State Board of Education updated on efforts to return three districts of transformation back to local control

State Board of Education updated on.

Key points

• Prior to 2025, the two districts were part of the same intervention district, but the State Board of Education mandated they separate in 2024.
• Interim superintendents from the Okolona School District (Chad Spence), Humphreys County School District (Dr.
• In the Humphreys County School District, average daily attendance is 93%, Ellis remarked.
• With Humphreys County School District and Yazoo Municipal under transformation for academic deficiencies, both outlined their intends to address those matters.
• "Of 980 students, as of this morning I have 200 students with IEPs, " Ellis described.

State Board of Education updated on efforts to return three districts of transformation back to local control. By: Jeremy Pittari – September 18, 2026.

Okolona, Yazoo City Municipal, and Humphreys County school districts are on a path toward improved educational and financial performance standards.

Interim superintendents for three of the six school districts at present under state intervention through the Mississippi Department of Education's Office of School and District of Transformation provided updates to the Board of Education on Thursday concerning their efforts to reestablish local control.

In Mississippi, school districts that fail to maintain sufficient academic performance, fiscal viability and/or show signs of other deficiencies in operation over extended periods are moved under state intervention until those problems are resolved.

Notably, the process involves the dissolution of the current school board and removal of the existing superintendent. The State Board of Education then appoints an interim superintendent to oversee efforts to correct deficiencies before returning the district to local control.

Interim superintendents from the Okolona School District (Chad Spence), Humphreys County School District (Dr. Stanley Ellis) and Yazoo City Municipal School District (Dr. Earl Watkins) provided updates on those efforts during Thursday's session of the Board of Education.

While Okolona is at present a district of transformation for fiscal deficiencies, the other two districts were put under state control for failure to maintain academic standards.

Yazoo City Municipal School District and the Humphreys County School District have been a district of transformation since April 2019 after consistently receiving F assessment ratings, Interim Superintendent Dr. Earl Watkins explained. Prior to 2025, the two districts were part of the same intervention district, but the State Board of Education mandated they separate in 2024.

All three interim superintendents described how they are using high-quality instructional materials and educator professional development to ensure student success as they move forward. Nevertheless, other matters specific to each district are additionally presenting hurdles.

While efforts are underway to address the fiscal and educational deficiencies for the districts, larger challenges continue to exist such as crime in one district. It is affecting student attendance. When a student is not in class, they cannot receive quality instruction and backing.

Watkins remarked chronic absenteeism in his district is one of the major focus areas. District wide the absenteeism rate is at 37%, but it is much higher at the high school.

"So that has been very difficult in terms to overcome because the chronic absenteeism rate at the high school in Yazoo City was about 62%, " Watkins described.

When Board members asked him to repeat that statistic, he repeated the 62% rate, adding it is not the highest in the state.

"Attendance is a major area of concern for us, and so we are doing a great deal more work around that, " Watkins remarked.

Notably, a contributing factor to the absenteeism rate at the high school is the "culture and climate" in the community.

Since becoming the interim superintendent in 2022, Watkins remarked he has observed a need to strengthen student/teacher and student/student engagement and connectivity to address those reservations, in part to ensure students know they have adult backing, and will not be bullied by fellow students.

There is additionally the need to address the crime in the community.

"They're afraid to come to school because of what they have seen their classmates do out in the local community, " Watkins remarked. "That was my school where we had the staff member shot coming out of her doorway last school year. And her senior son pulled her back into the house. So those are the kinds of things that are occurring in the community that the families, that the children, are dealing with."

In the Humphreys County School District, average daily attendance is 93%, Ellis remarked. Future academic achievement intends.

During their updates, Watkins and Ellis remarked efforts are underway to create better systems of instruction through high-quality instructional materials, ensure stronger backing systems and create better partnerships with the community.

"Within the district there were inconsistent instructional systems related to curriculum, instruction, intervention, and monitoring, " Watkins remarked.

Since the split of the two districts, or "divorce" as Ellis put it, the high school has rose its assessment ranking to a B and climbed the graduation rate from 72% to 80%. Ellis continued the number of F rated schools has additionally fell.

"As far as the district, we're making data driven decisions, we're looking at attendance, we're looking at grades, we're looking at those leading and lagging indicators in regard to teacher attendance and student attendance, " Ellis explained.

Efforts are additionally being produced in his district to decline the number of students being identified as needing individualized education programs, or IEPs.

Ellis' district, like plenty of others, is additionally dealing with declining student enrollment. He remarked when he came on as the interim superintendent for the 2025-2026 school year, there were concerning 1, 100 students enrolled. While enrollment has declined, students within the special education program continue to create up a substantial percentage of that total.

According to All three districts, they are dealing with the hurdles of recruiting and retaining educators.

"In a place like Humphreys, it's very difficult to recruit and retain teachers, " Ellis informed the Board. "Sometimes when you get the teachers there and you recruit them, you build capacity in them and they leave."

He continued that the district especially needs more qualified reading and math teachers.

At the Yazoo City Municipal School District, Watkins remarked while staffing has been an area of concern, the number of vacancies at the start the school year is declining, going from 26 vacancies during the 2022 school year to five vacancies this year.

Nevertheless, the problem for Yazoo is getting those teachers the proper certifications. While 52% of the educational staff in the middle and elementary campuses have either a one-year or three-year license, watkins remarked 57% of the teachers in the district have a standard license. He is addressing that matter through more professional development.

Spence additionally observed problems with staffing, even after merging all grades from 7 through 12 into one campus.

Since financial deficiencies were a driving factor in Okolona's move to a district of transformation, Interim Superintendent Spence has focused on those problems.

After MDE was alerted that the district could not produce payroll, the district was continued to the list back in November 2025.

In response, MDE provided $1.5 million. It will need to be repaid by the district. Spence remarked repayment of that loan is anticipated to start in the spring of 2027 and take five years.

Efforts to obtain the district's finances in line include cutting $1.1 million in expenses, catching up on audits that have been behind starting with fiscal years 2022 through 2024, and partnering with financial consultants to ensure expenses are in line. "We're currently in steady progress right now for recovery, " Spence remarked. Regarding the Author(s).

Jeremy Pittari is a lifelong resident of the Gulf Coast. Born and raised in Slidell, La., he moved to South Mississippi in the early 90s. Jeremy earned an associate in arts from Pearl River Community College and went on to attend the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a bachelor's of arts in journalism. A week after Hurricane Katrina, he began an internship as a reporter with the community newspaper in Pearl River County. After graduation, he accepted a full-time position at that news outlet where he covered the recovery process post Katrina in Pearl River and Hancock Counties. For almost 17 years he wrote concerning local administration, education, law enforcement, crime, business and a variety of other topics. Email Jeremy: [email protected].

Education Jeremy Pittari September 16, 2026. Leake County School District published from desegregation order.

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