The state Department of Education has taken over Jasper County schools — dissolving the school board and declaring a state-of-education emergency — less than a week ahead of Monday’s first day of classes.
The announcement by letter came a day before the school board held a Tuesday night meeting that went straight into executive session and adjourned without any public explanation. It also followed an investigation released earlier this month by the state Office of the Inspector General, which found potential ethical and criminal infractions committed by former Jasper County School District Superintendent Rechel Anderson.
In the July 28 letter, Superintendent Ellen Weaver informed Jasper County Board of Education Chair Joyce Gerald that the district’s worsening financial crisis, combined with a failure by the board to take corrective action, made state intervention necessary…