At 1:30 the COA will hear the case of Jackson Public Schools v. Tanyatameika Mason. Mason was the principal of Jim Hill High School. In May 2016, JPS decided to terminate her principal contract and offer her one as assistant principal. Mason was issued an assistant principal’s contract and offered a hearing regarding the termination of her principal’s contract. A due process hearing was held and the School Board upheld the recommendation of termination of Mason’s existing contract and ordered the issuance of one as assistant principal. Mason appealed and the chancery court reversed finding that JPS missed the deadline to nonrenew. If the case is a nonrenewal, the District is required to give notice of nonrenewal by a specified date (in this case, March 1, 2016) or the contract automatically renews for the next school year. JPS argued that this was not a case of a nonrenewal but rather a demotion. The chancellor held that a demotion is a nonrenewal and that JPS missed the deadline and, therefore, the contract automatically renewed.
JPS’s brief
Mason’s brief
JPS’s rebuttal brief
Watch the argument here