Dismissal confirmed; grad numbers encourage

By John Howell
South Panola School District Tim Wilder confirmed Tuesday night that a teacher blamed for placing a racist post on social media had been dismissed.
Wilder responded to a question from a parent who asked about the teacher following the adjournment of the meeting of the South Panola Schools Board of Trustees. The parent was accompanied by several other people similarly interested.
Board president Sandra Darby told the parent that the decision was not a board matter and directed the question to Wilder.
“The teacher has been dismissed from her employment; she’s no longer employed here,” Wilder said without elaboration.
The dismissal followed an uproar on social media after the racist comment appeared on the Facebook Page of Batesville Intermediate School teacher Cammie Rone. Rone has been quoted in Memphis and Jackson media as having had her Facebook account hacked.
School administrators cited a section of the district’s employee handbook that extends expectation of conduct “that will reflect positively on school district” to social media and lists dismissal as an option for “serious violations.”
“If anyone knows me I post about cows, recipes and home improvements stuff, not racism,” Rone was quoted as having posted on her Facebook page Monday.
The brief exchange after the adjournment followed an upbeat meeting during which the superintendent cited what he called “very, very encouraging numbers out of the high school” based both on graduation rates and a decline from 2014 to 2017 in the number of students requiring retest in any of the four subject area tests required for graduation.
The meeting packet included a bar graph that shows that 49 students entering as seniors in 2014 required retesting. This year, the number was down to 17.
Wilder also presented the 2016-’17 MKAS Kindergarten Assessment in which Pope Elementary School reported the highest scale score average in the state at 811, and fourth highest scale score gain at 300. The SP district earned the eighth highest scale score statewide at 263. The statewide average was 208, according to results illustrated on a bar graph distributed to trustees for the meeting.
In tests administered to kindergarteners at the school year’s start, students who had completed pre-kindergarten classes offered by South Panola again out-scored students who did not attend. The South Panola pre-kindergarten program is operated by the district as a pilot project.
“The state doesn’t fund that; we spend $350,000 a year to provide it,” Wilder said.
The trustees approved hiring eight certified personnel and ten classified personnel recommended by the superintendents.
Other business during Tuesday night’s meeting included a financial report from SP Director of Finance and Business Operations David Rubenstein, approval to dispose of surplus property, and reports on an adult learning program and on work with TVEPA on a study of the feasibility of converting present lighting in classrooms to LED lighting.
All recommendations received unanimous approval by trustees, including Dr. Leigh Taylor Unruh, Kenny Hopper, Jerry Cooley, Lygunnah Bean in addition to Darby with one exception. Cooley abstained on a recommendation to expel a student. Bean attended the meeting by speakerphone.