MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools says that an email about job cuts due to restructuring was intentionally sent out Monday to all district employees in an effort to be transparent.
Though the email raised many questions for current MSCS employees, Dr. Marie Feagins said that if everyone knows that a change needs to be made, why not do it now?
“When you think about the 110,000 students in the district and the types of students we serve, the types of lives we would like for them to be able to live, the trajectory we would like to put the city on, when we think about being the largest district in the state, there are some decisions that have to be made,” Dr. Feagins said. “So we think about elevation and improvement also known more simply as change. It’s never easy, it never feels good.”
She acknowledged that she too has been impacted by the forthcoming changes, such as taking a $25,000 previous pay cut in the middle of a year.
According to that email, about 1,100 MSCS positions are affected by restructuring. Forty-one percent of those are currently vacant.
Feagins said the information in the email reflected the transition plans she had previously made clear in her 100-day plan and even before she was hired, but said, “I acknowledge the uncertainties that are present, and I understand that current transitions have caused concerns among some personnel.”
Of the rest, 363 of the affected employees are being offered other roles in the district that are closer to the classroom to benefit both students and staff, Feagins said, and 171 of those offers have been accepted.
“We have 552 vacancies and that was as of Sunday so that could’ve changed today. We know we need qualified instructors directly in the classroom to lead our students or we would not see direct results,” Dr. Feagins said Tuesday. “The other part of that are school support positions, graduation coaches, family engagement specialists, attendance agents, so those that are necessary for the school but not directly in the classroom but I think we can all agree they certainly impact what could happen in the classroom.”
The district’s restructuring was urgent, Feagins said, because the challenges to the district’s 114,000 students were severe. She outlined the following statistics:
- Currently, 78% of students are not reading proficiently (yet) as determined by the state.
- Currently, we are competing against an obstinate 51% chronic absenteeism rate and a 41% truancy rate.
- Currently, 83% of students are not demonstrating proficiency in mathematics (yet) as determined by the state.
- Currently, we carry a nearly 15% dropout rate with 76 schools receiving a state-designated letter grade of D or F and fewer than 15 schools reaching a 90% or higher graduation rate.
- Currently, we have a total of 1069 school-based vacancies: 552 teacher (classroom) vacancies and 517 support positions.
For employees who decide not to continue with MSCS, their last day will be June 30.
“If you are impacted, I hope you will strongly consider the proposed position offered to you and continue this deep and necessary work,” Feagins said in a video response.