At their monthly board meeting, the Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees voted Thursday to extend the contract of Superintendent Chad Shealy for three more years, along with awarding a salary increase.
Superintendent Chad Shealy will now earn a $190,800 salary, $70,000 more today than when he assumed the role in 2013 replacing Dr. Liz Swinford. Dr. Swinford took a position as superintendent of the Tuscaloosa County School System in Alabama.
During Shealy’s era, the school district passed an 83 million dollar bond to improve the physical plant and learning environment for the children.
The overall academic performance of the district as a whole has remained a challenge, with the district rated a “D” during the most recently rated school year by the Mississippi Department of Education on their “Mississippi Succeeds” report card. The graduation rate for the district is 80.7% according to the same source.
Bovina Elementary School is the highest rated school in the district with an “A” rating while Vicksburg Junior High is the lowest rated. Bowmar, Warrenton and Redwood schools are pulling a “B” rating, Beechwood, South Park and Sherman Avenue a “C” while Vicksburg Intermediate, Warren Central High, Warren Central Junior High, Dana Road Elementary, Vicksburg High and Warren Central Intermediate all are rated a “D”.
A November 18 audit of the schools by the State Auditor’s Office noted 19 different cases of “fraud, waste and abuse.” Eleven of those issues say the district has not complied with state law, with the report calling some of the issues “significant deficiencies in internal control.” According to the district, many of the issues were blamed on transferring the books from one software package to another. Among the most egregious issues cited were travel reimbursements paid to Director of Financial Operations Shaquita Burke by the Hinds Public Schools District, then duplicated and paid by VWSD. Burke traveled with her husband, Earl Burke, who worked for the Hinds County School District at the time.
Burke resigned from the district on December 18, 2020.
The school district has not responded to the Vicksburg Daily News request for comment on Shealy’s pay increase at the time of this report.