CANTON, Miss. (WJTV) – Leaders with the Canton Public School District said an investigation is underway to determine if any alleged testing irregularities occurred at one of the district’s schools.
Superintendent Gary Hannah said they’re working to determine if the irregularities happened at Nichols Middle School.
“The Canton Public School District values academic integrity and takes pride in its accomplishments. Recently, through an internal investigation, we discovered some testing irregularities only in 6th and 7th-grade math at Nichols Middle School. We promptly addressed the issue and reported it to the appropriate parties. Our top priority is providing our students with the highest quality education, and we remain fully committed to achieving this goal through the dedication of our employees. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any additional information on this matter as it pertains to personnel and is confidential,” said Hannah.
The superintendent said transparency is his goal, but parents and community members said they are not getting answers about what happened from the district.
“Basically, we’re sitting in the dark. We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know what’s going to happened to our kids, except for I was just told that no one should be left back,” stated Felicia Harley, a student’s parent.
With just over a week left into the school year, parents said they’re hearing that about a dozen teachers were let go due to the incident.
“What are our children going to do for the next couple of days because school is still here and if 12 teachers are gone? What’s going to happened to our children?” questioned Harley.
WJTV 12 News asked if anyone was fired or put on administrative leave, but Hannah said it was a “personnel matter,” and he would not comment on it. He insisted that the issue was properly handled.
“Those issues were promptly addressed. The matter was investigated over the last few days and it was reported to the MDE and the other proper authorities,” said Hannah.
WJTV 12 News reached out to the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) about the irregularities. Officials said MDE cannot provide any detains regarding the status of the complaint or the investigation.