JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Jackson Public School District (JPS) Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene gave his testimony at a third hearing on the district’s testing irregularities, as well as the firing of several employees in 2023.

Former District Testing Coordinator Dr. Lorenda Cheeks was fired from the district and attended Thursday’s hearing.

Cheeks’ attorney, John Hall, said this is the first time Greene said he did not fire his client because of cheating allegations, but for not having a seating chart for students at Peeples Middle School. Testing irregularities were found at the middle school.

“What we do know is that not all scholars were accounted for in the seating charts that we have, and we have an individual who is the lead of our testing program for the entire district. That’s our whole job. That’s our whole job. And it is not a stretch of the imagination that you would expect all of the scholars who are being tested to be accounted for in the records, per schools,” said Greene.

“Today was the first day there. He acknowledged that she wasn’t cheating, but then he doubled down and accused her of educator misconduct or educator malpractice. And I think that was very rich of him to say that given the fact that he had all these professionals under his supervision, yet none of his top staff was reprimanded,” said Hall.

The attorney believes Cheeks was an easy target and said the hearing officer has 30 days to determine whether she will get her job back.