BOONEVILLE – Matt Smith, who has endured months of harassment and threats as the Prentiss County schools superintendent, has stepped down to become principal at Kossuth High School.

The Prentiss County school board accepted his resignation in a special meeting Thursday, said its attorney, Richard Bowen.

Wheeler Principal Todd Swinney will serve as acting superintendent until an interim can be appointed, possibly at the March 1 board meeting. An election is likely in November for a full-time superintendent.

Smith, who was in the middle of his first term as superintendent, will take over at Kossuth after the resignation earlier this week of Robert Keenum.

The resignation of Keenum as principal of Kossuth High School was formally accepted by the Alcorn County Board of Education earlier this week.

While officials couldn’t comment on Kennum’s resignation, records of the Prentiss County Sheriff’s Office show that Keenum was jailed on Nov. 25, 2009, after he was arrested by a Mississippi Highway Patrol officer. He was charged with DUI-refusal when he refused to take a breathalyzer test, an automatic misdemeanor charge when one refuses the blood alcohol test.

The change in jobs comes after a tumultuous term for Smith, whose work on restructuring the district ran into opposition from parents and school administrators.

In early 2008, the school board asked Smith to provide some consolidation options in the face of steadily rising district operating costs. Smith presented five options to the board in June 2008, but the board took no action.

In August 2008, the board voted to place the question of consolidation on the November 2008 ballot in a nonbinding straw poll.

Even though the ballot question “Are you in favor of any form of consolidation in the Prentiss County School District?” drew almost 57 percent support, the board still took no action on the question.

Since April 2009, the Prentiss County school board has adopted and rescinded two different restructuring plans and approved a third plan at a Jan. 20 special meeting.

Last summer, the superintendent withdrew his teenage son from Prentiss County schools after he said threats were made against his child by individuals who oppose any changes at the schools.

In an open letter to the community published in Thursday’s Daily Corinthian, Smith said he himself had been threatened, and that he had moved his family out of the county and was seeking other employment.

Smith was approved as Kossuth principal at a special meeting of the Alcorn County school board on Wednesday.

He was expected to begin his new job as soon as he had notified the Prentiss County board, said Alcorn County school board President Linda Brooks.

Contact Lena Mitchell at (662) 287-9822 or lena.mitchell@djournal.com.