Upon first glance, when waiting outside of Dr. Sargent’s office, one would think she never left the district. After a busy morning of delivering a convocation speech, where she welcomed back teachers and administrators, offered directions and issued a working theme of “One District, One Team, One Dream, Together We All Achieve,” Sargent spent the afternoon engaged in meetings with District Attorney JoAnne Sheppard and Chief Financial Officer Sharolyn Miller, returning telephone calls and answering emails.
Sargent said her return is for the sake of the call.
Having served in the capacity as Superintendent for JPS from 1997 until her retirement in 2002, Sargent is back as interim chief for the second largest school district in the state. “I’m very excited to be back, I love JPS, I practically spent my entire career here.Jackson is home and so I am happy to be back and offer my services,” she said. “I was going to volunteer my services or work on a part-time limited bases, but based on the needs of the district and PEER’s evaluation of my retirement situation, I’m able to offer myself full time.”
Sargent’s focus is simple, making sure the students of JPS achieve.
“I get so excited whenever I have a conversation about teaching and learning,” she said. “That’s our driving force…at the end of the day, it’s about teaching and learning, if we don’t have that going on and if we are not succeeding at that, then why are we here?”
Aware of the challenges that plague the district, Sargent said she is up for the task. “Because we know why we are here and why we exist, our teachers, principals and other administrators will be in the classrooms more this year,” Sargent said. “I don’t want anyone to feel as if we are checking on them or waiting for something bad to happen; we want to celebrate what we are doing right, because it is all about learning.”
The village concept is proven.
“I have always believed in the village concept because it works,” Sargent said. “We need everyone involved in this process; we can’t do it alone. Our parents, community coalitions, business partners and religious leaders; we need everyone…simply put, its about the children.”
JPS currently serve more than 30,000 students each year and the latest assessment of the district by the State Department of Education places the district under academic watch. Of the 55 schools evaluated, 34 are at risk of failing or on academic watch. The other 21 are rated successful, high performing or star schools. The dropout rate in 2010 was 24.3 percent.
“The students in our district deserve better than this, our parents deserve better than this…we will get there but it will take all of us,” Sargent said. “When I came back, I knew we had a lot of work to do but the good news is we can do it. We have some exceptional teachers.”
Sargent’s time will end when a new superintendent is named.
“My commitment to the board is that I will serve until a new school chief is named,” she shared. “That is a 100 percent duty of the board and I’m not involved in the process unless they ask me to do something.”
During the convocation, Sargent said, “It doesn’t take long to do what’s right and to make improvements.” “I know my time is short, but it doesn’t take long to serve our students and get it right,” she said to all those assembled in the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center on the campus of Jackson State University.
“We can and we will do this. Our theme gives us the motivation to succeed and should serve as a guiding light. When I walk into the school buildings, into the classrooms, I want the conversation to be about our students succeeding…I want it to be about “One District, One Team, One Dream, Together We All Achieve.”
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