at a time when the stakes for the district are high. Though student reading rates have improved slightly, they remain low, and early literacy is a major priority.

MSCS is developing a comprehensive infrastructure plan to address $500 million in deferred maintenance, and it’s facing a potential $150 million budget gap due to the end of federal COVID relief funds. The Tennessee General Assembly is considering legislation that would dramatically expand the number of school vouchers offered in the state, and Rep. Mark White has considered proposing a bill that would allow Gov. Bill Lee’s administration to add up to six members to the MSCS board.

But Feagins, the former chief of leadership and high schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, has excited many in the community. Already, she’s meeting a variety of people in Memphis, as she prepares to transition into the role.

“She’s out in the community; she’s getting to know people in the community,” MSCS board vice-chair Joyce Dorse Coleman told members of the media Tuesday. “She’s just actively involved in all phases of what’s taking place.”

But who exactly is Feagins, the woman who's been tasked with leading a school district with around 100,000 students and 14,000 employees? To find out, The Commercial Appeal spoke to a former student and a former colleague, while taking a close look at her resume.

A standard of excellence

Growing up in Birmingham, La’Keshia Parks didn’t plan to attend college. Neither of her parents had anything beyond a high school diploma, and her family was poor. A hard life had led to behavioral issues and a foul temper, and she had been labeled as “a troubled child.” Going to college just didn’t seem realistic. Parks didn’t even know what it entailed.

Then she met Feagins.

It was 2006, and Feagins had started as Parks’ eighth-grade teacher and cheer coach, seemingly determined to inspire her students. Like Parks, many of them faced a slew of challenges outside the classroom, and Feagins wanted to show them their potential.

She took them on tours of colleges and universities and made them write reports about the ones they wanted to go to, so they could understand what it would take to get admitted. Her students started envisioning themselves pursuing postsecondary degrees, and as they did, Feagins challenged them to excel in school.

As Parks put it, “the standard was always excellence.”

“We would never go in there unprepared,” she explained. “She’s one of those people, when you’re around her, you just want to be better because you know the expectation… A lot of us would know that when we go in her class, we can’t play around. We can’t do the stuff we do in the other teachers’ classrooms, because she’s just not going to tolerate it.”

The expectation Feagins set, however, didn’t alienate her from her students. Instead, they were drawn to her. She was relatable and made her lessons interactive. Though she wasn’t from Birmingham, she fit in; Parks didn’t even know she wasn’t from the city.

More: Memphis-Shelby County Schools sets start date for new superintendent

She also understood the difficulties many of her students faced. She helped Parks learn to control her temper and made sure people knew that her classroom was a safe space where they could work towards a better future.

“We came with a lot of baggage, but she always encouraged us to want more,” Parks said. “We were excited to come to school and learn once she got there because we knew that she was going to give us tools to get out of our circumstances. And honestly, that’s exactly what she did.”

After finishing the eighth grade, Parks remained close to Feagins, who became her mentor, and with her support and encouragement, she reached significant milestones. She became a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve, then earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, and a J.D. from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University.

When Parks graduated from law school, she asked Feagins to hood her. It was a fitting choice. Today, Parks is a practicing attorney. But if it weren’t for Feagins, she doesn’t think she would have ever gone to college.

So, naturally, when Feagins was named the next superintendent of MSCS, Parks was thrilled. She couldn’t think of a better person for the role. She also wasn’t surprised. She had sensed Feagins would become a superintendent one day; the two had talked about it for years.

“When it was announced, I was like, 'This is all a part of the plan. Everything has aligned,'” Parks said. “We had always discussed how big of an impact she had on us at my school, and I craved that she would have that impact or could have that impact on so many other students… We always knew the perfect place for her would be superintendent.”

And Parks wasn’t the only person from Feagins’ past excited about her new role.

'In the arena with us'

When Justin Hauser found out that Feagins had been named the next superintendent of MSCS, he sent her a congratulatory text. If she ever needed a principal in Memphis, he joked, let him know.

“You want to follow great people,” he said. “You want to be around people who make you better.”

From August 2020 to July 2022, Hauser was a principal with the Detroit Public Schools Community District, and after his first year on the job, Feagins joined the system as chief of leadership and High Schools, executive director of high school transformation, and special assistant to the superintendent.

Technically, Feagins wasn’t Hauser’s supervisor. She oversaw high schools, and he was a middle school principal. But he saw her as a strong, relatable leader, and gravitated to her. At one point, when he felt like he was at a crossroads in his career, he sat down with Feagins, who helped him imagine what the next 20 years of his career could look like.

“She gets the work that goes with it. She’s in the arena with us,” Hauser said. “And above all things, she made me believe in myself.”

Is she experienced enough for the job?

There are some who have wondered about Feagins’ experience level, as she gears up to lead the largest school district in Tennessee.

It’s not that Feagins hasn’t spent much time in the education sector; she has. From 2006 to 2012 she was a teacher and head coach with Jefferson County Schools, and in 2013, she became a senior counselor and building testing coordinator with the district. In 2016, she was named an assistant principal with Huntsville City Schools, and in 2017, she joined Cleveland Metro Schools in Ohio, where she worked as an assistant principal and principal. In 2021, Feagins stepped into her current role with Detroit Public Schools Community District, where she's helped grow the four-year graduation rate. In 2021, it was 64.5%, and most recently, it was 74.26%.

But she also hasn’t overseen a budget close to the size of the one wielded by MSCS. Though she’s had a hand in the arrangement of Detroit’s overall school budget, the largest budget she’s individually overseen initially amounted to a couple million dollars, then had several million more tacked on for summer school improvements ― a far cry from the budget of around $2 billion MSCS currently works with.

More: Toni Williams to transition to MSCS consultant role as new superintendent ramps up

Thoughts about her experience level arose when she was a top candidate for the job. On Feb. 9, just before the board selected a candidate, Tomeka Hart-Wigginton of the HarWigg Group presented cumulative thoughts on the finalists, which stemmed from feedback given by board members, community organizations, parents, teachers, and principals.

While noting her numerous strengths, the summary of Feagins said: “The main critique centered on her limited district leadership experience managing large complex systems and budgets. There were also questions if her approach is theoretical versus evidence based.”

Amid these questions, The CA took a close look at Feagins’ resume and reached out to some of her former employers to get more specific information about her time with them.

Feagins did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Feagins’ resume says that she was an assistant principal with Huntsville City Schools from 2016 to 2017 and lists her accomplishments in the role. For example, it says that she increased school enrollment by 20%, tripled dual enrollment and AP course participation, influenced the design process of a new, $36 million high school, and designed an after-school program for ninth and 10th graders that led to a 12% decrease in course failures and 0.5-point increase in the average GPA.

Huntsville City Schools told The CA that Feagins was an assistant principal at Lee High School from September 2016 through January 2017. After this, she joined WTVY, a news station in Dothan, Alabama, as a morning show host and reporter. WTVY said that she worked for the station from January to July 2017.

Feagins’ resume also says that she was an “assistant principal/principal” with Cleveland Metro Schools from 2017 to 2020. Cleveland Metro Schools told The CA that Feagins started working with the district as a senior high assistant principal at JFK Pact on Sept. 5, 2017, and was named interim senior high principal at the school in July 2019.

She left that role on July 2, 2020. In June 2021, she joined the school district in Detroit.

'The reality of it'

But should people be concerned about Feagins’ experience level, given that she hasn’t held a leadership role in a district the size of MSCS or overseen a budget that's nearly as large?

“They're fair concerns,” said Terence Patterson, president and CEO of the Memphis Education Fund, which supports public schools and focuses on student outcomes. “Anytime that someone is coming into a job of this magnitude, without that type of experience, it's something that you hope that she'll get up to speed on really quickly and surround herself with a really great team to help support her. But I think the school board really believes in her leadership. We're also looking forward to supporting her and making sure that we can continue to do what's in the best interest of our students.”

Added Miska Clay Bibbs, chair of the Shelby County Commission and former chair of the MSCS board:

“The reality of it is, that’s where her cabinet is going to be so important, making sure she has the right people around her, in order to support her, to be able to do the job.”

Both Patterson and Clay Bibbs did express their optimism about the future of the district and their eagerness to work with Feagins, while noting what they think could be her significant strengths.

And when The CA asked Hauser, her former colleague, about her experience level, he dismissed any questions about her experience immediately.

“I am not one who looks at, ‘Oh, well they have this on their resume, they don't have that,'” he said. “Are they good people? Are they good for the community? Are they going to lead? Are they going to be there? That’s what I witnessed. I don’t think Memphis should have anything to worry about… She's going to knock it out of the park for your city.”

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What a former colleague, student said about new MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins