By Billy Davis

North Panola’s school board has been recognized as a “Board of Merit” after its members accumulated 102 hours of training during the previous school year.

North Panola conservator Robert King announced the honor at Monday’s school board meeting in Sardis.
The Mississippi School Boards Association bestowed the Board of Merit award to only 13 of 152 public school boards around the state this year, said a spokesman for the state organization.

School board president Rosa Wilson said the 102 hours were accumulated during the recent 2010-2011 fiscal year.

North Panola trustees are required to earn 12 hours of continuing education while the school district is under conservatorship, said Dr. Michael Waldrop, executive director of the MSBA.

That means North Panola school board members collected the standard 60 hours among them and some chased after additional training that added up to another 42 hours of instruction.

The state association reported that North Panola trustees Verna Hunter and Tracy Thompson led their peers with 30 hours of instruction.

For reaching 30 hours, Hunter and Thompson received a “Premiere Circle” award at the annual school board association conference, which was held in February.

Among the other trustees, Lydia Smith had 21 hours, Wilson had 15 hours, and Pearl McGlothian had six hours.  

“North Panola’s school board has worked exceedingly hard,” Waldrop said of the accumulated hours. “They’re trying to move the district from failing status.”

North Panola has been under control of the Miss. Department of Education since 2008, when low-performing test scores at two schools triggered the state takeover. At the same time, state officials were slamming leadership at North Panola for failing students and the public.  

The Panolian reported last year that North Panola High and Crenshaw Elementary became bright spots in the district overnight, when both schools made a one-step leap from “Academic Watch” to “Successful.”

A “Failing” rating at North Panola High helped trigger the state takeover four years ago, but students’ test scores in Algebra I and English II helped it jump to “Successful.”

After “Successful” a rating of “High Performing” is the next-highest designation for a Mississippi public school. “Star School” is the highest recognition from the Department of Education.

Wilson said the most effective class she has attended presented school districts that had improved their academics and emerged from under state conservatorship.

“They put on a seminar and told their story,” Wilson said, “and I wanted to hear their story because we want to do the same at North Panola.”