A Coast school board was instructed to investigate its superintendent. Did it ever happen?

The Mississippi Department of Education instructed the Jackson County School Board to conduct an investigation into its superintendent, but the board won’t say if it was ever completed.

The board is being sued by a former assistant superintendent who says Jackson County School District superintendent John Strycker created a hostile work environment and discriminated against her in his hiring decisions on the basis of age and gender.

In her lawsuits, Mary Tanner claims Strycker removed her from her role assistant superintendent in part because she is a woman and 60 years old.

Tanner’s lawsuits say her allegations of a hostile work environment are backed up by an impassioned resignation letter written by Strycker’s former secretary, Melissa Rayborn. In the letter, viewed by the Sun Herald, Rayborn writes that Strycker is given to angry outbursts and frequently screamed at his staff using profane language.

Tanner has worked for the school district for 39 years and was in her role as assistant superintendent for 7 years.

The MDE urged an investigation after being made aware of complaints against Strycker, it said in a statement to the Sun Herald. Details were not provided about the timing or nature of the request, or which specific complaints they were responding to.

The Sun Herald reached out to all members of the Jackson County School Board, including J. Keith Lee, Jory Howell, Amy Dobson, Amy Peterson and Glenn Dickerson. All declined to comment. Strycker also did not respond to a request for comment.

New audio submitted in lawsuit

Previously unreported details of Strycker’s conduct have emerged in a new development to Tanner’s lawsuit.

Two appeals filed in February by Tanner’s attorney, Chuck McRae, include as evidence a video recording of Strycker disparaging female members of his staff using profane language.

The women mentioned were not present at the time of the recording.

One of them was Rayborn.

In the recording, Strycker can be heard calling a woman named Melissa, presumably Rayborn, “a f****** Baptist” and saying she could perform oral sex on his genitals.

The circumstances of the recording are not described in the lawsuit.

Rayborn, who resigned just two months before she was scheduled to become vested, told the Sun Herald that the existence of this recording was a “relief” because it provided confirmation of the work environment she had experienced.

She said she hoped that, after viewing the recording, “the board would finally believe the complaints to be true and would have to act to protect the reputation of the district, and to protect the employees who work under [Strycker’s] direction.”

According to the lawsuits, Tanner received the recording while still working as assistant superintendent for the East Central Attendance Center, and then provided it to the school board and to Strycker as required by district policy.

Former Jackson County school district chairman Kenneth Fountain said he had viewed the recording.

“The recording I heard — the vile language that was used in that — is totally unprofessional and unacceptable in the educational world,” Fountain told the Sun Herald. “And the Board maybe should consider a follow-up investigation, with a neutral party.”

Former Sun Herald reporter Isabelle Taft contributed reporting.

This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 5:50 AM.