A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of Section 37-17-6 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, the Office of Accreditation, Mississippi Department of Education, conducted an accountability and accreditation audit of the North Panola School District; and

WHEREAS, the State Superintendent of Education presented a report outlining serious leadership, management and instructional concerns existing in the North Panola School District; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 37-17-6(11)(b) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, on April 3, 2008, the Commission on School Accreditation found that there is sufficient cause to believe that an extreme emergency situation exists in the North Panola School District brought on by serious violations of accreditation standards, Board policy, and state law; and

WHEREAS, the accountability and accreditation audit, the presentation of the State Superintendent of Education and the Resolution of the Commission on School Accreditation, were considered by the Mississippi Board of Education at its April 17, 2008 work session; and

WHEREAS, following due deliberation, the Mississippi Board of Education found that there is sufficient cause to believe that an extreme emergency situation exists in the North Panola School District brought on by serious leadership, management and instructional concerns existing in the District and by serious violations of accreditation standards, Board policy, and state law, which jeopardize the safety, security, and educational interests of the children enrolled in the schools of this District, and which, without intervention by the Mississippi Board of Education, could result in the continuation of an inadequate and unstable environment, thereby denying the students of this District the opportunity to learn, to excel, and to obtain a free and appropriate public education; and

WHEREAS, by Resolution adopted by the Mississippi Board of Education on April 18, 2008, as issued to me, as Governor of the State of Mississippi, it was requested that a State of Emergency be declared in the North Panola School District in order to place the District under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education for the implementation of the corrective actions provided for by Section 37-17-6(11)(b);

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Haley Barbour, Governor of the State of Mississippi, in response to the Resolution and request of the Mississippi Board of Education, made under the authority of Section 37-17-6(11)(b), Mississippi Code of 1972, and by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 123 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, Section 7-1-5 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, and Section 37-17-6(11)(b) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, do hereby issue this Proclamation to declare that, because of serious leadership, management and instructional concerns existing in the District and serious violations of accreditation standards, Board policy, and state law, a state of emergency exists in the North Panola School District.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Mississippi to be affixed.

DONE at the Capitol, in the City of Jackson, this the 21st day of April, in the year of our Lord, two thousand and eight and of the Independence of the United Sates of America, the two hundred and thirty-second.

HALEY BARBOUR