Jimmy Dell Hancock, Superintendent of Education, closed the Board of Education meeting Monday night, November 14, 2011, with an emotional plea for the board members to remember “education is the great equalizer”. He said, in his own life, education brought him from a family of sharecroppers with nine children to the highest office in education in the county. He urged the five-member panel to give the non-certified employees a raise, complete renovations at Taylorsville and Mize, and hire more bus barn employees. All five members agreed to meet with Lisa Thompson, Business Manager, the following Thursday to discuss the feasibility of his suggestions.

The meeting’s start was just as serious. A student’s future for the school year was decided in a disciplinary hearing. The result was a transfer to the Alternative School. The vote taken on the matter was unanimous after a discussion with Principal Jeff Duvall from Taylorsville.

All of the votes taken during the rest of the meeting were unanimous. All five school board members were present for the meeting, along with Priscilla Magee, Assistant Superintendent, Robert Miles, Purchasing Agent, Business Manager, Lisa Thompson, and Attorney David Garner.

Angie Conerly met with the school board to request her children be allowed to stay in the school at Taylorsville. The board members voted to allow the children to stay until the end of this school year and the order to approve the request for student transfers for Elizabeth Gregory, Jeremy Gregory and Tyler Gregory from Jones County to Smith County was approved.

Some discussion about properly disposing of donated equipment from Community Bank went on before voting to accept the donation. Since some of the working equipment had been placed in classrooms and had been used over the last three years. They voted to accept the donation valued at $30,000. To dispose of the equipment that cannot be used could cost as much $600, according to Magee, because of the mercury content.

In personnel matters, Kimberly Swain was added to the substitute teacher’s list for Raleigh Elementary School. Anthony Dean, Elizabeth Strickland and Lundon Warren were added to the list for Mize Attendance Center. James Taylor, Pat Taylor, April Wallace and Sherry Hough was added to the list for the Smith County Schools. Michael Aden’s request for leave was approved. Janice Boykin resigned as Student Services Coordinator at the Smith County Career Center effective January 1, 2012. The board members voted to advertise for the position.

Maria May was approved for an Expert Citizen License to teach a half-day to replace Maggie McCraw’s Spanish class at Mize and Taylorsville for the remainder of the school year. May currently tutors English for the students that do not speak English as their native language, according to Magee.

Field trips were approved for the Mize Beta Clubs to attend the Mississippi Academic Convention. The seniors will attend February 19 and 21, 2012, and the juniors will attend March 26 and 27, 2012. Both will be held at the Bancorp South Convention Center in Tupelo, MS. Janette Brewer, Shelly Freeman and Lisa Gilreath will take their classes to the New Orleans School of Cooking on Tuesday, December 31, 2011.