Jackson, MS, Nov. 19, 2008 — First state officials adopted policies to transform education policy regarding underperforming schools, then the children of Barr Elementary in Jackson entertained by singing a series of educational and patriotic songs.
The Task Force on Underperforming Schools met in the Board Room of the MS Dept. of Education on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 to adopt a set of recommendations to the 2009 state legislature that were designed to improve low-performing schools. This was intended to be the last meeting of the Task cheap xanax no prescription Force.
State Supt. of Education Hank Bounds told the Task Force and about 60 educators, parents and education activists that the proposed recommendations will hold school leadership, including school boards and superintendents, accountable to newly-developed benchmarks and standards of leadership based on the premise that school leadership must be responsible to ensure that the children are provided the education to which they are entitled. The proposed recommendations were adopted unanimously by the Task Force.
Later that morning, at a second public hearing, the Task Force co-chairs Sen. Videt Carmichael (Chair, Sen. Education Comm.) and Rep. Cecil Brown (Chair, House Education Comm.) and State Supt. Hank Bounds presented the proposals to approximately 120 educators, parents, students, and education advocates.
State Supt. of Education Hank Bounds noted that the goal must be nothing less than ensuring that every child is entitled to “attend a great school.”
Prior to the public announcement of the proposed recommendations, the MS Dept. of Education solicited feedback and recommendations from interested education stakeholders. Southern Echo and several organizations from the MS Delta Catalyst Roundtable submitted a formal collective response to the proposed recommendations, which was distributed by the MS Dept. of Education at the Task Force meeting.
