A Beechwood Elementary teacher has been removed from her position after interim principal Tamikia Billings discovered she was not certified for her position.

Jimmika Hargrave, an instructor of language arts, math, science and social studies, was not certified for those subject areas and that grade level. She previously had been certified as a secondary teacher.

Hargrave was removed from the position last week and since has been replaced with Tonya Campbell. Campbell is a certified teacher who has been a substitute teacher in the school district for a number of years.

Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Swinford said the district strives to make sure each teacher has proper credentials so the district can remain Accredited by the Mississippi Department of Education.

“There’s always a period upon their hire in which they’re allowed to get the proper certification,” she said.

“We have to look for a certified teacher to fill the role full-time,” Swinford said. “We help them get certified before we have to report them to the MDE. We have to report to MDE the name of every teacher, their certification and what they’re teaching. If it’s not right, we need to fix it.”

Swinford said she did not know the circumstances of Hargrave’s lack of certification and could not say whether she had taken a required test.

In 2011, VWSD fell from Accredited to Advised because a teacher was not removed after failing to pass a certification test. If districts do not meet specific state standards for instruction and curriculum, accreditation status can fall to Advised, Probation or Withdrawn. The district’s Accredited rating was restored this year.

“One year ago, our accreditation standard dropped one notch because I kept a teacher who had great test scores but was not properly certified,” Swinford said. “I’m not doing that again.”