Cory Uselton wins
Most populous areas backed Uselton; New DeSoto school chief starts January 1
The DeSoto County school district’s newly elected superintendent relied on support evenly distributed throughout most areas of the county to ride to victory in last Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff.
Superintendent-elect Cory Uselton captured 61 percent of the vote against opponent Jim Ferguson in balloting that only drew 17 percent of DeSoto County’s 90,000-plus registered voters.
The race was the only countywide contest on the DeSoto ballot, and it decided the outcome since Uselton has no Democratic challenger in the November general election.
Uselton, principal of DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, carried 26 of the county’s 39 precincts, including the most populous areas.
Ferguson’s support was concentrated in Horn Lake, where he served as principal of Horn Lake High for eight years, and several nearby precincts in the western part of the county.
But Uselton, 46, dominated throughout eastern DeSoto County; in Hernando, where the countywide school system is headquartered, and in areas of Southaven
around DeSoto Central, which is Mississippi’s fifth largest high school with an enrollment of more than 1,700.
Uselton said Tuesday evening he plans to meet with teachers at all 42 campuses that make up DeSoto County Schools, the state’s largest public school district, as he transitions into office Jan. 1.
Ferguson, chief academic officer for high schools, said Wednesday he had not really had time to analyze the results but can’t think of anything he would have done differently. Ferguson said he hoped to continue working in his current role as long as Uselton wants him in the job.
Uselton said he hopes to continue working with Ferguson and the two other challengers in the Aug. 4 GOP primary who failed to make the runoff: Dr. Edith Robinson, the district’s director of curriculum, and Jerry Darnell, chief academic officer for elementary schools.
Retiring Superintendent Milton Kuykendall, meanwhile, congratulated Uselton Wednesday and called him the perfect replacement.
“I think the people have spoken, and I don’t think they could have selected a better superintendent if they had done a nationwide search,” Kuykendall said in a statement. “I will be happy to turn the keys to the district over to this fine individual. I know he will be an outstanding superintendent.”
Uselton will have to work with a new slate of DeSoto legislators who upset four incumbents Aug. 4, winning on an education-heavy agenda that opposes the Common Core curriculum and promised support for education reforms sought in many areas of the state such as vouchers and charter schools.
Kuykendall, 67, chose not to seek a fourth fouryear term and will retire when his contract ends Dec. 31.
Kuykendall announced last year he was stepping down to give potential successors time to mount a campaign, but he did not endorse anyone.
Uselton will become the district’s 10th elected superintendent. Most school superintendents nationwide are appointed, but many in Mississippi and other parts of the South are elected.