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Watkins Hits the Road
Photo by Maggie Burks
April 9, 2008
Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Earl Watkins announced that he will not seek to renew his term when his contract expires next year.
“While it is a joy and an honor to serve as superintendent of Jackson Public Schools, it is opportune now for me to begin to take the appropriate steps to consider other opportunities of professional growth,” Watkins said in a press release. “Accordingly, I have informed the board that I will not seek an extension of my contract beyond June 30, 2009.”
The board accepted his resignation and said it would begin immediately casting around for a new superintendent.
Jackson Public School Board of Trustee Jonathan Larkin called Watkins “one of the best superintendents this state has ever had.”
“Nationally, statistics show us that superintendents of moderate to large districts stay an average of two and a half to three years. By the time Dr. Watkins leaves, he will have been here seven years. He stayed a lot longer than the national average,” Larkin said. “As a result, the district had some great accomplishments from programs and processes that he put into place.”
One of those accomplishments was the $150 million school bond issue, devised to replace the system’s aging infrastructure.
Watkins faced a sexual harassment lawsuit from former Chastain Middle School Principal Michael Ellis, who claimed Watkins fired him after the principal spurned his advances.
Watkins said he fired Ellis for doctoring the Chastain payroll.
The district settled the lawsuit—while admitting no wrongdoing—with a $350,000 payment to Ellis and his wife. The settlement did not include court fees, and the terms of the settlement are not public.
COMMENTS
:: recentcomments
Nov 20, 2009 | 06:37 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Izzy: it's not enough to just study something - at some point you have to act. Systematic exclusion can be read as hatred, even when those involved in it do not feel it to be that. This is ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 06:37 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
J.T.: Wintrhop, your last sentence "I don't want a small and manageable God. I prefer one that I can't fully understand." bears out that we each have perceptions of God. And, when the ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 06:03 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Wintrhop Sargent: Funny you should mention the gender issue of a deity. I was at lunch with a St. Andrews priest one time and a very conservative member of the Cathedral came to our table ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 05:37 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Izzy: I wouldn't be too sure your church doesn't preach hate if your liturgy is not gender-inclusive. Think about it - is God really a "He" or a "Father"? Those are some images or visions of ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 03:35 PM
Barbour Wants to Merge State's Black Universities
baquan2000: Goldenae - you pointed out a key element in your post, "the point is that he would even suggest such a thing. And the sad part is that from the polls, the people ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 03:15 PM
[Doyle] From Dixie, With Love
amoderatemississippian : check out the following link: http://www.oxfordeag le.com/news2.html It does appear, by the article written today, that possibly a sizeable portion of the student body ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 02:55 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Wintrhop Sargent: WMartin - At the church I attend, St. Andrew's Cathedral, there is no teaching or preaching about hate (unless you include the teaching and preaching AGAINST hate). I'm ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 02:10 PM
[Doyle] From Dixie, With Love
ladd: A fail-safe principle I've always sworn by: If the Kluckers agree with me about something, I need to rethink it.
Nov 20, 2009 | 01:39 PM
[Doyle] From Dixie, With Love
Goldenae: I would truly be ashamed of myself if I looked at life and others the way the some people do. Some folks can not put themselves in another person's shoes to save their lives. It is ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 01:27 PM
Barbour Wants to Merge State's Black Universities
Goldenae: Why is it so hard to understand that regardless of what we would like to think, there are different standards. That is quite obvious in Barbour's suggestion of ...
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Izzy: it's not enough to just study something - at some point you have to act. Systematic exclusion can be read as hatred, even when those involved in it do not feel it to be that. This is ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 06:37 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
J.T.: Wintrhop, your last sentence "I don't want a small and manageable God. I prefer one that I can't fully understand." bears out that we each have perceptions of God. And, when the ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 06:03 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Wintrhop Sargent: Funny you should mention the gender issue of a deity. I was at lunch with a St. Andrews priest one time and a very conservative member of the Cathedral came to our table ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 05:37 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Izzy: I wouldn't be too sure your church doesn't preach hate if your liturgy is not gender-inclusive. Think about it - is God really a "He" or a "Father"? Those are some images or visions of ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 03:35 PM
Barbour Wants to Merge State's Black Universities
baquan2000: Goldenae - you pointed out a key element in your post, "the point is that he would even suggest such a thing. And the sad part is that from the polls, the people ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 03:15 PM
[Doyle] From Dixie, With Love
amoderatemississippian : check out the following link: http://www.oxfordeag le.com/news2.html It does appear, by the article written today, that possibly a sizeable portion of the student body ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 02:55 PM
[Editor's Note] Love Thy Neighbor
Wintrhop Sargent: WMartin - At the church I attend, St. Andrew's Cathedral, there is no teaching or preaching about hate (unless you include the teaching and preaching AGAINST hate). I'm ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 02:10 PM
[Doyle] From Dixie, With Love
ladd: A fail-safe principle I've always sworn by: If the Kluckers agree with me about something, I need to rethink it.
Nov 20, 2009 | 01:39 PM
[Doyle] From Dixie, With Love
Goldenae: I would truly be ashamed of myself if I looked at life and others the way the some people do. Some folks can not put themselves in another person's shoes to save their lives. It is ...
Nov 20, 2009 | 01:27 PM
Barbour Wants to Merge State's Black Universities
Goldenae: Why is it so hard to understand that regardless of what we would like to think, there are different standards. That is quite obvious in Barbour's suggestion of ...
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» [Editor’s Note] Love Thy Neighbor 
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