An opinion delivered by the state Attorney General’s Office states Starkville aldermen have the right to fill the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District seat recently vacated by Juliette Weaver-Reese.
The opinion, as provided to The Dispatch by Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, states aldermen shall make the appointment to fulfil the term, which expires in 2019, despite state law calling for the next naturally expiring seat, held by school board President Eddie Myles, to be filled with a resident of the former Oktibbeha County School District through an election.
The board appointed Weaver-Reese to the position. Myles rejoined the school board this summer when aldermen tapped him to replace Eric Heiselt, who resigned.
Through previously approved consolidation legislation, state lawmakers mandated the city-appointed seat expiring in 2016 — Myles’ current seat — be filled via a November 2016 election. The appointee would remain in office until Jan. 1, 2017, when the newly elected school board member would take office.
Perkins, who sought the expedited opinion ahead of today’s appointment, said the AG’s letter provides a “very valuable” roadmap that “outlines the proper procedure as to filling future vacant seats on the” school board.
After the November 2016 election, the opinion states, trustees who abdicate an elected position prior to the seat’s expiration can be appointed by the “municipal governing authorities” as long as the appointee is from the added territory — OCSD’s former area.
“The person so appointed will serve only until the next general election following his or her appointment, at which time a person shall be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term,” the opinion states.
Five candidates submitted letters of intent with the city to fill Weaver-Reese’s vacancy.
They are Sumner Davis, Rondeze Harris, Debra Prince, Anne Stricklin and Jeanette Taylor.
Davis is a former two-term alderman and current head of MSU’s Center for Government and Community Development, a division of the university’s extension service located within its division of agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Mississippi State University.
Davis served on Starkville School District’s strategic planning committee and helped pass 2005’s school bond. He also served as the interim head of the Southern Rural Development Center and chaired the Starkville Parks Advisory Committee and Starkville Visitors and Conventions Bureau board.
Harris is a former Mr. Starkville High and a graduate of the Starkville public school system.
He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from MSU and worked at Sara Lee Foods, Severstal and Weyerhaeuser before moving to his current position as shift superintendent with Yokohama Tire Manufacturing in West Point.
Prince is an associate professor with MSU’s Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations. She also serves on MSU’s Institutional Review Board and the Robert Holland Faculty Senate.
A copy of her curriculum vitae was not included in the materials released by the city, but in her letter Prince said she holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction and has served 30 years as a teacher and researcher.
Prince joined MSU after 13 years of public school teaching, and her research focuses on “the effects of poverty on the well-being and educational outcomes for children,” her letter states.
A letter from Dinetta Karriem, the counseling and educational psychology department’s student service coordinator, endorsing Prince’s nomination to the school board was submitted to the city.
Stricklin is a SHS graduate and a former high school and college instructor in Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.
She has also served as a member of SSD’s parent-teacher organizations in the last seven years, including stints as co-president of Sudduth and Overstreet schools’ PTOs as well as the president of the districtwide PTO’s executive committee.
A copy of Stricklin’s CV was not included in the materials released by the city, but 34 people signed letters of support backing her nomination to the school board.
Signees included Rex Buffington, who served on the consolidation study committee; past Starkville Foundation for Public Education President Nelle Cohen; former Alderman Jeremiah Dumas; Roy Ruby, a former MSU interim president, dean emeritus of the college of education and vice president emeritus for student affairs; and David Shaw, MSU’s vice president for research and economic development who also served on the consolidation committee.
Taylor is a retired educator with 27 years of experience in the field.
She most recently served as Caddo Parish, Louisiana’s director of high priority schools and special education, and previously served as Oktibbeha County School District deputy superintendent from 1998-2000.
She has taught at North Carolina A&T University, MSU, the former SSD’s Millsaps Vocational Center and other grade schools in Virginia.
Taylor holds master’s degrees in education and ministry from the University of California and the Birmingham Theological Seminary, respectively, and a doctorate in vocational special needs education from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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