The Mississippi Department of Education issued the following statement:
Mississippi Board of Education Asks Governor to Declare State of Emergency
in Jackson Public School District
JACKSON, Miss. – The
Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) determined today that an
extreme emergency situation exists in the Jackson Public School District
(JPS). Acting on a recommendation from the Mississippi
Commission on School Accreditation, the SBE voted to ask Gov. Phil
Bryant to declare a state of emergency for the school district.
The Jackson Public
School District has significant issues that jeopardize the safety,
security and educational interests of the children enrolled in its
schools. The district is in violation of 24 of the 32 accreditation
standards that all Mississippi public school districts are required to meet.
The violations are documented in the
On-Site Investigative Audit of the Jackson Public School District (JPS),
which the
Commission on School Accreditation in August 2016 directed the
Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) to conduct after a limited
district audit of 22 schools cited severe deficiencies related to
school safety and instructional practices. The MDE conducted the full investigative audit of all 58 schools in JPS from September 6, 2016 through July 31, 2017.
“The Board was
compelled to intervene because Board members are extremely concerned
about the safety, security and educational interests of the students in
the Jackson Public School District,” said Rosemary Aultman,
the SBE chair. “All students in Jackson, and the state, deserve a
quality education that will take them as far as their gifts will let
them go. The Board is obligated to act when conditions in a school
district jeopardizes students’ education.”
A state of emergency would make JPS a District of Transformation, which would result in the following:
·
The district’s accreditation could be withdrawn
·
The SBE would appoint an interim superintendent
·
The local school board would be temporarily disbanded
·
The SBE would become the governing body until the district is returned to local board leadership
·
An interim superintendent would remain in JPS until the district has sustained a grade of C or higher for five years.
·
An
interim superintendent would work with district staff to correct all
accreditation violations, while making raising student achievement the
primary focus
If the governor
agrees with the SBE, officials from the MDE will meet with the
administration, faculty and staff of JPS after the declaration, followed
by evening meetings with parents and community leaders.
Original Post: The discussion on JPS at MDE is starting right now. Watch it on Youtube live at this link. I'll watch as much as I can and make notes in this post.
Update (12:50 PM) They took a break but the video from this morning's session is posted below. There has not been board discussion but the video shows the presentation from MDE and JPS as well as Board member questions.
12 comments:
Antar left before JPS made their arguments. Im sure he will claim somewhere to be and maybe thats true but he must know its not looking good for JPS.
JPS is trying the old "death by powerpoint" routine but they still are doing nothing but making excuses. They also claimed to be the only urban municipality in the state. I'm sure Hattiesburg, Meridian, and Southhaven would love to discuss that claim.
Little lumumba went to St. Joe for a number of years... so I don't want to hear about JPS from him... priester went to St. Andrews Harvard and stanford... all amazing schools but none of them public. So I don't want to hear it from him either
The last speaker pretty much put the last nail in the coffin.
Amazing isn't it... these very same people that push more public school funding is needed to stop a failing school district are the same people who send kids to private schools. Example is Obama... sidwell Friends school where his children attend is over 30k a year. Yey these poor inner city black parents are told they can't have a voucher for there child. Unreal! The problem here is lack of competition for students.
I didn't attend JPS schools so I guess I need to shut up as well.
I'm not even from Jackson, but none of you are going to shut me up.
Please read Councilman Priester's Facebook posting about the takeover. If someone as level headed and not confrontational as him thinks the MDE report is shady, then there might be fire somewhere near all that smoke.
Priester graduated Murrah.
Priester attended St. Andrews 1st grade through 10th. Left St. Andrews due to conflict
with administration.
My son went to the number 1 private school in state, couldn't have cared less and scored a 28. I guess I should shut up too. BTW after partying for ten years he's finally decided to go to college.
And Priester had the benefit of the 'special' classes at Murrah - those reserved for the best and brightest, especially when their parents are in a position that helps image of JPS. Class size of 6 to 8, compared to normal size of 20+. Nothing wrong with having thst program, in fact commendable. But to try to sell Murrah as a,be to produce such products it works well for the top 3%; what's bad is how the bottom 85% are treated.
So many commenters in favor of JPS not being under takeover are parents of children who attend Casey, McWillie, and Davis. Those are the three best schools in the district. Those schools would probably continue, and should be the model for how it can be done. Funding is NOT and issue because JPS gets about $900.00 per student more each year than the Madison School District. I think many problems can be attributed to: (1) district parents not demanding more from the school leaders; (2) the district is too large; (3) lack of direction in the JPS administration in developing trade and skilled programs for students (this is not limited to current admin, because t the past 40 years); public acceptance of low standards for JPS.
My goal would be for every child in JPS to earn a diploma and get a great, high paying job!
We moved from a great JPS school because of e poor quality in middle and high schools. Let the state come in and do what needs to be done to help e kids achieve. Parents need to support a takeover because the lives of your kids will only get better.
Post a Comment