TUPELO – The Tupelo Public School District will hire the former superintendent of the Pontotoc City School District as a temporary consultant this summer.

Charles Harrison will essentially serve as chief accountability officer, the position that interim Superintendent David Meadows held before becoming the district’s leader.

Tupelo’s school board approved Harrison’s services during its meeting Tuesday. He will be paid $1,200 per day plus any out-of-district travel costs for a maximum of 15 days, for a total of up to $18,000.

Meadows said that Harrison may not be needed for all 15 days and he will be paid only for the days he works.

Under Harrison’s leadership, Pontotoc was the first school district in Mississippi to achieve Level 5 status, the state’s top ranking in its old accountability system.

He will help the Tupelo district complete a cost-benefit analysis of all of its new initiatives, a project that Meadows had been leading until his promotion.

He also will be asked to measure the progress that Tupelo has made on the eight recommendations singled out in its curriculum audit, which Phi Delta Kappa International completed in March 2010.

“He will look at all of the new initiatives and see which ones are working and which ones we may need to reconsider,” Meadows said, calling Harrison “a highly respected individual in the education community.”

Harrison also will work with Meadows, Assistant Superintendent Fred Hill and Director of Innovative and Alternative Programs Larry Harmon to assess Tupelo’s Ombudsman program and whether it is serving students.

This was the first year that Tupelo used the private education company Ombudsman to run its alternative school.

Contact Chris Kieffer at (662) 678-1590 or chris.kieffer@journalinc.com.