Monday, July 21, 2014, 8:15 pm News Flash Archive

The Greenwood Public School District filed a preemptive lawsuit today against the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) to attempt to delay tomorrow morning's emergency hearing by the Commission on Accreditation. The Commission has signaled a possible take-over of the district, which would depose the school board and the superintendent, Dr. Montrell Greene.

The lawsuit was filed in Hinds County Chancery Court, and has been assigned to Chancellor Patricia D. Wise. The School District is represented by Elizabeth Maron of the law firm Adams & Reese of Ridgeland.

The School District asks the Court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop the MDE hearing from proceeding. If granted, the TRO would provide an extra 10 days for the School District to prepare its defenses against the accusations leveled by the MDE audit. The School District points out that it has not been provided with any of the documentation or materials upon which the Commission based its audit findings, nor were any findings of significance ever discussed with the District Board president Bill Clay or Superintendent Greene.

The audit was delivered to the School District last Wednesday, and makes various allegations of mismanagement, a culture of fear and hostility between the District governing authorities and the teachers and staff, and cites numerous alleged violations of standards by the District.

The District had asked MDE for an extension, which was denied.

The lawsuit may be seen here: School Board Lawsuit

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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