Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's Commission on School Accreditation on Thursday voted not to take over the Greenwood School District.
Instead, in a 12-0 vote, the commission decided to give the district until Oct. 15 to address issues in a critical report earlier this month from the Mississippi Department of Education.
The department will do a follow-up audit after that date and report back to the commission.
The report alleged Greenwood was reporting inaccurate information on employee pay and job descriptions. It also accused school board members of making decisions in illegal closed meetings and interfering in daily school operations. The document also questioned $29,000 in federal money spent on parental involvement.
A takeover would have resulted in the ouster of Superintendent Montrell Greene and the school board and the appointment of a conservator to run the district.
Thursday's meeting lasted more than two hours and attracted a large crowd of both supporters and opponents of the district's current administration.
"I am not a bully," Greene told the commission in response to the audit findings. "I am here to help boys and girls."
MDE had based its findings on the results of an unannounced visit to the district between April 29 and May 2 during which its auditors made observations, reviewed records, interviewed staff and conducted anonymous, online surveys.
Greene said many of the allegations appear to have come from disgruntled employees trying to sabotage his administration because their preferred superintendent wasn't chosen.
Greene was hired by the school board in April 2013 and replaced interim superintendent Jennifer Wilson.
Paula Vanderford, MDE's accreditation director, said the district has numerous violations of state accreditation standards, many of them quite serious. She also said the agency based its decision on credible sources, not all of whom are disgruntled employees.
"It is believed that these violations do jeopardize the safety and security of school district," she told the commission.
Lee Childress, superintendent of the Corinth School District and the chairman of the accreditation commission, said after the hearing that there also appears to be "contention within the Greenwood community about the schools."
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
