HAZLEHURST — The Hazlehurst City School District board replaced its superintendent in a Friday morning vote. 

The board voted to hire Nonya Thrasher as the district’s interim superintendent. Thrasher was serving as the district’s director of accountability, compliance and accreditation. She replaces Cloyd Garth Jr., who had led the district since 2017.

Board members declined to confirm whether Garth resigned. Garth did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The board also voted to name Paul Rhodes as school board chairman pro tem, an interim role. He stepped in for school board president Daniel Jones, who also previously served as University of Mississippi chancellor. Jones declined to comment.

The leadership changes coincide with a Mississippi Department of Education probe of the district, which uncovered several accreditation violations that must be resolved to avoid a possible state takeover. Rhodes mentioned the district required an interim superintendent who was well aware of the corrective action needed. 

READ MORE: Can consolidations fix dysfunctional school districts?

The state Education Department rejected Hazlehurst’s corrective action plan in March and downgraded the district’s accreditation status to probation. District leaders have until December to clear outstanding accreditation violations including incomplete student recordkeeping, poor oversight of special education services and infrastructure in need of renovations.

As the district’s accreditation director since 2023, Thrasher helped clear outstanding violations related to problems with district course offerings, student transportation and student safety. She previously worked as interim superintendent of Claiborne County Schools.

“I feel pretty confident,” Rhodes said of Thrasher’s new role. “We all need to get on board because the main objective is making sure that our kids get educated. That’s the bottom line.”

Rep. Greg Holloway, a Democrat from Hazlehurst, told Mississippi Today he plans to ask state education department officials if they could postpone taking additional action against the district to give new leadership time to address problems.

“The district has shown an interest in making the school district better and not continuing down the same path, even though they went down that path too long,” Holloway said. “Certainly something had to be done about the conditions at Hazlehurst city schools. And it’s been that way for nearly 10 years, and it was never rectified.”

He described Thrasher as a leader capable of making the district a place that “people can be proud of in the future.”