There are [at least] two sides to every story. That is a true saying if ever there was one.
In the case of the East Tallahatchie School District’s ongoing saga, “As the Superintendency Turns,” the general public has heard just one angle from one of the several parties involved.
As a newspaper attempting to report the news accurately and fairly, we find this to be frustrating.
In this particular situation, it has to be extremely disappointing for the district’s stakeholders, too.
We have heard a lot of noise in respect to what may have been going on behind closed doors during executive sessions and in alleged secret school board meetings or elsewhere in the central office.
How much of the rumored uproarious behavior exists and is accurately and completely portrayed is known only to the powers that be, because they certainly are not sharing their knowledge publicly.
Fortunately, most reports from the office of State Auditor Shad White are public. One such recent “Limited Internal Control and Compliance Review Management Report,” based on operations within the East Tallahatchie School District during the 2019-20 fiscal year, was very telling.
The report basically slammed the district’s leadership — school board and administration, in particular — over a litany of 30 deficiencies in internal controls and/or outright violations of state law.
The terminology used in the report was kinder, citing “noncompliance” with state law and regulations. But that makes no difference. Someone who is driving 35 in a 25 mph zone is being noncompliant with the law, but he also is breaking the law.
One distinction that could be made is in the question of intent. Breaking the law seems to suggest a deliberateness, while noncompliance might indicate someone simply failed to comply. The result is the same. Someone dropped the ball.
Hopefully, future ETSD reports will reflect improvement in these 30 areas.
As for the superintendency, we had such high hopes for first-year ETSD Superintendent Marvell Hudson, a local product — one of us — and felt that matters were trending in a positive direction.
Still, we do not know the full story. We do not know the allegations lodged against Hudson that led the school board to terminate his two-year contract, albeit by a slim 3-2 vote.
In fact, it would appear that few are in the know, which can be very unhealthy.
If only there were some watchdog agency for that.
Clay McFerrin is editor and publisher of The Sun-Sentinel.
