State Superintenent Dr. Eric Mackey Speaks on MPS Intervention and Moving Forward
Following the recently released accreditation report for Montgomery Public Schools, new State Superintendent, Dr. Eric Mackey is still optimistic about the future of the school system.
“As we move forward in July and August we’re going to have some longer board meetings because we’re going to have to make some important decisions,” says Mackey.
One of those decisions, calls for he and the board choosing a new assessment plan.
“I was glad the board had good discussion about wanting to be engaged. Too many times folks may say well somebody else can do that, somebody else can do that work. But this board wants to be engaged in actually doing the work, making sure we get the right assessment for children,” says Mackey.
As for Montgomery Public Schools intervention, Mackey says the process is moving smoothly.
So, I’m very encouraged by it. I’ve met with Dr. Moore, I’ve met with the board members. I think they all want to work together and move forward too,” says Mackey.
In fact he feels confident bringing on new MPS Chief administrative officer Dr. Terry Roller to help lead through the intervention.
“We’re going to go in and we’re going to build relationships with people, we’re going to support the principals. We’re going to support the staff that work with the principals that do the work with the students,’ says Roller.
“We feel even better about that than we did last month as far as having accreditation-moving forward not losing accreditation if you will-by December, by the time the review team comes back,” says Mackey.
Mackey says, there is still another lawsuit on the table to fight. The new lawsuit was filed on June 1st by a parent to stop the sale of Georgia Washington Middle School.
“We feel like we’ve got a strong position going into that and we’ll be successful in winning that case just as we have all the others,” says Mackey.
Despite the many decisions to be made, Mackey and Roller say there is hope to move MPS in a positive direction.
We’re going to follow best practices, industry standards and do what it is right for young people,” says Roller.
