Two of our school districts – Clarksdale and Coahoma County – are both in need of full-time superintendents to move things forward.
Dr. Ilean Richards has been serving as interim superintendent for the Coahoma County School District, while Dennis Dupree recently announced his retirement from the Clarksdale Municipal School District at the end of the 2018-19 year.
Both districts received failing grades from the Mississippi Department of Education for the 2017-18 school year. Richards was not part of the CCSD during the time it was graded and Dupree was not necessarily responsible for the CMSD’s failing grade.
There are many outside factors that go way beyond the superintendent, but at the same time, having the right leader can only help the districts improve going forward.
It really does not matter how the Clarksdale and Coahoma County school districts go about their searches or who they name superintendent as long as the end results are beneficial to the students.
I know from first-hand experience how important a search for a superintendent could be.
Less than one year out of school, I landed a reporting job in Helena-West Helena, Ark., in late May 2003.
For my first major assignment, I was thrown into the middle of a very contentious superintendent search for the Helena-West Helena School District. The board was attempting to name a superintendent by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
It was a mess. There were seven board members divided into camps of three, two and two for the direction they were looking to take the district.
It seemed as though they were meeting every other day to try and get a superintendent in place. Each meeting was met with more failure.
Just as the Clarksdale and Coahoma County school districts are dealing with failing grades from the MDE, the Helena-West Helena School District was in academic distress and looking for a superintendent to turn things around.
The three board members that voted together were looking for a candidate outside of the district and their first two choices turned the position down. Two board members had their own candidate from within the district in mind. The other two board members had the position there was a point system that determined the order of choices.
Finally, just before the end of the fiscal year, one of the board members who believed there was a point system voted with the three who were together because the district badly needed a superintendent.
Things still remained shaky because the board could not agree and the superintendent was barely hired.
A little more than one year after the superintendent was hired, school board elections took place.
With new board members came the changing of a superintendent. There was a change in superintendents two more times within a year before the state of Arkansas took over the school district.
When it was all said and done, before the state took over the district, there were five superintendents in a little over two years.
All of these problems – playing musical chairs with the superintendent’s seat and the state taking over the district – could have been avoided if the search was run properly back in 2003. The Helena-West Helena School District is doing much better now, but it endured many unnecessary problems along the way, mostly because of a search for a superintendent that went completely wrong in every possible way.
That is the lesson the Clarksdale and Coahoma County school boards should take from my experience almost 16 years ago.
Our boards need to recognize the local schools are at a tipping point. They could go one way or the other and finding the right superintendent will be a huge step for our community.
It is no secret the population, not just in Coahoma County, but in the Delta as a whole, is dwindling and we need to do everything in our power to encourage families to relocate here. One easy way is having public school systems parents do not have a problem sending their children to.
Schools are a huge factor when families decide to move to a new community.
When I was 6 years old, my family moved from Wilmette to Highland Park, Ill. While the issues we faced in the north shore suburbs of Chicago were very different than the Mississippi Delta, the school system was a factor when my parents bought a house. I am sure many parents have an outlook similar to one mine did in the mid-1980s.
We have an opportunity for some great things to happen right here in Coahoma County.
Bubba O’Keefe was named executive director for Coahoma County tourism and I expect him to bring many more guests to our community. Clarksdale/Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce executive director Jon Levingston helped bring the company People Shores to Clarksdale and played a role in increasing the jobs at the local MAP of Easton Inc.
We need more families who want to relocate to Coahoma County to complement the new jobs and potential new tourists coming our way.
For that to happen, we need strong public school systems.
For us to have strong public school systems, we need top-notch leadership from superintendents.
For us to have top-notch leadership from superintendents, our school boards must get the upcoming searches right.
The time is now to make things happen.
Josh Troy is managing editor of The Clarksdale Press Register. He can be reached by calling 662-627-2201 or emailing jtroy@pressregister.com.
