More time - that's what Flora parents and officials are asking of the Madison County School Board.
"Let us keep our children here, and we can work with them to get them up to par," Flora Alderman Mary Sumler said to school district officials Monday night at a public hearing on the possible closing of East Flora Middle School.
The school district has been underfunded by $7 million over the past three years, and district officials are looking to reduce costs if the state does not fund the schools at least at the same level as this year. East Flora Middle, the smallest school in the Madison County district, costs $1.1 million to operate, and closing it means a $750,000 saving, Superintendent Mike Kent said.
Kent said the board intends to decide at its April 4 meeting on whether to close East Flora and send those students to Madison Middle School next August.
Flora Mayor Leslie Childress asked the board to consider delaying any idea of closing the school, which has the Mississippi Department of Education rating of "academic watch."
Kent said the school is inefficient to run because of its small size, which makes the cost of educating each student about $14,000 compared to $7,700 in the rest of the district.
Academic performance of the students and low parental involvement also factor into the final verdict. "If performance of the kids goes up, that helps your cause," Kent said. "We have struggled over a number of years to bring the performance up."
Of the 17 who signed up to speak, only Lady Margaret Harvey asked the board to close the school so Flora students can attend Madison Middle School.
"Parents aren't going to send their children to a failing school if they can afford to send their children elsewhere. Tax dollars could be better spent," she said.
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I am curious why Lady Margaret Harvey asked that the school be closed when she homeschools her own child.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy into the idea that just because someone within the school district doesn't send their child to the school then they don't get a say. All of our tax money is going to support the school. So we all have a say. If Lady Margaret Harvey had the option of a better school then maybe she wouldn't be homeschooling. If that is in fact the case.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how parents get involved when they are going to be inconvenienced, but they couldn't be bothered to give a damn when it comes to doing the work of supporting the school and their children's education every other day.
ReplyDeleteIf Mike Kent and the school board would rezone appropriately then this school would not be having these problems. However, Mr. Kent is NOT going to do anything to upset his favored City of Madison parents. They are the ones with the money and what they want... they get... ALWAYS!
ReplyDeleteMadison School District will be so much better when there is a new superintendent.