Update on the recall of JMCSS school board member

JACKSON, Tenn. — A local school board member faces a petition that could remove her from her position.

“I really don’t understand why there’s a petition against me,” said JMCSS school board member Doris Black. “I could understand if I had done something unethical, then sure recall me, but not to agree on my views and opinions, it’s just crazy!”

The petition started because of one parent who says they felt like they weren’t being heard.

“We don’t feel that she communicates with us,” parent Sherry Franks said. “We don’t feel that she votes in the manner that parents have requested.”

Franks and 36 other volunteers started collecting signatures back in April.

Franks says they need 1,151 signatures to have Black recalled.

“The main concern here is putting those elementary school kids at North Side High School,” Franks said. “North Side is a great school, but I don’t want a kindergartner with a 12th grader.”

Black says she received mixed feelings on the proposal.

Franks says she worries about moving students to North Side because her youngest child has special needs.

Franks also claims Black doesn’t attend meetings regularly.

“I was invited to 2 Pope meetings. The first one I attended, and the parents were very upset with me. It’s okay for people to disagree,” Black said.

Black said she was unable to attend one of those meetings because of a broken leg.

Black also says some parents disagree with her proposal because it can disrupt their usual routine.

“We want her to understand that we don’t want our kids at a high school,” Franks said. “I don’t care how they retrofit it.”

“They don’t like my proposal with the new school over at North Side High School,” Black said.

Franks has 500 signatures on her copy of a petition, and with the other volunteers, she believes they should be close to the required amount.