The Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board voted Monday against extending the contract of Dr. Mary Brown, superintendent, beyond the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
Brown will continue as superintendent during the upcoming school year despite the board’s 3-1 vote. Board member Ro’Shaun Bailey voted against the decision, and Samantha Milton, board president, abstained.
Milton declined to answer questions about why the board decided not to extend Brown’s contract, which remains intact for 2021-2022.
In a written statement Monday, Brown said: “The board president, Mrs. Samantha Milton, made me aware after a special called board meeting today that my three-year contract would not be extended after June 30, 2022.
“I was given the option to submit a letter of resignation; however, I refused to do so at the time.
“I was not provided with a reason regarding this decision for a non-
contract extension. However, I will continue to do what is best for the children in this district up until the end of my contract next year. I look forward to continuing to lead the district in a positive direction.”
Board member Magdalene Abraham, who voted with the majority, would not respond to questions about what led to the decision or what will happen next, saying that Milton speaks for the board. Board members Kalanya Moore and Jackie Cooper-Lewis also voted to not hire Brown again.
Milton explained that the board chose to make the decision at this time so that “we could start a superintendent search and she could start looking, too.”
Brown was hired as superintendent in February 2019 and is the first superintendent of the consolidated district, which was formed that year. Her three-year contract provides for a salary of not less than $150,000 a year. She had previously served as curriculum director for the now-defunct Greenwood Public School District.
Brown’s 16-year career at the local schools was interrupted in October 2014. Dr. Montrell Greene, who was the Greenwood district’s superintendent then, fired her after she claimed during a radio interview that he had bullied and harassed her and other district employees.
Greene claimed she was insubordinate and in violation of district policies. She protested, and hearings dragged on for more than a year before the two sides settled and Brown was hired back as curriculum director.
By that time, the board had fired Greene.
Also Monday, during open session, Anjuan Brown, the district’s chief of security and safety, answered questions from the board about the security on campus that reflect concerns about Greenwood’s recent rash of gun violence.
Board members asked Brown if he could put more funding to effective use, and he answered affirmatively. Brown is interviewing prospects for two positions, and he said it’s important to hire the right people.
Brown, while waiting for the board to return from its closed session, said the district has four resource officers, including himself, and 12 school safety officers.
Each of the three high schools has one resource officer and one school safety officer. The other school safety officers are assigned to the district’s other schools, where there is one per school.
Each school practices responding to one of four types of crises on a monthly basis: a natural disaster, such as a tornado; a fire; a bomb threat; and a lockdown because there is an intruder on campus.
An effort is made to make the practice drills seem real, he said, because one could “actually happen.”
He noted that the school’s security force is a certified police department and “can do anything a deputy or police officer can do.”
Brown, who also is a Leflore County supervisor, said the school board’s concerns about safety reflect the community’s worries over violent crime.
A shooting on May 21, which took the life of Robert Love of Greenwood, happened in the street in front of Threadgill Elementary School, which is on Broad Street.
“We have got to do something about this senseless killing, and we definitely do not want it to infiltrate into our schools,” Brown said.
- Contact Susan Montgomery at 581-7241 or smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com.
