Jackson Jambalaya

There you go again Kingfish dogging Jackson.

Once again KF does the job that the CL is incapable of doing. How does anyone defend how JPS is structured administratively?

I just really hate reading about JPS, it makes me feel like I am back in school again and my mom has to do my homework for me because I am too busy playing Nintendo and eating muddy buddies.

Just leave JPS alone, it's too boring to even deal with at this point.

Does anyone know what the extra 700 or so district employees are doing?

As a Jacksonian, I must admit. JPS is top heavy and it's time that we start consolidating the schools. There are plenty of consultants and specialists, but the titles do not match the performance as the students are producing.

Jackson Public School District is bloated due to the onslaught of schools that were built during the beginning of integration. We are only 62 years removed from Brown vs. Board and only 54 years removed from forced integration in Mississippi.

So now we must clean up the remnants behind that. Take note of what has worked and what hasn't worked. Where we are lacking and how to prevent this from happening again in the future.

I still believe integrated public education is key to destroying racism and improving quality of life for all our kids. The issue now when it comes to public integrated public education, is having willing participants and elected officials that agree integrated education is vital to our society.

Bravo! Kingfish, for posting this incredible and much needed comparison.

If he were actually interested in progress, rather than cronyism, jokeway might be less strident in a state takeover.

Just hope governor feel reads this comparison.

That's right, 9:39.
Just leave JPS alone so they can continue failing to provide an adequate education for the students that are unlucky enough to have to be part of their plantation. They do provide, however, lots of jobs for their friends and family members. That is what being an administrator in a public school system if for, right?

@9:44 - they are likely collecting a check, nothing more. That 959 admin staff at JPS tells the whole story. If DCSD and RCSD can operate as they do with smaller admin staff, then there's no reason that JPS can't to the same. However, JPS cannot do it with the current leadership structure in place. The Guv just needs to go ahead and sign the takeover order and place somebody in charge that will absolutely clean the admin house from top to bottom. Retain only those that are truly interested in working and righting the ship. A half-ass takeover effort will not work, and JPS will be right back in the same boat if that's what happens. Guv Phil has a real opportunity here to do something for the benefit of the JPS students. If he finds a way to punt to avoid the state takeover, then shame on him!!

If these stats are true then JPS is in need of some administrative restructuring- not going to disagree there. However, I fundamentally disagree with the idea of some outside entity coming in and taking local control away. Under no circumstance will we buy in to the idea that state bureaucrats better understand our community and the specific needs of our children. Can JPS be more efficient? Absolutely, but so can every other school district in one way or another.

People are not seeing the real picture.
It is simple. It takes 959 people from Jackson to do the same job as 116 people in Rankin and 156 people in Desoto can do.
Jackson has been complaining about all of the people leaving Jackson. Looks like it is mostly the people who can and will work that has left.
The remaining people in Jackson cannot and are not willing to work.
The paperwork shows the truth. It takes 7 people from Jackson to do the same work as 1 person in Rankin and Desoto county.

I, for one, sure am glad the right people moved out of Jackson and into Rankin county.
Too bad Jackson. You are left with the scrubs.

Good question @9:44 a.m., because a closed minded reader would believe that of the number reported they all have lucrative salaries. Surely, the number includes classified staff, that make close to minimum wage or certified staff that make the state average.

So, Pulley comes in and replaces the lucrative positions with her friends/associates and problem solved. Look how well the MDE has done with money management and helping the little children by misappropriating $7.6 million from the Century 21 program that provided after school programs. But wait that's okay because they fired three scapegoats and reportedly restored that money to the districts. So, the students only went without how long?

In situations like this, entrenched "retired on duty" staff have to be augmented by people who are actually capable of performing the work. Also, when protected classes cause issues and leadership is afraid to hold them accountable, additional staff need to be added to make sure the essential work gets done.

In my experience when non-productive employees or troublemakers are catered to because management doesn't want to make waves, roster numbers become bloated and turnover increases as newer employees become frustrated and find other jobs.

I would assume these employment numbers do not include consultants. Whatever happen to the proposed Eric Stringfellow consultant contract?

Inquiring minds want to know, KF.

Have you ever had any dealings with a JPS administrator. They are never there; they don't return calls; and when you do finally talk to them they lie.

I would like to see the travel budgets of the admin staff at JPS. Bet they spend a lot of quality time ($$$) getting educated at out of state conferences.

ALL THIS CRAZY BULLSHIT TALK IS THE EXACT REASON JACKSON IS WHERE IT IS TODAY !!!!!

Nothing is going to change unless the community comes together and get's rid of ALL the assholes we put in office and that will never happen.

I strongly suggest everyone in Jackson city limits "ABANDON SHIP" and let the chips fall where they may---get out before it's to late!!!!

The people in charge now learned by watching the previous leadership who learned from the previous leadership and so on. It did not just start recently.

Look at our state. We have the highest percentage of government employment in the country. We are #1. Its not just decocratic leaning cities and counties. Come on KF, compare our governmental employment to surrounding states.

Before our state takes over JPS, maybe we should petition for Alabama or Tennessee to take our state over.

I've been trying for months to get in touch with the "CFO" and she has not returned one of my phone calls or emails and she was the one who contacted me. They all live in a dream world---they have spent hundreds of thousand dollars on projects that have not materialized and did not make any sense to start with. I'm Black and we never had these problems when "WHITEY" was in control---the truth is the truth !!!!

There are two rooms here, each with it's own elephant. In the student's room the elephant is Poverty. Black or white, kids from poverty stricken homes will have problems getting a good education, and poverty stricken neighborhoods and districts will have problems retaining their tax base for school funding. In the administrator's room the elephant is Race, and that's one big elephant that no one will take on. The Othors of the world make race, not competence, the major qualifying issue for new hires, but it's a slap in the face to the kids to send the signal that they can't learn from people who don't look like them.

No one should expect significant improvement in the JPS as long as those elephants are allowed to remain in the rooms unchallenged.

I truly hope the state takes over just to observe the state fail JPS even worse. Why doesn't Kingfish provide Charter school statistics? This is mainly the system that will benefit from the takeover.

Taking a paycheck from JPS and producing these results is a sin.

What if they break the school district up into two districts?

12:05,

Then we will have Two sets of crooks---I promise you, there is no way to solve this problem---EVER !!!!

Those of you that think there is hope for Jackson are insane---I've lived here for 75 years and watched it decline to the condition it is in now. ZERO CHANCE !!!!!! Again, "ABANDON SHIP".

12:05, breaking the district into two districts will only double the nonsense that is going on in the one district. What would be the betterment to double the number of administration and half the work? That is the problem we have right now.
Adding more admin will just make the job worse. It will make many of the friends of administrators very happy. More useless people doing absolutely nothing except cashing a pay check.

Great idea, 12:05
Then, they can double up on administrative personnel!
Why didn't they think of that before?

"Bloated because of integration 55 years ago"? Illogical, false, unsupportable, scapegoating, rhetorically inane.

"Finding people who will support the notion that integration is necessary..." Yada Yada. I think what you mean is we need thousands of white parents who are willing to sacrifice their first, second and third-born to an experimental education paradigm at Jackson Public Schools. Whatever else might you have meant?

So, we accept the fact that this is an employment agency, busting at the seams with fat and greed, but necessary because of desegregation over half a century ago and the way to make it work is by pouring thousands of unsuspecting white children into the mix to melt the pot up to a position of fair or mediocre rather than failing and poor. I see how some people think.

On Facebook, Whats Cooking Mississippi there is a guy always posting the food he has prepared for the schools, staff meeting and etc for JPS and we only could wish we could eat that good. As he talks he does this all week and 45 weeks of the year.

@11:27 probably because they were a D.

@12:05 why not dissolve the district and place ALL of the students in the successful surrounding districts? Not just the athletes. Please don't place them in separate classrooms together like Hinds county does. Oh wait, Dr. Wright said if they have room. So, we want to help them but keep them where they are and put a bandage on it.

@11:16 when 'whitey' was in charge the community and tax base was different. He ran when the rental properties increased and HUD vouchers were accepted everywhere.

@11:58 the state of Mississippi should be ashamed of themselves for not providing adequate oversight and allowing it to get to this point, with every district they have allowed to fail for years prior to declaring extreme emergencies. So, a D was okay for the poor districts for years but when they hit F, we better do something. If a successful district dropped not by level but points, the state would be having conversations and parents would be demanding answers.

Mississippi has been and always will be Mississippi

How much do the white Republicans pay you for every one of these JPS hate stories?

KF,

Why won't you post my lengthy rant from about an hour ago?

@ September 29, 2017 at 1:29 PM

This Is Flat Damned Crazy Nonsense.. said... - another closet bigot that lives to bitch and deny's the inception of the problem.

When someone says "Yada Yada" to integration - I can say it's safe to assume you are one of the white co-workers that live in Rankin County that pow wows with the other whites up the hallway in the workplace ;-)

But that's o.k. though - you are what you are and I can tell by your flippant disregard for the point, that integration is of no importance to you. You have the overseer mentality that has branded this state for far too long and your future punishment will be seeing your own children answering to those you find intellectually inferior.

Stay alive in your bigotry!

@ 1:29 there are some other races with money that have students that don't attend JPS. As there are white children hidden in private schools because they have learning deficits or behavior problems i.e. Education Center and New Summit. I bet if you ask the successful districts about the racial makeup and testing, you would also be shocked to see that white children also score low and not just the black children.

It's obvious how you think...home grown I'm sure

1:06 For over 20 years the United States sent over 50,000 of it's young men to die in the most senseless war you can imagine, is in the process of sending thousands to the middle east to die for causes that any sane person would probably deem hopeless and most of us supported that or are supporting that crap. Viet Nam, the middle east, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc. they're all worth dying for BUT Jackson Mississippi is hopeless and we should abandon it. Damn, this is amazing.

How do you teach kids whose parents are largely ignorant and unable to assist?

It requires a whole new method.

Schools have to become almost like homes.

Gone are summers and the Like.

To change what we have requires radical thought and action.

One certainly can't claim that JPS is an "integrated" school district.

80% or so of the kids in Jackson are born to unwed mothers. Start recognizing what that means in terms of development and readiness for school. It means you have to make changes starting in elementary school.

Screw this after school programs and crap. Make a full school day last until four or five in the afternoon. Period. If you want to make the afternoon more arts and sports oriented, fine. But those kids need to be in a structured, stable environment that is conducive to learning the majority of the day. The KIPP schools do this and are having success with it. No such thing as bad troops, just bad leaders.

@2:10 Absolutely there are white children in majority white school districts that are failing to meet the standards set forth but the school district as a whole is passing. JPS is 96% black and the WHOLE district is failing. JPS is hiding exceptional students in an entire district that is failing. Either improve the whole JPS district or send the exceptional students somewhere they have a chance to be among other students who perform well. Join society and quit the black vs white bullshit.

@5:37 it's interesting that you would jump on the black/ white bullshit with the idea of under performing white students, especially after @1:29 posed the idea of sacrificing white children to save JPS. I guess you missed that preparing your it's not a race issue response. So, again send them to a district as a whole that's passing.

You pretend to want what's best for all students when you have perimeters to what that looks like. Of course you want the exceptional students, so does JPS. Take the violent parents/students; students that come to school only to sell drugs; disruptive students that refuse to comply; a fraction of the students that parents are taking to quacks for rulings solely for the purpose of financial gain and see what happens to those districts.

So, what happens to 959 people, if the state takes over? Is the state required to keep them on the dole? I would assume making changes, would start with cutting the fat........and reallocating resources.

Went to Hattiesburg High in the 80's. Was a top rated school based on National Merit Finalists. "Whitey" and whitey's money moved to Lamar County in the 90's. Now Hattiesburg High is a F-rated school. Identical to what happened at Murrah years before. It's a pattern. When the parents who actually care about their kids' education and security leave the district and take their money with them, the school district is doomed to fail. The only thing left is a financial opportunity for those who remain.

@kingfish

You’re betting an awful lot of MDE’s audit being accurate. MDE who can’t keep purchasing paperwork. MDE who rushed through this.

Have you requested a list of central office personnel yourself?

Do you really think JPS has 10x more? Think about the logistics of that for a minute.

I’d check that number. Like today.

JPS is a plantation. Race aside, plain and simple, by logical definition, it's a plantation. The only possible exception is the absence of discipline. You don't mess with somebody's plantation.

The student 'scholars' are the field hands and all the rest are on the porch fanning themselves. At the end of the day, the folks on the porch will move off the plantation and relax with their PERS checks. Tell me what becomes of the field hands?

8:04 thanks for telling us what the P in JPS stands for.
Now that you brought it up I agree. There are too many setting on the porch.
We do not need any more field hands. But as long as the porch is so crowded that is all we will get out of Jackson Plantation Schools.

I have taught in JPS. It's a mess. The state should call in the national guard, suspend kids without worrying about being sued by the ACLU/Southern Poverty Law Center/what have you, and seriously punish the people behind the nepotism in JPS.

The state should look at JPS applications and emails, and see how bad the nepotism is. I bet there are a good number of Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Millsaps grads that were passed up for jobs by SWAC grads.

I used to be taunted by students a lot. Occasionally I would write the kids up, but rarely did they ever get punished. I was told on one occasion that I should never write students up. I had been told on another occasion that Central Office told our school and others that we couldn't suspend anymore students.

I had students who knew very little i.e. they didn't know stuff that you would typically learn in a way similar to learning your primary language/just giving a crap about the world around you. I think the average St. Andrew's, JA, and FPDS 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are more mature and know more than about half the teenagers I taught in JPS; yet one time JPS hung up this banner near my class that stated one of the characteristics of a JPS grad is having a 21 ACT. I saw the ACT scores (maybe practice ACT) for the students at my school. I remember maybe 10 kids having a 20 or higher, and that's high balling it.

I could go on and on.

Now wait for the Murrah, Spann, Bailey, Davis, and McWillie people to say how great JPS is. In other words, the people that are clueless to the culture of Forest Hill, Lanier, Wingfield, Whitten, etc.

Mission Accomplished!

What does the average teacher make in each district?

Does the central office have 950 chairs for the bloated staff to sit on ? Do any of them sit as home and collect a check ?