The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies. CENTREVILLE — Dysfunctional leadership and low academic achievement have been a challenge in the Wilkinson County School District for at least six years, according to past superinten dents, district parents and a review of documents from three state agencies.  The Mississippi Board of Education voted in January to take over the district in the rural southwestern corner of the state, where schools have posted some of the lowest scores in math and reading on state assessments since the 2018-19 school year. Leaders’ decision to close two schools forced students from rival communities of Centreville and Woodville to attend classes together, spurring fights. School board meetings sometimes devolved into name calling, and the group’s financial decisions raised questions and concerns about whether they complied with state law.  As of January, district officials had not submitted a financial audit since the 2023 fiscal year, and they had indicated a $1.7 million deficit in the budget outlook for the current school year. The district’s struggles reflect those in the community, former Wilkinson County leaders and school administrators told Mississippi Today. In the county, one of the most rural in the state, almost 30% of residents live in poverty. Some of the largest employers are the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, a private prison. Mobile homes and A-frame homes are situated in thick forest off roads that cut through bluffs in Centreville, a rural community without a bank. Ancient live oak trees hug the 19th century courthouse in Woodville, which boasts a downtown populated by small businesses. The district student population decreased by half in the last six years, from 1,210 to 648, and the county population has similarly shrunk as locals sought opportunities in Louisiana, which borders Wilkinson County to the west and south. The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies. The Wilkinson County School District building is seen on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Woodville. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today As L.C. Clark, the former chief of the district’s campus police, put it: The children of Wilkinson County haven’t yet had the opportunity to succeed. Others including Hope Price, whose child attended Wilkinson County High, said they feel it will take greater parental involvement to change a school and community culture that normalized dysfunction. “When (some parents) found out that the state had taken over the school, they were on Facebook rejoicing,” Price recalled. “And it’s crazy to me. You have no school board, no superintendent. Why are you excited about that?” Some parents were eager to see the outgoing superintendent punished, she said.  Now, the district has an opportunity to return to its “glory days,” Interim Superintendent Lee Henry Coats said. School closings fuel fights For now, there is bad blood between some residents of Centreville and Woodville, two similarly sized towns roughly 14 miles apart, and the strife spills over into the district’s schools, according to more than a dozen locals who spoke to Mississippi Today. The ensuing clashes started before the two cities’ high schools were football rivals. Price, of Woodville, said her son was sent to the district alternative school after defending a friend who got into a fight with a student from Centreville on a school bus.  “They see each other at school after they’re done beefing on social media,” Price said. “It’s where it all comes out.” The rivalry worsened when district officials decided to shutter both schools in Centreville. The elementary school closed after a 2019 fire, and William Winan Middle School shut down in 2024 despite being renovated in the last decade. The school closings meant a longer commute for Centreville students and injured pride for alumni. Linton Trahan, an alumnus, had to start waking up his grandchildren at dawn to catch the school bus for the long ride to Woodville. Linton Trahan stands outside of Finch Elementary School as he discusses the Wilkinson County School District Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Centreville. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today “You can’t teach them discipline at home if they can’t do nothing but get up, go to school and come back and go to bed,” he said. “And then they get tired and can’t learn because they fall asleep in class.” A dysfunctional school board Discipline programs aren’t limited to students.  Wilkinson County locals may not agree on much, but most who spoke to Mississippi Today pointed to five people they blame for the district’s decline: school board members. Two state agencies have investigated whether board members’ financial decisions and actions broke state law.  The State Auditor’s Office found that in fiscal year 2023, the school board approved financial statements and paid vendors without presenting the buys at its meetings. The board also accepted bids for consulting fees without reviewing cheaper alternatives and couldn’t account for some expenditures that were $5,000 to $72,000. One invoice was billed incorrectly and another was split in half to circumvent state purchasing law.  In October, the state Department of Education sent district leaders a letter about allegations that school board members were interfering in the district’s daily operations. The letter states that President Fred Anderson, whose service was terminated as part of the state takeover, had not completed training required under state law. The letter also cited allegations that board member Elease Sullivan, whose service was also terminated, had “expressed concerns” about her daughter’s salary — a conflict of interest, texted other board members about hiring a new football coach after a losing season and arranged an impromptu walkthrough of the high school without the superintendent’s approval. Two former Wilkinson County superintendents accused board members of violating the state open meetings law and discussing school district business outside of the boardroom. One recalled chaotic board meetings where board members would engage in name calling and make it difficult to fund supplemental pay for teachers and other priorities that would directly impact students in the classroom. Kimberly Jackson talks about the Wilkinson County School District on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Centreville. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today It seemed that serving on the school board “created a level of significance for them, for people to stop in the grocery store or stop at church and want to talk to you,” former Superintendent Kimberly Jackson said of board members’ behavior. Some board members also seemed to enjoy traveling to conferences on the district’s dime, she said.  Clark, who was a campus police officer for the district for more than 15 years, said he felt ignored by several school board members he thought were out of touch with parents’ and community members’ concerns. He said board meeting minutes were not readily available. “If you didn’t catch the board member out and talk to them, they weren’t going to talk to you,”Clark said. “To me, they couldn’t have done it any better than getting rid of the board.” Academics in free fall After she was hired as Wilkinson County Schools’ superintendent in July 2023, Shemekia Rankin said she struggled to change the dysfunctional school culture and improve test scores. She said she encountered staff who were complacent and willing to pull rank with the help of board members. “There was no structure,” Rankin said. “So with me coming in, putting new policies in place, teachers and other staff pushed against me. Some left. They didn’t want the culture to change.” A 2023 report on district instruction backed up some of Rankin’s observations. The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER), which monitors state agencies, contracted an education technology firm to analyze information about instruction at 30 school districts, including Wilkinson County. The consultant’s analysis indicated significant grade inflation in Wilkinson County schools because about 90% of district fourth and fifth graders received As and Bs but less than a quarter of elementary students scored as proficient on state standardized tests. Rankin said she faced additional hurdles while filling principal vacancies. In her first semester, the high school principal died, the elementary school principal resigned, and a counselor was serving as the middle school principal. Rankin said she was unable to find replacements by end of year due to low job interest and a small applicant pool.  “Year one was bound to be an F,” Rankin said of the district’s accountability grade. “I didn’t have effective leadership at any of the schools.” She also struggled to fill teacher vacancies in state tested subjects such as algebra and English II during her second full year on the job. Substitute teachers taught most of those courses, she said. Many teachers who were stalwarts in the community, some of whom commuted from Louisiana, had retired, leaving a new generation hesitant to join the local teacher workforce. Rankin also struggled to hire a truancy officer during her tenure; the Wilkinson County schools share one with the Natchez-Adams School District. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCredit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today Rankin looked internationally, primarily in Jamaica, for educators to teach state tested subjects in math and science. She said she was seeing improvements in benchmark data. “It takes more than two and a half years to move a district, especially given what challenges the district has faced for as long as it had,” Rankin said. “People in the district had stopped caring.”  Tracking down cheaters Such apathy might explain concerns about cheating in the district. In 2023, the state Department of Education began investigating testing irregularities in the district. Department officials reached out to interview Wilkinson County High School teachers  who might have helped students cheat on state tests, but could not reach them. Those teachers weren’t working at public schools in Mississippi or Louisiana after that year, which prevented state education officials from questioning them, said Brian McGarity, the department’s director of educator misconduct. “We’ve put a timestamp on their licenses in which they can’t upgrade, move around, or add an endorsement until they talk to us,” McGarity said. “From what we can tell, the last employer for all of these educators was the Wilkinson County School District.” To complete its investigation, the department needs to question between one and five of those teachers, state education officials told Mississippi Today. The investigation is still open. “We’re not going to give it up,” McGarity said. “We do work diligently to try to keep a list with cases cleared.” The state invalidated the high school’s test scores. The “C” accountability grade the district received in 2023 now only applies to the elementary and middle school. Meanwhile, Coats, the interim superintendent, faced a difficult first few weeks leading the district. He canceled two days of classes because of Winter Storm Fern. A beloved high school senior and a homecoming court attendant was shot and killed. Coats previously helped improve test scores and attendance at the Holmes County School District, which the state took over in 2021 because of violations including dysfunctional leadership and financial mismanagement. Before that, he worked as a principal in Kosciusko. “I think a lot of times when you have an MDE takeover, a lot of people are left in the dark. I just want to be transparent on what we’re doing to move the district forward,” he said. For community members, new leadership brings the hope of improved educational outcomes for the county’s youngest residents. “For both kids and parents, I just pray that one day we have unity,” Price said. “Genuine unity. We can only go up from here.” ...read more read less