Jackson Jambalaya

Attorneys have done quite well representing the Jackson Public School District. JJ obtained through a public records request invoices and contracts for school board attorney Dorian Turner and JPS District Counsel Joanne Sheppard. What is interesting is the district has both a lawyer who is an employee and an attorney who represents the school board. Most districts have one or the other but not both.

Ms. Turner sent invoices of $237,836 since January 2010 to JPS. Here are the fees as stated on the invoices*:

Then Interim Superintendent Jayne Sargent of the Jackson Public School District promoted her son to the position of Executive Director of Research, Evaluation and Assessment only a few days before she left office on June 30, 2012. Dr. Jason Sargent was the principal at Rowan Middle School.

JJ obtained through a public records request a copy of Dr. Sargent's contract. The contract states Dr. Sargent is paid $86,355 for one year. The term of the contract expires on June 28, 2013 and started on July 2, 2012.  July 2 was the first day Dr. Cedric Grey began his term as Superintendent of JPS. Jayne Sargent signed the contract on June 27, 2012. Her term expired on July 1. Press release announcing his appointment.

Editorial comment: That was the news, now for the opinion. Dr. Sargent gives her son a nice fat promotion with a nice fat salary to a nice fat position at Jackson Public Schools just a few days before she leaves office. I will leave the question as to whether this violates any nepotism laws to more learned people. Keep it up Superintendents. When the legislature clips your wings next year, you will have no one to blame but yourselves.

JJ just reviewed the No Child Left Behind report cards for Jackson Public School District for the 2010-2011 school year. The top high school and middle school were only rated "Successful" again, while the remainder were Academic Watch, Low Performing, or At Risk of Failing. One high school and two middle schools improved one level while one high school improved two levels. Five middle schools declined by one level.


High Schools*
Wingfield: Academic Watch (At Risk of Failing)
Provine: Low Performing (At Risk of Failing)
Lanier: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Forest Hill: Successful (Successful)
Bailey Magnet: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Callaway: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Jim Hill: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Murrah: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)

Middle Schools
Blackburn: Low performing (Academic Watch
Brinkley: Low performing (Academic Watch)
Cardozo: Low performing (NA)
Chastain: Successful (Academic Watch)
Hardy: Low performing (Academic Watch)
Kirksey: Low performing (NA)
Northwest: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Peeples: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Powell: Academic Watch (At risk of failing)
Rowan: Academic Watch (Successful)
Siwell: Academic Watch (Academic Watch)
Whitten: Failing (At risk of failing)

*Prior year rating is in parenthesis. The latest report cards can be found here.

This poor schmuck from Waste Management doesn't have a clue. The JPS school board awarded a $837,933 contract to competitor NCS/Waste Pro a few weeks ago. Waste Management served the district for the last three years. In case this guy didn't notice, he didn't have a chance. Good service. Lowest bid by over $50,000. No price increase for three years. Experience, good service, and lowest price. Didn't have a chance and poor guy didn't even know it. See the video below.

Jackson Jambalaya reviewed the 2009* audits of the school districts in the Jackson metro area. There are few surprises. For example, Rankin and Canton spent nearly the same amount of money on instructional costs per student (Teachers salaries) yet have different results on the report cards. One disturbing trend: the majority-black districts consistently ranked the highest in administrative costs while the majority-white ones usually ranked the lowest. One interesting fact was most of the schools spent within $250 per student on instructional costs. Another interesting fact was Rankin spent the lowest on general administration costs per student, $211, and did not even spend half the amount per student spent by the leader, Hinds. Despite all the criticism leveled at the Rankin County School District for being "top-heavy", the audits reveal it probably does the best job in the area of keeping administrative costs down. Here are the rankings. Read and weep.

Total cost per student:
1. Madison: $10,296 (High performing)
2. JPS: $9,848 (Academic watch)
3. Hinds: $9,628 (Successful)
4. Rankin: $9,661 (High performing)
5. Canton: $9,499 (At risk of failing)
6. Pearl: $8,904 (High performing)
7. Clinton: $8,802 (High performing)

Instructional cost per student:
1. Rankin: $5,631 (High performing)
2. Canton: $5,489 (At risk of failing)
3. JPS: $5,475 (Academic watch)
4. Madison: $5,381 (High performing)
5. Pearl: $5,368 (High performing)
6. Clinton: $5,219 (High performing)
7. Hinds: $4,998 (Successful)

General Administration cost per student:
1. Hinds: $517 (Successful)
2. Canton: $446 (At risk of failing)
3. Pearl: $384 (High performing)
4. JPS: $317 (Academic Watch)
5. Clinton: $278 (High performing)
6. Madison: $230 (High performing)
7. Rankin: $211 (High performing)

School Administration cost per student:
1. Rankin: $542 (High performing)
2. Canton: $518 (At risk of failing)
3. JPS: $502 (Academic Watch)
4. Hinds: $487 (Successful)
5. Clinton: $484 (High performing)
6. Pearl: $439 (High performing)
7. Madison: $428 (High performing)

Other costs per student:
1. Madison: $4,877 (High performing)
2. Hinds: $3,626 (Successful)
3. JPS: $3,555 (Academic watch)
4. Rankin: $3,277 (High performing)
5. Canton: $3,046 (At risk of failing)
6. Clinton: $2,821 (High performing)
7. Pearl: $2,713 (High performing)

*I used the 2009 audits because JPS has not provided any more recent audits to the auditor's office and didn't want to get into apples v. oranges. When more recent JPS audits become available, I will update the rankings. Data was taken from audits published by the State Auditor on his website. The information is found on pages 50's and 60's in the audits, after the federal funding table.

The House Education Committee is scheduled to vote on a charter schools bill tomorrow and sure enough, here comes the gnashing of teeth from the Clarion-Ledger, Dr. George Schimmel, and Nancy Loome. While they writhe in agony over the thought of anyone but them approaching the altar of public schools, perhaps we should take a look at how well public schools are performing in Jackson.

JJ reviewed the report cards provided by the Department of Education on its website and found there are few bright spots in the Jackson public school system. Check out the data for yourself and I warn you: it's not pretty.

Elementary Schools (33)
Star: 2
High Performing: 7
Successful: 6
Academic Watch: 8
Low Performing:
At risk of failing: 10
Failing:

Middle Schools (9)
Star:
High Performing:
Successful: 1
Academic Watch: 6
Low Performing
At risk of failing:2
Failing

High Schools (8)
Star:
High Performing:
Successful: 1
Academic Watch: 5
Low Performing
At risk of failing: 2
Failing

% of total schools at Academic Watch or below: 66%
% of elementary schools at Academic Watch or below: 55%
% of middle & high schools at Academic Watch or below: 88%

Note: Davis Magnet is rated High Performing and Power APAC has a Star rating. I did not include those in the above descriptions as they are considered "the gifted and talented" schools. An asterisk is placed next to a school with improvement of one level from the previous year. Two asterisks means it declined by one level. The previous level is stated if the change was more than one level.

Haven't seen these results in the media, have you? David Hampton wrote several columns and blogs this year opposing charter schools. Have you seen him write one column this year, last year, or the year before telling you how bad Jackson Public Schools really are? Have you seen him mention the poor ratings of JPS? Actually provide the data? His editorial page published a column by Claiborne Barksdale last week opposing charter schools. He published an editorial opposing current charter school legislation and no less than 15 similar letters to the editor while only two supporting letters were published in the last ten days.

How many letters to the editor or guest columns has the Clarion-Ledger published about the dismal ratings of Jackson Public Schools? Where are the 15 letters criticizing the leadership of Jackson Public Schools for only having ONE middle school and ONE high school rated above academic watch? How many times have you seen the same outrage currently spent opposing charter schools aimed at the poor performance of JPS? Not once did they tell you less than 40% of the boys at Wingfield and Provine graduate in four years or that half of all boys who go to high school in Jackson public schools graduate. Not once. Did Mr. Hampton mention his wife is in charge of public relations for Jackson Public Schools? Does he disclose this fact when opposing charter school legislation or recommending how it can be "fixed"? Earlier post on graduation rates

Then there is quote by Jackson Public School Board member Dr. George Schimmel in a letter published today in the newspaper:

"The charter school bill before the Legislature is less about choice than it is about segregation. It will segregate our children into those who are at high risk to fail and those who are not." Rest of letter

Dr. Schimmel, there will not be segregation if charter schools become reality because there is segregation right now. Children attending public schools in Jackson are held in bondage to schools that are already failing and at risk. They are doomed to a life of failure by YOUR school system, Dr. Schimmel. A school system that does not teach them, does not educate them, and damn sure is not graduating them. Even the children attending George and McWillie, two star schools actually educating children who are poor and black, see that spark of education extinguished when they move on to middle school. As for race itself, the public school system is 98% black.

I've yet to see Dr. Schimmel write letters discussing the graduation rates or pitiful report cards, yet he doesn't hesitate to raise the ghost of segregation in a 98% black school system when anyone discusses charter schools. Dr. Schimmel is a moral coward, more concerned with his position on the school board than actually doing something about the problems facing Jackson Public Schools. Injecting segregation into the discussion shows his intellectual laziness and inability to get off a path that has already led to failure because the JPS school system is a failure by any standard.

I just have one question for Dr. Schimmel, David Hampton, Nancy Loome of the Parents' Campaign, Claiborne Barksdale, and the rest of the public school lobby: How do you defend the record of a public school system such as Jackson's? How can you argue with a straight face a school system that graduates from high school only half its boys should be protected from charter schools? How do you claim a school system is not segregated when it is nearly all-black with most of the secondary schools rated as academic watch or at risk of failing? When will you admit this fight is more about you than it is the children?




Data:

Baker: High Performing
Barr: Successful
Boyd:High Performing*
Bradley: High Performing
Brinkley: Academic Watch
Brown: Successful*
Casey: High Performing
Clausell: Successful**
Dawson: none reported.
French: High Performing*
George: Star*
Green: High Performing* (At Risk of Failing)
Hopkins: At Risk of Failing**
Isable: " " **
Johnson: " "
Key: Successful
Lake: Academic Watch*
Lee: At Risk of Failling
Lester: Academic Watch
Marshall: At Risk of Failing**
McLeod: High Performing* (Academic Watch)
McWillie: Star
North Jackson: At Risk of Failing**
Oak Forest: Academic Watch
Peeples: Academic Watch*
Pointdexter: Academic Watch**
Raines: Successful
Smith: Academic Watch**
Spann: At Risk of Failing** (Successful)
Timberlawn: Successful
Walton: Academic Watch
Sykes: Successful
Wilkins: At Risk of Failing**
Woodville Heights: At Risk of Failing** (Successful)

Blackburn: Academic Watch
Brinkley: Academic Watch
Chastain: Academic Watch
Hardy: Academic Watch
Northwest: Academic Watch**
Peeples: Academic Watch*
Powell: At Risk of Failing
Rowan: Successful* (At Risk of Failing)
Whitten: At Risk of Failing

Bailey Magnet: Academic Watch
Callaway: Academic Watch**
Forest Hill: Successful. Congratulations. The best high school in JPS.
Jim Hill: Academic Watch
Lanier: Academic Watch**
Murrah: Academic Watch
Provine: At Risk of Failing
Wingfield: At Risk of Failing

Note: Adam Lynch covered some of this in the Jackson Free Press last year.

That's right. I said it. This gangsta-wannabe who loves to ply the white wine circuit as yuppies ooh and ah because he likes them offered up an amendment on charter school legislation this week. Here is the amendment, completely unedited:

AMEND by striking lines 249 through 256 and substituting the following in lieu:

SECTION 5. Authorizer. (1) The Mississippi Public Charter School Authorizer Board created under subsection (2) of this section may only authorize public charter schools in a school district rated as Failing, At-Risk of Failing or Low-Performing by the State Department of Education.

Notice what category is not on there? Academic Watch, which just happens to the level of Jackson Public Schools. This website reported several days ago on the graduation rates of JPS. Male students graduate in four years at a rate of only 53%. That's right: only 1 out of every 2 male students in Jackson Public Schools graduates in four years after starting ninth grade. These pointy-heads over at Parents for Public Schools and the Department of Education can twist the statistics all they want but the fact is, if you are only graduating half the boys or girls in your district, you have a disaster on your hands.

NCLB District Report Card (Bailey Magnet p.5, Callaway p.37, Forest Hill p.57, Lanier p.105, Murrah p.137, Provine p.161 Wingfield p.221)

4-yr graduation rates
Bailey Magnet: 74%
Callaway: 61%
Forest Hill: 56%
Jim Hill: 66%
Lanier: 56%
Murrah: 74%
Provine: 49%
Wingfield: 50%

Now, lets break it down even further using the reports provided by the Dept. of Ed. The report doesn't provide schools names but we will use numbers. I am pretty sure these are in alphabetical order so I will take a leap and guess the school names. The 4-year graduation rates for black male students are placed in parenthesis next to the overall graduation rate. The links to the reports are posted below. Column M is the 4-year graduation rate for black males in Jackson public high schools once they enter ninth grade. The actual student is tracked so if he transfers or moves, the rate is not skewed. The Department of Education website states JPS is 98% black. Graduation rates, Dropout rates

Bailey Magnet: 74% (68%)
Callaway: 59% (50)
Forest Hill: 56%(49%)
Jim Hill: 66% (59%)
Lanier: 56% (54%)
Murrah: 74% (69%)
Provine: 49% (38%)
Wingfield: 50% (36%)

Now lets look at the dropout rates for the same group with the black male students in parenthesis:
Bailey Magnet School: 12% (13%)
Callaway: 28% (38%)
Forest Hill: 20% (24%)
Jim Hill: 22% (23%)
Lanier: 20% (19%)
Murrah: 15% (18%)
Provine: 37% (43%)
Wingfield: 31% (38%)

Think I'm picking on JPS? Hattiesburg High School has a graduation rate of 48%. That's it. 48%. The same school graduated only 33% of its black male students BUT the district is labeled successful and Hattiesburg High is placed on the level of "Academic Watch". 91% of the district's students are black. The dropout rate for black males is 37%. Thus under Senator Horhn's amendment, a school that graduates ONLY ONE-THIRD OF ITS MALE STUDENTS is protected from charter schools if the district is carries the academic watch label.

Mr. Horhn thinks a school that has a student body over 90% black and graduates less than half of its students and one-third of its black male students should be "protected" from charter schools. Mr. Horhn is the Klan's best friend because Hattiesburg High School, Provine, Wingfield, Callaway, and others are graduating black male students at rates only the Klan could love. Read Provine again: Only half the kids graduate, less than 40% of the black male students graduate, and the dropout rate is aorund 40%. Yet John Horhn marches lockstep with Nancy Loome and Claiborne Barksdale, fighting to keep these kids trapped in the same system- until they drop out.

Horhn's amendment gives the game away for the public school lobby. This is not about improving the education of our children but control. The public school lobby and their allies have consistently delivered an educational system that is in last place. Now that there is a serious chance the status quo will change, those who make their living off of keeping our children in last place shriek the loudest. John Horhn should explain why he thinks a school such as Provine should be protected from charter schools because if there is a school that screams out for charter school conversion, it is Provine. Twenty-five years ago a redneck legislator said "We don't need no Harvards down here". Mr. Horhn and such rednecks are one and the same as they fight to keep the Provines and Hattiesburgs as they are.