Superintendent Xandra Brooks-Keys Credit: Coahoma County School District

CLARKSDALE – The Board of Trustees of the Coahoma County School District fired superintendent Xandra Brooks-Keys at a special called meeting earlier this week.

Nathaniel Armistad, attorney for the school board, confirmed in a phone call with Mississippi Today that the board did fire Brooks-Keys at the Tuesday meeting. John Mac Curlee, former conservator in Aberdeen and Tate County districts, will replace Brooks-Keys as interim superintendent until further notice, said Armistad.

No reason was given for the firing of Brooks-Keys and long-term plans for the position were not disclosed.

Patrick Campbell, school board president, said the district hopes to keep Curlee for at least a year, during a telephone conversation with Mississippi Today.

Back in January, the school board suspended Brooks-Keys, as reported by the Clarksdale Press Register. Brooks-Keys was placed on a five day suspension and her suspension was later withdrawn, said Armistad.

Brooks-Keys was first appointed as superintendent of the district for the 2016-2017 school year.

The district staff did not release details of Tuesday’s meeting to the public.


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Aallyah Wright is a native of Clarksdale, and was a Mississippi Delta reporter covering education and local government. She was also a weekly news co-host on WROX Radio (97.5 FM) and collaborator with StoryWorks/Reveal Labs from the Center for Investigative Reporting. Aallyah has a bachelor’s in journalism with minors in communications and theater from Delta State University. She is a 2018 Educating Children in Mississippi Fellow at the Hechinger Report, and co-founder of the Mississippi Delta Public Newsroom.