MSCS job cuts: Superintendent Feagins apologizes to staff, but stands by proposed shakeups

Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent Marie Feagins had a whirlwind of a week.

On Monday morning, she sent an email out to all district staff, outlining a proposal to cut about 1,100 positions, 41% of which were vacant. She explained that the decision would move more resources and personnel from the central office into classrooms, but her email spread panic quickly and upset administrative staffers. Then, during a special called meeting on Tuesday evening, Feagins was criticized by MSCS board members, who passed a resolution pausing any additional layoffs until they got more details.

And during a budget community engagement meeting on Thursday, Feagins reaffirmed her stance that the job cuts were necessary while providing more context and revealing a change in her plan. Initially, it seemed that every impacted employee would get an alternate job offer from the district.

That is no longer the case.

'The way forward'

Feagins' Monday email wasn’t the first indication that job cuts were on the horizon. In November, the MSCS board discussed the possibility of eliminating 675 positions to help prevent a potential $150 million budget gap. When Feagins interviewed for the superintendent post in February, she said that top portions of the central office were “pretty bloated,” and that shifts would have to take place.

But Feagins also said that everyone whose positions were being cut would get other job offers within the district. Layoffs, she explained, weren’t the way the changes should be described.

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“Just to name that clearly, layoffs is not how we look at it. What we are doing is decentralizing a central office that has a nice load of personnel,” she said during a check-in with members of the media in early May. “We have enough opportunities and jobs for every person who will be impacted by the shifts to have a job… It just may have a different title.”

Now, it appears not all affected employees are set to get alternate job offers ― at least not immediately.

Over 400 of the eliminated positions were already vacant. During the budget community engagement meeting on Thursday, Feagins noted that the district had made 423 offers and received 171 acceptances and that the more than 200 other impacted staffers would have the opportunity to apply for vacant positions within the district. There are currently a total of 1,069 school-based vacancies to choose from.

“If you have received a letter, I will honor the placement that we've given you and that you've accepted,” she said at the meeting. “If you have not received a placement, your letter will simply say that your conclusion of services is June 30, and we will support you for the balance of the way, whatever you’d like to do in terms of applying for a position that you might see online. We’ll make sure that all the vacancies are listed for you.”

The shift comes after Feagins faced significant backlash from impacted employees for the offers they received. Some employees who had been with the district for years and moved into high-paying central office roles were offered classroom-based posts that came with pay cuts that exceeded $20,000.

This didn’t sit well with them; and during the meeting, Feagins apologized for the way her plan was being implemented, and explained that allowing people to apply for jobs instead of direct offers was the best way forward.

“It was never my intention to insult anyone. … It was certainly never the intention to communicate to you… that you are not important,” she said. “While I am a teacher first, foremost, and forever, and I do not view going into the classroom as a demotion, I do understand how that can feel as an employee to take a $25,000 pay cut in the middle of the year.”

Feagins also noted during the meeting that impacted employees won’t receive severance packages, though she pointed out that their last paychecks will come Aug. 16 – about a month-and-a-half after their final day on June 30 – and that their benefits will remain in place until Aug. 31.

Why cut jobs?

While Feagins made a public apology to employees who felt insulted by the personnel shifts, she stands by the plan, which is tied to the district’s fiscal year 2025 proposed budget and stems in part from the slew of challenges MSCS is facing.

In the 2022-23 academic year, 78% of the district’s students weren’t scoring proficiently on the English Language Arts section of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests. Another 83% weren’t scoring proficiently on the math section. The dropout rate was nearly 15%, the truancy rate was 41%.

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Schools, Feagins has asserted, desperately need more resources, and the district budget isn’t unlimited. It must find more money and people to push into the schools somewhere.

Though Feagins has upset central office staffers with the shifts, she has received praise from many teachers. During the special called meeting on Tuesday, members of the United Education Association of Shelby County expressed their support and excitement about having more resources and employees in the schools.

Board members, too, have expressed support for the proposed changes, and said many of them could be necessary. On Tuesday, they passed the resolution pausing the job cuts until they had more information; and they strongly criticized Feagins for the lack of communication they had received and the way she had implemented the plan.

Still, they have also said they stand by her and have commended her for being willing to take action. During the budget community engagement meeting, board member Kevin Woods expressed his support for Feagins, while standing by Tuesday’s resolution.

“This board, who voted unanimously to support the superintendent, remains resolute in that position. We have continued to tell the superintendent ― and we'll show the superintendent through our support of that [FY 2025] budget ― that we're 100% committed to this district,” he said. “But we will continue to never apologize for showing the dignity to anybody that had given 20-plus years to this work, and [is] now having to be told that you may have to go home. It’s a painful process.”

John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent stands by job cuts plan