The East Tallahatchie School Board’s June 8 decision to terminate the contract of first-year Superintendent Marvell Hudson has been met with a firestorm of criticism.
I must admit, the action was a head-scratcher. Many had such high hopes for Hudson — a local guy, a Charleston High School graduate, who came up through the ranks of both the East and West Tallahatchie schools.
Then, this.
To date, the school board has not disclosed publicly why they took the drastic action. We may never know.
It seems personalities may have played into the decision, at least to some degree, but because no one from the East Tallahatchie School District’s elected hierarchy has come forward with an explanation, we are only left to wonder.
Rumors of the planned dismissal of the 53-year-old Hudson preceded the actual vote by at least one week.
That is largely why the ETSD boardroom was packed, standing room only, with a crowd of over 75 people spilling out into the foyer and standing around outside the building or sitting in cars on the night of June 8.
After dispensing of regular business, the board turned to the last items of the night. Ten topics were listed on the printed agenda to be discussed in executive session. Five were said to be personnel matters, two board requests, one a food service department request, one a transportation department matter and, finally, “Superintendent Evaluation Discussion.”
Before being shown the door, several members of the audience tried to address the board on the rumors that Hudson was about to be given the old heave-ho.
“You can see, we have people who are genuinely concerned,” said Lynn Byrd.
Former longtime ETSD schoolteacher Barbara Herron asked the board to carefully “think about it” before voting.
“It is not right, and y’all know it’s not right. It’s personal issues that y’all have against Mr. Hudson. ... These kids are going to suffer,” Hudson’s wife, Elissa, said in a passionate voice.
In a couple of conversations since the board’s 3-2 vote to terminate Hudson one year into a two-year contract, he has said he was confronted that night by board members over some subjective “he said, she said” matters “and a lot of personal issues.”
As a first-year superintendent, he admitted that “whenever you bring in new leadership, new vision, there’s going to always be somewhat of a fallout with the current staff, current leadership, because you’re bringing in a new leadership model. And I would jump out there and say, I wasn’t a prom king in that situation. As a district leader, I had to make some critical decisions based off the information that I had.”
That he rubbed some people the wrong way is almost a certainty. Did his actions justify issuing him marching orders? With no one talking, who can say?
Hudson feels the district has made progress during his brief tenure, including academic gains that he believes will be reflected in the results of state standardized benchmark tests. Those scores will be released soon.
“I truly believe that the test scores will prove how effective we were,” he said. “In that leadership role, there’s a lot of subjectivity. But when you start looking at numbers, when you start looking at data, then you can really get a profile of that leader. So, one of my biggest metrics will be the state test scores, to see how effective I was.”
He also mentioned successes in filling some vacant positions and adding new buses to the district’s school bus fleet.
“It was a lot of pockets of success,” said Hudson. “To change leadership now, we’re going to lose ground in the East Tallahatchie School District, I believe.”
Hudson is the third ETSD superintendent in as many years, and now the district looks to go 4-for-4.
Hudson said the superintendency as of late has been “musical chairs,” adding that for any successor, “It’s going to be hard to try to come in and move that district. Because of previous experiences, leadership is going to come in, knees knocking.”
Among 30 deficiencies in internal controls and/or instances of noncompliance with state law by ETSD leaders during the 2019-20 fiscal year, the State Audit Department in March cited a state requirement that the school board “not interfere in the day-to-day operations of the school district that include, but are not limited to, such duties as those relating to personnel and management decisions.”
Hudson said he witnessed the overreach firsthand.
“It was just constant tug-of-war with the board, and that will wear you out over a period of time,” he noted. “There shouldn’t be this much power from the school board to be engaging in day-to-day operations of the school district.”
Hudson advised the public to take more of an active role.
“The community really has to get involved with our school system,” he said.
That is sound advice for any school system anywhere.
