State Board Holds Executive Sessions on Lawsuit, Personnel and Superintendent Evaluation; No Public Action Taken

The Mississippi State Board of Education voted on July 17 to enter executive session on three matters: strategy concerning a recently filed lawsuit related to House Bill 1193, personnel matters for the Office of Educational Accountability (OEA), and the state superintendent’s evaluation.

Board members cited Mississippi Code Annotated §25-41-7 as the authority for closing the sessions. When the roll was reported for the motion, the board secretary recorded that the motion to go into executive session carried with all voting yes except for Mr. Jacobs, who voted in the negative.

Nut graf: After convening the closed sessions, the board told the public it discussed the three items, conducted the superintendent’s evaluation and took no formal public action on the matters discussed.

When the board returned to open session, the chair announced the board had discussed three items in executive session, taken no action, and that the board had performed an evaluation of the state superintendent, which was presented to him and accompanied by guidance for his work going forward. The board also approved a separate item permitting a student board member to attend a virtual conference on Aug. 17 as a national student board member.

Ending: The board provided only procedural summaries of the closed meetings in open session and did not release additional details about the litigation strategy or personnel matters discussed.