The Montgomery County School District has filed an appeal challenging decisions made by the Winona Montgomery Consolidated School Board at its February 13 meeting. One of those decisions was the appointment of Dr. Teresa Jackson as the superintendent of education for the Winona Montgomery Consolidated School District (WMCSD).
According to the court documents, which were assigned to Judge Joseph Loper, Jr., in Montgomery County Circuit Court, several measures approved by the school board on February 13 should be overturned because “all of these actions were taken by a school board that does not exist and will not exist until July 1, 2018.” In addition, Montgomery County School District asks the court that the consolidated school board be precluded from taking any further actions until July 1, 2018.
Other items approved on the consent agenda were the adoption of a 2018-2019 school calendar, a new district logo, district organization, school board operations, district hiring processes, salary schedules, and so on.
Chynee A. Bailey, attorney for the Montgomery County School District, said, “It is our objective by filing this appeal is to hold [the WMCSD school board] to the statute, nothing more. There are things that have to be done before [July 1, 2018], but they are reading things in the statute that aren’t there. They may have the authority to take action, but certainly not all of [the ones they have taken.]
Bailey said one of the defects in the statute is that Legislature did not take into account the actions needed to lead up to the actual consolidation date. She said there are some Mississippi Attorney General’s opinions on the matter from other school district consolidations.
“We just want a fair reading of the statute and attorney general’s opinions,” Bailey said. “Some boundaries have to be put in place. This [consolidated school board’s] unchecked authority has to be reviewed.
Bailey said in other district consolidations, the students, teachers, and citizens had an active involvement in making the district exclusive to everyone involved, especially when it came to things like district colors, district mascots, athletic teams, and so on. However, Bailey said the consolidated board has not opened the door for input on these things.
“My great concern is the lack of involvement of citizens, students, and staff in this consolidation,” Bailey said. “For example, cheerleading tryouts were held in February [at Winona High School]. Where does that leave the county children. I’m just taken aback by some of the things that have been done.”
Lane Greenlee, attorney for the Winona Montgomery Consolidated School District, said the bill speaks for itself, but by implication, the consolidated school board must act prior to July 1, 2018, to be able to start school in August.
“The [Mississippi] Attorney General took the position that it was implied that various things had to be done to meet that July 1 deadline to consolidate the districts,” Greenlee said. “You have to have done those predicate things before school can start.”
This is the second court filing made on behalf of the Montgomery County School District. Bailey filed an injunction in November 2018 to halt the consolidation until concerns of disfranchisement of county voters, based on the school board makeup with only two countywide elected seats versus three city appointed seats, and possible civil rights violations, due to the racial make-up of the district administration, in the consolidation law can be addressed.
According to Bailey, that injunction has been assigned to Judge Debra Brown of the District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, but no action has been taken to date.
