It is heartwarming to again see a local person be given the reins to the superintendency of the East Tallahatchie School District.
No disrespect to the two most recent occupants of the office, Johnnie Vick and Dr. Darron Edwards, whose tenures combined to span four years, but it seems there is an added potential benefit to having a school superintendent who is homegrown, so to speak.
Prior to Vick and Edwards, both of whom were nonresident hires, Dr. Ben Kennedy, Ellis H. “Bucky” Smith, William Tribble, David Hargett and Clyde Robinson made it five superintendents in a row who came up through the ranks of the Charleston public schools to ascend to the top spot.
Most of those five were Tallahatchie County natives, but one thing they all had in common was their shared body of work within the district. All five had cut their teeth, honed their skills and left their imprint on the campuses of East Tallahatchie schools for years prior to being promoted to the super seat at the district office on Chestnut Street.
It is true that such experience and familiarity can be a double-edged sword. That said, if the leader governs fairly and honorably, that awareness should serve to be more of an asset than a liability.
So that brings us to the latest hire as East Tallahatchie superintendent, Marvell Hudson, a Charleston native and someone who has an extensive resume of previous experience within the East and West Tallahatchie school districts.
Hudson, whose hiring to replace Vick becomes effective July 1, is a 1988 graduate of Charleston High School and has worked as a teacher, assistant principal and principal within the public schools of the county.
He previously also served as district special education director in East Tallahatchie, and during Kennedy’s tenure he was named ETSD assistant district superintendent, becoming the first African American to hold such a high official position.
In 2018, Edwards was named the first Black superintendent of Charleston schools, in 2021 Vick became the second, and Hudson will be the third.
However, the enthusiastic buzz on social media surrounding Hudson’s hiring — from people of all hues — suggests that his local ties, leadership qualities and the fact so many people know him to be a person of integrity, high morals and strong Christian values who will care about the district because he is from the district, carry much more weight.
There is a lot of work to be done to reverse the course of a district that has graded at an F on state standardized testing for several years. To right the ship takes a solid leader around whom district staff, employees and the general public can rally. It requires a school board that will work in concert with the superintendent and give him the freedom to handle day-to-day operations of the district, as is his charge. It takes thoughtful and capable effort at every level from the boardroom to the classroom, to the living room of hundreds of homes across the district. It means everyone executing their duties diligently and to the best of their ability — always having the best interest of the students at heart.
Of course, this only states the obvious. There are other ingredients to success at school that undoubtedly escape the eyes and exceed the knowledge and expertise of the general public. There are challenges and impediments to success that must be overcome. To make it all come together is no small order, but it is the order of the day.
We wish Mr. Hudson well, and we pray that his tenure will be a positive and fruitful one, marking the dawn of a new era of achievement and success for the East Tallahatchie School District.
