Jackson Free Press

A laudatory report that Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Lonnie Edwards has repeatedly cited as evidence of his good work dates back to 2009 and comes from an organization for which he serves as a board member. Edwards, who is currently mired in a hearing on his three-year contract with JPS, has used the report from the Council of the Great City Schools to makes the case for a contract extension.

Edwards' attorney, former Jackson Mayor Dale Danks, cited the report in cross-examination of JPS board member Monica Gilmore-Love today. The report focused on the district's communications and public relations. Among its conclusions was the finding that "one the district's biggest assets is its passionate, articulate and highly accessible superintendent," Danks said.

The report also asserted that JPS' academic achievement has improved, based on rankings by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Council on Accreditation and School Improvement. The SACS designated JPS as a "Quality School System," the report noted.

It blamed a "fractured school board and testy superintendent-school board interactions played out in public" for overshadowing the district's successes with a negative public image. Only one member of the current JPS board, Ivory Phillips, was also on the board when the CGCS released the report, in 2009.

Edwards serves as a board member of the Council of the Great City Schools, Gilmore-Love pointed out in response to Danks.

Danks also asked Gilmore-Love whether a February 2011 letter in support of Edwards sent by 100 Concerned Clergy for a Better Jackson would change her opinion of the superintendent. Gilmore-Love replied that she had received varying opinions of the superintendent from many sources. She told Danks that while she remained open to reconsidering her Dec. 7 vote against renewing Edwards' contract, she was dissatisfied with his ability to turn the district around academically.

"I don't believe that we have a comprehensive approach, a strategic approach, to improving our students' performance," Gilmore-Love said.

Gilmore-Love was one of three members to vote against renewing Edwards' contract at the Dec. 7 meeting. The other two members, George Schimmel and Board President Kisiah Nolan, gave similar testimony on March 25, the first day of Edwards' hearing.

After Gilmore-Love's testimony, both sides agreed to suspend the hearing until 9 a.m. on Friday, April 22. Former board member Jonathan Larkin, whom Gilmore-Love replaced last year, will likely testify then.