Jackson Jambalaya

The business community be damned. That's only the place where jobs are. What good is a person who offers jobs, knows the demands of industry and sees first hand the benefits and pitfalls of training an educated workforce?

We need these boards to be populated with degreed people with experience in bureaucratic minutia, securing grants and attending breakout sessions.

Sivak is a longtime member of the We Need Mo' Mo' Mo' Money Chorus. There is no substantive difference between Sivak and Oppenheim.

Phil Bryant owns this.

Y'all know this is illegal right? I not saying it's not worth trying but, some kind of legislation needs to passed quickly. They will find out as soon as someone doesn't get their way.

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic....

How is any of this different than the Board that resigned? No business leaders. Smoke and mirrors. I mean they even kept one of the previous Board Members. Phil owns this one 100%.

ROFLMAO Noooowwwww our local Obama BabyChok is telling the State what he wants as far as the next Fair Commission Exec Dir.

8:06 PM -- What's illegal?

The board resigned, the state and city came to an agreement... and they appointed new board members who were ratified by the city council.

Which part, exactly, is illegal -- and when you come back with something, be sure to cite MS Code or USC... otherwise, repeat after me "... I don't know what I'm talking about".

So JPS still gets all the money they need from our property taxes while churning out students who can't function in society. This is a travesty. It may or may not be illegal but Phil found out a way for the state not to be responsible. There may be an ulterior motive behind this and that's to see this set up fail. If that's the case then We can all say the minority controlled district is not capable of making it work. Then we can say "we told you so!"

Let’s give them a chance! You people are so quick to criticize, jeeze.

It's illegal alright, because their is no legal statue that allows them to avoid takeover by doing this. Just wait Wright and the Board of Education still have the last say whether you like it or not. They should have been taken over. It's a waste of time and money and just wait they don't need anyone's approval to place them in the Achievement District were they belong. The courts will eventually decide this and the Board of Education will win a summary judgement.

While I think it is good to have someone who has knowledge of children's problems in our society and a retired teacher, I'm not sure that the other two will bring needed expertise.
I do not think " successful" businessmen bring the needed expertise either. Running a for profit business is not the same kind of system. And, if they are "successful", I doubt they've been in a school expect for parent teacher night, sports, or fund raising much since they graduated. And, if they are successful now , they are often too far removed from the "nuts and bolts" when they began in business and which have changed dramatically in the computer age.
I'd like to have seen someone with experience in forensic accounting and finance instead or someone retired from the Auditor's office.
I would also like to see someone in marketing or conflict resolution as I'm not sure " communications" is helpful unless it's technical communications which would be useful for systemic efficiency and consistency.
An education professor who focuses on educational systems and which ones function best would be useful.
A commercial contractor or commercial engineer would be useful.
In short, identify the problems and find folks who know how to solve those kind of problems.
If you want system controls so that money is not misspent and there are no hires based on " who you know", you need those who already know what controls work in a organized structure.
But, the goal for me is that the children learn rather than money first.

I agree with 8:06. There is no legislation to support this commission. These approved members may not be ratified unless there is legislative authority. The commission is illegal and thus the approved members are null and void. Mississippi needs to get this right. This means starting with proper legislation to authorize this commission. It is a para-commission.

Why don't they put that crazy retired school teacher lady on the board? You know. The one that said Rankin county may put "persin in dat water". In Jackson's wastewater that is. That would be perfect.

This is the hottest potato nobody wants to catch.

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Disaster
4. Search for the guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Praise and honors for the non-participants

The occupation of school board members is pretty irrelevant. It's all about their philosophy and expectations of the educational process. The occupation does not guarantee the personal philosophy of the candidate. If the mayor would question and investigate each candidate beforehand and eliminate all but those who absolutely insist on the highest possible standard regardless of who it hurts, JPS will become a good district. The first item would be selection of a leader who does not give a damn about popularity or political advancement. He/she would be a cross between Gen Patton and Booker T. Washington. A lot of people would lose their jobs, a lot of so-called parents would be pissed off, and a lot of kids would be faced with demotion and expulsion, but the district would improve and the city will be better off. But these require hard tough leadership willing to risk the short term ire of super sensitive voters. Such leadership is rare in Jackson, in Mississippi, and in the U.S. but it's out there somewhere...

I hope this can be fixed, but it seems that we are trying to do the same thing that has always been done & expect different results. These kids deserve better than all of the appeasement politics involved in this. It is going to take someone with a heavy hand that can come in & clean house. The way things are done & what is considered acceptable needs to change, but I doubt the community will accept any change.

9;52 This community will accept what it MUST accept. Always has. It's the alternatives offered to maintain the status quo presented by ambitious politicians that ruin Mississippi. People will adjust to change when they have no choice. You would be surprised how well they do it.

I'll reserve judgement until I see plans, either from the Commission or the State. The only data we have is that the State wanted to takeover, and the locals wanted to maintain control. Neither has put out any real plans for change and progress. So, neither had a firm ground to stand on in an argument about who should be in control. Perhaps if there were plans that either side could have championed, then I would be much more confident that positive change was coming for the children in JPS.

The MURC at JSU has published a report noting that as much as 60% of a district's school rating can be explained by its poverty rate, as measured by free and reduced lunch rates. This tells me that we as a community may be reading too much into a school rating in terms of assessing educational quality of a school/district. The rating seems to be more indicative of social-economic demographics than real educational excellence for all students. That point cannot be ignored, especially when every "A" rated district in the state is in a residentially segregated suburb while every "F" rated district is comprised mostly of poor, black students in poor, black communities. I raise this point to note that perhaps the main goal of JPS needs to be more than a certain grade on a state rating scale, but how well the students are prepared to lead Jackson in the 21st Century world of work, economics and democracy.

I consider that report to be a joke. It completely ignores financial information. The truth is, the poorer school districts spend more money and waste more money. The so-called richer school districts are actually more efficient and spend less money per student.

However, don't expect a bunch of academic types to study the finances, as usual.

How does spending have anything to do with addressing poverty? It's a fact that if you are poor you have a harder time learning, you it's the same in the A and B districts.Look at the lower ranked schools in those districts and compare the economic status of the students. The majority will be at the lower end. More spending by the school board doesn't change that.

Hey 12:52 and 2:02 Clinton... Clinton... Clinton... Majority black. Not affluent.
A District. Explain it away.

I am talking about poverty,in Mississippi it rubs everybody. One could argue that the black middle class is equal in size to the white middle class.No one can deny that the majority of the students in the JPS system live in Poverty.

Back to the appointments. If those appointed had been from the private sector, had experience meeting a Friday payroll, had been involved in employee training using the Community Colleges and had worked for years to develop a workforce, the folk in Jackson, the JPS leaders and the so-called community leaders would be raising holy hell. Can't have those types on our board since they've not been down for the struggle and their goal is not employing relatives and spending large sums of money. And they are not the type people, typically, who float around mayors like flies and bring votes in.