THE GREATEST BOTCH: Education and Workforce Development
Local & National News | February 01, 2025
Local & National News | February 01, 2025
Recently on Behind the Headlines, regarding the stunning Dr. Feagins termination, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said, “we can’t reminisce and got to turn the page.” Really, turn the page? And how? After all, the State is considering a local Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) takeover. The Mayor cannot even turn the page as he was recently lobbying in Nashville against state takeover.
Then there is the scarcely locally reported and oddly coincidental 11/13/24 bully termination, without cause, of Amber Covington. Covington was the Executive Director of the Greater Memphis Workforce Development Board (GMWDB). On 8/29/24 Covington reported to the TN Department of Labor an improper payment executed by the Greater Memphis Chamber as fiscal agent for the GMWDB. The Covington report resulted in GMWDB sanctioning by the State for the Chamber’s improper payment. Shockingly, Covington was then asked to resign, by Mayor Harris, a month later and refused. Then Covington was bully terminated by the GMWDB on 11/13/24, with only 6 of 24 board votes, as informed by Daily Memphian reporting.
The real unreported combined story is the bully terminations of both MSCS Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins and GMWDB Executive Director Amber Covington. These terminations reveal the local cultural practice of professional bullying.
With at least $3 billion spent by the County on education and workforce, since Mayor Harris took office, education and workforce are public botches. And the County Commission has helped by not holding regular workforce development committee meetings, until just recently, while the Commission’s K12 instructional conversations don’t advance beyond the word “literacy”.
Meanwhile, unknown to the public, MSCS middle schools are in academic crisis mode. Can County Commissioners even say, “middle school”? Probably not.
So away from K12, what about workforce development? The workforce development system engages youth and adults navigating the education and job market. Since MSCS is being locally covered, let’s take a historical look at local public workforce development.
Going back years, public workforce development botches have been the norm. This norm points to botch intentionality and includes the Greater Memphis Alliance for Competitive Workforce (GMACW), Workforce Investment Network (WIN), Workforce Mid-South (WMS), UpSkill901 and the Greater Memphis Workforce Development Board (GMWDB).
The Greater Memphis Chamber has been directly involved with GMACW, UpSkill901 and now GMWDB, while being in close proximity to WMS. This examination will focus on WIN, WMS and GMWDB, leveraging public documentation requested from and provided by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Examination finding themes below are, at a minimum, sanctionable unprofessionalism and culturally adopted public sloppiness.
Workforce Investment Network (WIN) (2018-20) – WIN monitoring reports scream sloppiness and include: 1) out of period expenditures, 2) improvements needed for fiscal monitoring, 3) untimely financial report submission, 4) unmet youth work experience goals 5) case management improvement needs and 6) a $42K City of Memphis salary charged against an external public grant.
Workforce Mid-South (WMS) (2020-23) – WMS appears to have been the corrective solution for WIN, but it was more of the same. Most concerning was $580K in public funds sent to an illegitimate account. The City of Memphis ($700K) is not the only local public entity sending payments to illegitimate accounts. Other documented concerns were: 1) untimely close-out and financial reports, 2) board minutes not posted, 3) sub-contracting needs improvement, 4) out-of-period expenditures, 5) fiscal monitoring needs improvement 6) incorrect grants expended and more.
Greater Memphis Workforce Development Board (GMWDB) (2023-Present) – The Greater Memphis Chamber is the fiscal agent for the GMWDB but the same problems persist. On September 6, 2024, the TN Department of Labor sanctioned the GMWDB and its fiscal agent the Greater Memphis Chamber for sending public money to an illegitimate account. Also, Amber Covington, as Executive Director of the GMWDB, on 9/3/24, notified the Greater Memphis Chamber of their negliegence in not submitting financial reports on time to the GMWDB. More of the same with the Chamber.
GMWDB Covington Termination Vote 11/13/24 Minutes and Bylaws – GMWDB minutes are concerning. The minutes list Dr. Joann Massey as both present and absent. Next Chance Deason is listed as a proxy for the State, but the State is not represented on the GMWDB roster. Third, Danielle Inez is listed as an abstention, which does not correlate with an odd clause in the GMWDB bylaws that provides no provision for the recording of an abstaining vote but only a dissenting vote from the prevailing board action.
This odd clause provides that only yes or no votes that dissent from the prevailing board action being recorded with the named board member. Under the rule, an abstaining vote would always ascend to the prevailing action taken by the board and not recorded. In this way, this odd “Presumption of Assent” clause, would permit 1 yes vote of 24 board members passing an item. So, with 8 board members present constituting a quorum at a GMWDB board meeting, 1 vote and 7 abstentions out of a board body of 24, could pass a considered item. The minutes would then show unanimous public body approval for an item that garnered only 1 yes vote. Or the same for the defeat of an item with only 1 no vote. Absurd!
Next, something is robustly off either with Daily Memphian reporting or the 11/13/24 GMWDB meeting minutes. The Daily Memphian reported 6 votes for, 2 against and 4 abstentions for terminating Covington. Either the Daily Memphian reporting is wrong or GMWDB minutes are incorrect by not listing the 2 no votes by name. Also, in totaling the votes, the Daily Memphian reports 12 board members present at the meeting. GMWDB minutes show 20 board members present at the meeting. Something is wrong, with public board meeting minutes routinely falling short in Memphis.
Ben Adams, previously GMWDB Vice-Chair is now Chair, succeeding Meka Egwuekwe. Adams is also on the Greater Memphis Chamber Board Executive Committee, who is GMWDB’s deficient fiscal agent. Does this represent a conflict of interest?
Anyway, it should be noted that the Chamber made a big splash in December 2023 that they would soon open an Accelerated Skills Center on Jackson Avenue and that work would begin on the center in early 2024.
This Jackson Avenue building sat untouched for 10 months and is not functional today. Before the County Commission, Chamber Chief of Government Affairs, Bobby White said that the Chamber moves at the “speed of business.”
With respect to workforce, over years, the Chamber does not move at all. The Greater Memphis Chamber is a private business membership organization and totally unsuited to represent the public. The Chamber does not even represent a majority of their small business members well as evidenced by their pro corporate/developer policy stack. The Greater Memphis Chamber has no business being a public fiscal agent.
So back to County Mayor Lee Harris. Can Mayor Harris be worse than Strickland? He is working hard at it as it always seems to be a race to the bottom in Memphis. So to the bottom we go, with after $3 billion spent “turning the page” on education and workforce development (2018-25)…..
CHECK THE FACTS
Daily Memphian. Memphis workforce development leader refuses resignation requests, 11/11/24
Daily Memphian. Memphis-area workforce board boots director, appoints interim 11/13/24.
GMWDB Termination Vote Minutes, 11/13/24
WIN. TN Dept of Labor Monitoring Report, October 2018
WIN. TN Dept of Labor Monitoring Report, September 2019
WMS Corrective Action Plan 2023
WMS. TN Dept of Labor Monitoring Report, July 2023
