Mississippi School Boards Association
Dr. Michael W. Waldrop
Executive Director
Mississippi School Boards Association
MSBA Executive Director Dr. Michael W. Waldrop is a passionate education leader who has sprinted around the “education block” numerous times as a former superintendent, teacher, coach and adjunct university professor. Superintendent of the Senatobia School District in North Mississippi from 1987 - 2000, Waldrop became MSBA’s executive director August 1, 2004 following the retirement of longtime Executive Director John L. Hartman. He joined the MSBA staff July 1, 2000 as deputy executive director.
During his first four years with MSBA, Waldrop spent a great deal of time getting to know the viewpoints and needs of school board members, providing board member continuing education training, lobbying the Mississippi Legislature on board members' behalf; collaborating with other education organizations, building community connections and consulting directly with individual school districts on various school board matters. He is one of the primary authors of MSBA's school board member continuing education training modules.
After the MSBA Board of Directors appointed Waldrop as the association's executive director, he immediately set his sights on adding to and enhancing MSBA services. New services implemented under his leadership include a superintendent search service, online policy service, grassroots advocacy assistance, individualized policy manual updates for districts wanting policies tailored to their specific situations, enhanced insurance options and improved loss control services. He also was successful in convincing the Mississippi Legislature expand MSBA’s role in required school board training to include conducting state-mandated training for New School Board Members effective July 1, 2006.
Waldrop began his career in education as a social studies teacher and coach in 1970. A former adjunct professor at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College, Waldrop served as a trainer for the Mississippi Department of Education on the superintendent's role in accountability and assessment from 1995 through 2001 and as a member of the Liaison Committee for the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents (MASS) and the State Board of Education for several years beginning in 1998. He also has served as president of Northwest Mississippi Superintendents' Association; chairman of the MASS Statewide Committee for School Security and Safety; and a member of the Board of Directors of both the Mississippi Association of School Administrators and the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents.
He earned the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Delta Rural Systemic Initiative in 1998 and was recognized with the MASS Regional Leadership Award in 1999. Waldrop is a former member of the Mississippi Commission on School Accreditation (1993 - 1997), the Mississippi Effective School Consortium (1985 - 1992) and the National Assessment Governing Board (1995).
He earned a Ph.D. and a M.Ed. in educational administration from the University of Mississippi and a B.S.E. from Delta State University. He and his wife Sondra have two grown sons, Dirk and Jason.