Tuesday, August 3, 2021

MDE Recommends Holmes County Schools Takeover

 The Mississippi Department of Education issued the following statement. 

The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) determined today that an extreme emergency situation exists in the Holmes County Consolidated School District. Acting on a recommendation from the Mississippi Commission on School Accreditation, the SBE voted to ask Gov. Tate Reeves to declare a state of emergency for the school district.

The Holmes County Consolidated School District (HCCSD) has significant issues that jeopardize the safety, security and educational interests of the children enrolled in its schools. The district is in violation of 26 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 Holmes County Consolidated School District (HCCSD), which the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) conducted after the district reported severe financial issues. The MDE conducted the full investigative audit of all schools in HCCSD from April 27, 2021 – July 23, 2021. The MDE conducted the full investigative audit because historically, districts that have faced serious financial issues have also had numerous accreditation violations.

MDE appointed a financial adviser for the district on April 15 after the Office of the State Auditor issued the State Board a “disclaimer of opinion” letter. In that event, state law requires the state superintendent of education to direct the school district to immediately cease all expenditures until a financial adviser is appointed by the state superintendent. The financial adviser oversees the district’s finances.

The SBE determined an emergency exists because HCCSD has serious violations of federal and state law and accreditation standards, serious concerns regarding financial resources, inappropriate standards of governance, and a continued pattern of poor academic performance as related to the issues of noncompliance for the HCCSD.

“State law requires the Board to intervene when conditions in a district reach a crisis level that jeopardizes the safety, security and educational interests of students,” said Rosemary Aultman, SBE chair. “Every student in the Holmes County Consolidated School District deserves a safe, secure and high-quality learning environment; therefore, the Board has carried out its responsibility.”

A state of emergency would make HCCSD 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 HCCSD 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 HCCSD after the declaration, followed by evening meetings with parents and community leaders. The SBE requested the governor declare a state of emergency immediately. The SBE’s request will expire after August 17, 2021.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's have a study. But, put that off until the legislature is in session. What's one more year in the life of a student in Durant?

Anonymous said...

"Extreme emergency situation"... does that call for double secret probation, similar that punishment embellished in Animal House?

Anonymous said...

Come on folks we know what the problem is. But don’t even hint anything around the truth because Kingfish will not post it. It’s his blog so it’s his rules. A shame really. No backbone.

Anonymous said...

Bus half of Holmes school kids to Madison schools and half to Rankin schools.

Increase funding from closing all Holmes schools and fired teachers.

Anonymous said...

7:03 - where's your backbone? Why did you post Anonymously? Why don' you start your own blog and tell us what you mean instead of hiding your identity and opinion? Talk in code much? Must be that jellyfish spine you have.

Anonymous said...

@7:57, @7:03 likely posted anonymously for the same reason you did.

Anonymous said...

@7:03 is correct but KF has allowed Robert L. “Bob” Woodson’s (an African American and one of the original Civil Rights activists) quotes to be posted:

In the past 50 years, 22 TRILLION HAS BEEN SPENT ON POVERTY PROGRAMS.

70% GOES NOT TO THE POOR, BUT THOSE WHO SERVE POOR PEOPLE.

So many of those people taking office use this money to create a class of people who are running these cities.

Now after 50 years of liberal Democrats running the inner cities where we have all of these inequities that we have, RACE IS BEING USED AS A RUSE, AS A MEANS OF DEFLECTING ATTENTION AWAY from critical questions such as why are poor blacks failing in systems run by their own people, if race was an issue.”

Anonymous said...

People like Melvin hide behind racism as a root cause for poverty, crime, decay, depravity, all manner of social ills. In that way, the Melvins can avoid having to own the modern democrat plantation culture.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever investigated the amount of deficit resulting from tax cuts 8:31? Or back bank bail outs? An honest accounting might surprise you. But Fox News quickly trashed the GOP candidate whose platform included auditing the Fed and the Pentagon. Likewise CNN trashed the Democratic candidate with the same plans. Doesn't that sound fishy?

Anonymous said...

"Bus half of Holmes school kids to Madison schools and half to Rankin schools.
Increase funding from closing all Holmes schools and fired teachers."

So what do you have against Madison and Rankin County to tank their ratings. Send a bunch to CPSD as well.

Anonymous said...

"@7:57, @7:03 likely posted anonymously for the same reason you did." Here here, that's why my chicken ass posts anonymously. Bahkah.

Anonymous said...

@11:12, not sure why you’re asking these questions in response to Mr. Bob Woodson pointing out that Democrats have been running cities into the ground for decades, then playing the race card to deflect from their grotesque failures; but I’m game!

Re tax cuts I would argue that spending is the problem but let’s have it your way and say we need to increase taxes – will you join me in the logical approach of taxing the wealthy?

Now by wealthy I don’t mean that horse shit you hear from liars like Robert Reich, AOC, Bernie Sanders, Pocahontas Warren, et al; I mean really tax the wealthy – Gates, Buffet, et al and start by busting up their scam foundations that are designed to avoid estate taxes and pay stipends/allowances to generations of rich silver spooners like the Rockefellers, Kennedy’s, et al.

In other words, lets really tax the rich and start with an unavoidable estate tax; 65% okay with you?


Re: the bank bail outs - you have absolutely no F’ing clue how much you’re preaching to the choir. So, I’m with you, but if you think the bank bail outs were a scam, you should do some research on the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) - that no journalist, including those with their articles regularly posted on the site, has the guts to report on.

Lastly, the Federal Reserve is a thief system that uses currency devaluation and fake/non-free market interest rates to steal from common folk that have saved their entire lives – so rich people like Buffet and Gates can leave another billion to their kids, and their kids kids, on so on.

Anonymous said...

When this happened in other districts, the current Super and staff stay on payroll, keep their perks like smartphones and vehicles. It is all about the School district being the biggest employer in the county. Election fraud out in the open. School boards with long terms and staggered elections to prevent change, qualified teachers passed over to hire non degreed connected people. Pattern of Principal having family their own children employed is common in Mississippi. Improvement do not even cost as much money, but like small Canton and larger Jackson the blockers are the power players. end of rant.

Truth Isn't Racist said...

Name one of these 'taken over', failing or near failing schools that has:

a) A white superintendent

b) A majority white school board

c) A majority white teacher corps

d) A majority white student population

e) At least 30% two-parent households

It's all about common denominators. Even Kingfish, ever in denial, knows it.

Anonymous said...

Serious questions for 9:07.

Can you name one predominantly white school district that is failing at all the same markers that put Holmes on the radar?

And do you want the state to look the other way and let the predominantly black districts continue to decline and not give those kids the same standard of education that predominantly white areas get?

How is this not a win for Holmes students if they are forced to conform to minimum regulations?

Unless...you are on the payroll of the neglectful admins?


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