Group asks for more input, information on school issues

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A group of citizens wants more input into a number of issues in the Lee County School District.

Members of the group met with the media as the Lee County School Board was starting its regular meeting, outlining several areas of concern.

Among them; the hiring process for the new principal at Shannon High School,  low test scores at some schools and requests for more information regarding various items on agendas for school board meetings.

Ricky Thompson is spokesperson for the group, known as the Parents Engagement Council.  He says more transparency is needed.

“The thing we got to really look at , just have an agenda, but not what’s on the agenda, anything like that.  When you live in areas some of the parents live in, you might not have access to internet to really go online and see what was passed and what happened on the agenda,” Thompson said.

The group also feels that the community should have been asked about candidates for the principal position at Shannon High School.  Thompson says it’s all about community engagement.

“You have to have that community involvement to make sure you can succeed and go to the next level and make sure every child is taken care of when it comes to education,” Thompson said.

The superintendent of Lee County Schools addressed the issues raised by the group.  Jimmy Weeks said agendas for all school board meetings include items board members will discuss and vote on.  Weeks said often more detailed information can’t be published until board members vote on the issue.

“From what I understand, our agendas do not look very much different at all from other agendas, from other school districts, other public bodies, we do follow Roberts Rules of Order during our board meeting, we do not allow for open forum,” Weeks said.

When it comes to hiring practices, Weeks said the law is clear-cut.

“It’s not something school districts can do because of the laws we have to operate with.  If we don’t follow the law we open ourselves up for all types of litigation, when we know what the laws are if we don’t operate within them that is just irresponsibility,” Weeks said.

Weeks says the latest school rankings could be released within a  few weeks.

The concerned citizens group says they plan to have a community meeting soon to get more input from residents about the issues.