Rosemary G. Aultman, Chairwoman of the Mississippi State Board of Education, submitted the following column.
What Constitutes a State of Emergency in a School District?
Members of the Mississippi State Board of Education have received numerous questions about the Board’s determination on Sept. 14 that a state of emergency exists in the Jackson Public School District. Citing the state law that outlines the three possible reasons for declaring a state of emergency will hopefully provide clarity as to the Board's actions. Any one of these three conditions constitute an emergency situation:
1. The Board determines an extreme emergency exists in a school district that jeopardizes the safety, security, or the educational interests of the children enrolled in the district, and the emergency situation is believed to be related to a serious violation or violations of accreditation standards or state or federal law.
2. A school district meets the Board’s definition of a failing district for two consecutive years. Districts that receive an F rating are considering failing.
3. More than 50 percent of the schools within the school district are designated as Schools At-Risk in any one year. Schools that are rated F are considered Schools-At-Risk.
Board members used the first condition described above to make the determination that an emergency exists in JPS. The decision was based on the findings of a comprehensive investigative audit of every school in the district and testimony provided by Mississippi Department of Education officials and Jackson Public Schools leadership. The Board is confident the correct determination was made about the current condition of the Jackson Public Schools.
Gov. Phil Bryant is now considering the Board’s formal request to declare a state of emergency in the district. Due to the magnitude of the decision the Governor faces, the Board understands and appreciates the steps he is taking to deliberate carefully and to hear from key stakeholders before making his final determination. Gov. Bryant also has stated publicly that he plans to wait until statewide school and district letter grades are released on Oct. 19 before making his final decision. The statewide school and district letter grades will be based on students’ academic progress and performance during the 2016-17 school year.
State law provides a safety net to help students in districts where there is a history of systematic failure and where there is a demonstrated need for support. The State Board of Education’s decision to petition the governor to declare a state of emergency came after intense and careful consideration of all the information presented. The Board, too, recognizes the weight of the decision made on Sept. 14. The Board’s focus is always centered on the student, and in the end, the decision came down to what is best for the thousands of students in the Jackson Public Schools.
Students in Jackson Public Schools are as intelligent and creative as the students in any other public school in our state and they deserve every opportunity to be prepared to pursue their goals and dreams for college, career and life. That is the fundamental principle of Education.
24 comments:
Anyone with the interest of the children at heart and any knowledge of the condition of JPS would agree that the "state of emergency" status has been reached. The remaining issue is the Dept. of Education's ability/resources to correct the situation. Changing leadership is great, if it is a progressive change. The people of Jackson are skeptical of State government (I wonder why?) and are likely to resist, so the governor would be right to be cooperative rather than heavy-handed. After all, no administration of JPS is going to be successful until parental and community involvement is increased and sustained.
Of the three conditions, the Board chose the first one to determine the takeover. Nowhere in that first condition does it mention grades. Yet Governor Phil is going to wait and see what the grades look like before making his decision. Does that make sense?
10:38, regarding your last sentence---that will never never happen---it will only get worse. PROVEN FACT !!!!!
Chairman Aultman is a fair and honest person. Long history of supporting public education and working to help children learn. She will want nothing but to do the right thing.
Does the Guv think these schools won't doctor the grades to protect their unneeded jobs.
11:20, the second and third item cited by Mayor Aultman directly relate to the school's grades. Granted, the BOE only found that the first condition existed; but if after the October meeting the first, second and third condition all exist, then any questions about the propriety of the BOE's determination on #1 will become moot - #2 and 3 are not subject to any subjective determination.
If #2 and 3 do not come into play by mid-October, then the issue for the Governor will only be a determination about the determination regarding safety et.al. Since the answer to #2 and 3 is imminent, might as well wait for the answer to those issues as well.
The gov'ner is looking for any excuse to not have to make a hard decision. If he can find a way to punt this, he will.
Does anyone on this blog care what the people of Jackson want? You are in such a hurry to take power and decision making away from the people who's children actually attend JPS schools. I say put this up for a vote and let the good citizens of Jackson decide if they want the state's help via takeover.
1:24 *whose
Justice for Trolling....
JPS is always in such a hurry to take tax dollars and ask for more from Jackson residents whose children do not attend JPS. Let them vote where they want their tax dollars to go.
@ justice for travon...
I live in Jackson and I'm certainly for a state takeover. Of course my 3 kids don't attend JPS bc it's a awful district and I want my kids around more diversity than JPS offers. I can assure you that many people in NE Jackson area would welcome a change at JPS as this is the piggy bank of the city anyway and we can't access out own public schools. Stop with your whining about the people of Jackson comments. Ask the tax base NE Jackson since they pay the bills.
10:38 If you can't trust the State, who can you trust?
This is a no win for anyone... other than those that have already pocketed BIG TIME money to manage this issue entirely. They should be fired and charged with embezzlement and gross incompetence at minimum. Now I (as a state taxpayer) have to fund the bailout/takeover and fund the new administration again.
Sick of this - All I hear is we need more money for education (for the children). That not it at all. That's all BS. The facts are the children who are raise to give d@mn are getting the money we provide for them now. It goes to overpaid nobody's - people who may have 100+ certificates (self printed mind-you) to wave around saying they took the tests and passed but, can't administer their @$$ off the pot.
The kids are suffering but, its the Dept of Education SYSTEM and internal buddies that's failing them - not my reluctance to seen more money to DoE! Its time to turn over the DoE to more people with actual experience and less certificates. Think about farmers, builders, and other physical laborers coming in running it... its a cakewalk for them to get to the core of the problem in minutes.. they don't have all day and they want to do something else after they are done. Not go get more certificates!!!
Fed Up!
In reply to 12:05..... The Board needed only one of the three conditions to be found. They have found that in condition number one. That's a done deal in the opinion of the Board. As for conditions number two and three, that were not required to be met, lets suppose each and every student in the JPS system has his or her grade "manipulated" upwards by only one letter. The F's become a D and so on. You'll wind up with a bunch of D students, lesser C and B students, and finally, unless they get the short end of the stick, a few hundred Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude students that you just can't explain the number of with regard to the number of schools in the system. And when it's all said and done, the Board has still found condition number one to be the reason for the takeover.
Obviously Miz Aultman chose to post above as anonymous, at least once.
As for Jughead For Tiresome; Are you nuts? Hold on! No need to answer.
You also need to understand that one does not have to reside inside the city of Jackson to understand the harm that continuing the status quo will do to this entire state. But there's no way to involve you in an exercise requiring that high level of critical thinking.
This matter is not a State vs. JPS; it is a matter of preparing students to function as adults with enough sense to open bank accounts and purchase homes and become productive citizens capable of enjoying life. People who are not educated do not do well in this role and suffer their entire lives. When the farm was the main source of income, a minimum education had to serve many. This is no longer true. I pray for our students and I pray for our city. It is to everyone's benefit to have an educated populace.
Aultman should be in the governors mansion instead of the MDE board. She has more sense that Bryant and Tato Nut combined
MDE is not much better than JPS. A better solution would be to just convert all of the JPS schools to charter schools immediately. It is ridiculous to think that a parallel school system with the enormous costs of duplicate facilities will cause the inferior school to improve. Otherwise, the MS private schools would have already accomplished that outcome. Watch "Waiting for Superman" to see the effect on the child and parent when there is no room in the better (charter) school.
6:41, the grades are already in the can. The grade for JPS was for 2016-2017, the grade was established prior to the BOE mtg. In fact, it was mentioned during the hearing but JPS objected saying it was "preliminary" and not public at that time. So your concept that JPS could manipulate the grades is by borrowing your black helicopter just ain't going to happen.
Pass the popcorn.
JPS is top heavy and full of crooks.
They need to be taken over. I have a good idea. Lets replace them with another group.
Another top heavy group with too many crooks.
Great, Rosemary. You stood by while MDE violated state law again and again in order to funnel taxpayer money to America-hating anarchists and didn't even notice. Did you think the position was honorary? Just great, Rosemary.
Rosemary can Jabber-Jabber with the best of 'em. Wonder where she learned the art? She's eloquent, persuasive and knows lots of interesting words and has a fair grasp of sentence structure. She's actually the DeKeither Stamps of the Board. Both of them have distinguished themselves of stringing together lots of words and actually, in the long run, saying not much of anything. But, anyway...
Sounds like the State Board of Education needs to be taken over from what's now unfolding. Who on earth is minding the people's money? Seriously! Where are the adults? Who's in charge?
Can someone provide a link to the process of appointing people to the State Board, how that happens, who appoints and for what term. Nothing is mentioned on the State Education Department website. And hopefully the link, if anybody can provide it, might address who hires the State Superintendent and whether they have the authority to fire. Thanks.
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