MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins wants to crack down on overtime abuse in the district after claiming it cost the district around $1 million.
Some school members are glad the problem is being addressed, while others want to know who the abusers are.
“To be transparent, we have an abuse of overtime. We have individuals who are submitting requests or have not submitted requests but have been paid and compensated for time not worked,” said Feagins.
Dr. Feagins was updating the school board about the district’s policy and the overtime abuse.
“I’m glad that we are putting a formal plan in place to curtail this,” said MSCS School Board Commissioner Amber Huett-Garcia.
The abuse is reportedly costing the district about $1 million.
“We have, generally speaking, a million dollars that we’re paying to individuals that we can not qualify or quantify what’s being done and generally speaking, the outcomes for the respective areas in terms of the departments and teams,” said Feagins.
Under the proposed new policy, overtime would now need advance approval from the superintendent or someone else she designates.
Still, School Board Commissioner Keith Williams says the overtime abuse claims blindsided him and others.
“Particularly teachers and the board of education itself because I was not aware and never have I been aware that you could earn overtime in this school system,” Williams said.
Williams questions who these overtime abusers are. He says they are certainly not teachers.
📡 See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South.
📧 Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox.
“I just want the public to know teachers don’t enjoy that advantage, and teachers have not received overtime and probably never will, and teachers spend an inordinate [amount of time] in school. Certainly, no one stays 8.5 hours. We stay up to 10 hours a day in the building,” said Williams.
Williams says he has reached out to the superintendent to get answers as the district addresses overtime abuse.
“There is no overtime for us [teachers]. So, we want to know who got it, when they got it, and how much they got,” he said.
WREG did reach out to the district to get additional information about the overtime issue, but so far we have not heard back.
