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.
CL
Showing posts with label Mayor Leslie Childress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mayor Leslie Childress. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
East Flora PTA to meet Thursday night over potential school closing.
The East Flora PTA will meet Thursday night at 6:00 in the school gym to discuss the potential closing of the school. If closed, the town of Flora would be the only municipality in Madison County without a school. The move would force students to be bussed several miles away.
East Flora Middle School serves 147 students and is listed as underperforming. Madison County spends $14,000 per student at East Flora compared to the average per student cost of $7,700.
Concerned parents and town officials met Tuesday night at Flora City Hall to discuss the predicament.
East Flora Middle School serves 147 students and is listed as underperforming. Madison County spends $14,000 per student at East Flora compared to the average per student cost of $7,700.
Concerned parents and town officials met Tuesday night at Flora City Hall to discuss the predicament.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monsanto corn breeding facility up and running in Flora.
Elected officials from across the state joined Flora in welcoming Monsanto to the Flora Industrial Park on Tuesday January 11. The $2.4 million facility further boosts the company’s investment in the South and is a reflection of Monsanto’s commitment to continue delivering new high-performing products to southern farmers.
The 26,000-square-foot corn breeding station will employ approximately 10 full-time and up to 50 seasonal workers. Corn production in the southern region has been growing in the last several years, and the new site’s research focus will be on using the latest breeding techniques to develop higher-yielding corn hybrids with greater resistance to disease and other environmental stresses, specifically adapted to the region.
The site will complement Monsanto’s global breeding program and become part of a network of more than 50 corn breeding locations around the world. Southern farmers also will benefit from the genetic diversity of Monsanto’s global germplasm pool.
Monsanto currently has 3 technology research sites in Mississippi – Scott, Leland, and Winterville – focused on delivering cotton and soy varieties and traits to meet the needs of southern farmers.
The announcement comes two years after the town lost out to a site in Kansas to be the new location for a Department of Homeland Security Bio lab. Flora's Industrial Park currently has only one tenant, Primos Hunting Calls, locating there in May of 2002.
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| Mayor Les Childress, Ag Commissioner Lester Spell, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Congressman Gregg Harper, and Representative Phillip Gunn were on hand to welcome the new Monsanto facility to Flora. |
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| Flora Mayor Leslie Childress welcomes officials from across Madison County and Mississippi to Flora. |
The site will complement Monsanto’s global breeding program and become part of a network of more than 50 corn breeding locations around the world. Southern farmers also will benefit from the genetic diversity of Monsanto’s global germplasm pool.
Monsanto currently has 3 technology research sites in Mississippi – Scott, Leland, and Winterville – focused on delivering cotton and soy varieties and traits to meet the needs of southern farmers.
The announcement comes two years after the town lost out to a site in Kansas to be the new location for a Department of Homeland Security Bio lab. Flora's Industrial Park currently has only one tenant, Primos Hunting Calls, locating there in May of 2002.
Friday, December 17, 2010
District may close Flora Middle School
The possibility of closing East Flora Middle School was discussed this week as the Madison County School Board faces another year of state funding cuts.
Flora Mayor Les Childress and a group of the school's PTA members sat down with School Board members in executive session to discuss the issue Monday.
The school has an enrollment of 154 students that requires around 13 teachers as well as administration and support staff. School officials estimate it costs around $1 million a year to operate.
Superintendent of Education Michael D. Kent said closing a school is never an easy decision, but with drastic cuts expected for the upcoming school year nothing is off the table.
"There's nothing set in stone, but is it being considered? Absolutely," he said. "It all hinges on funding at the state level.
"What we're doing right now is listening to all the talk coming from the state capitol about funding," he continued. "If we have the funding woes they're predicting we may not have any choice."
Childress said no one in Flora wants to see the school closed and he hoped to push the issue with the town's aldermen and with their state representatives.
"We certainly don't want to see any of the schools on this side of the county close," Childress said. "Hopefully the legislature will come up with the funding, but if not we need to look at all the options."
If closed, the students from East Flora Middle would instead go to Madison Middle School where Kent said they have room. Currently, Madison Middle has the district's second largest enrollment with 1,228 students, second only to Madison Central High School.
In July an analysis of the district's spending showed it costs nearly twice as much to educate a student at East Flora Middle School than it does at Madison Middle School.
The report calculated instructional, transportation and various other expenses coming up with a per-student expense at each school.
It showed East Flora Middle School, the district's smallest, is the most expensive school to operate at almost $10,000 per child.
Other middle schools, like Madison and Germantown Middle, average around $5,700 per student.
The district's overall average is $7,400 per student while the state's average is just over $9,000.
Read More: MCJ
Flora Mayor Les Childress and a group of the school's PTA members sat down with School Board members in executive session to discuss the issue Monday.
The school has an enrollment of 154 students that requires around 13 teachers as well as administration and support staff. School officials estimate it costs around $1 million a year to operate.
Superintendent of Education Michael D. Kent said closing a school is never an easy decision, but with drastic cuts expected for the upcoming school year nothing is off the table.
"There's nothing set in stone, but is it being considered? Absolutely," he said. "It all hinges on funding at the state level.
"What we're doing right now is listening to all the talk coming from the state capitol about funding," he continued. "If we have the funding woes they're predicting we may not have any choice."
Childress said no one in Flora wants to see the school closed and he hoped to push the issue with the town's aldermen and with their state representatives.
"We certainly don't want to see any of the schools on this side of the county close," Childress said. "Hopefully the legislature will come up with the funding, but if not we need to look at all the options."
If closed, the students from East Flora Middle would instead go to Madison Middle School where Kent said they have room. Currently, Madison Middle has the district's second largest enrollment with 1,228 students, second only to Madison Central High School.
In July an analysis of the district's spending showed it costs nearly twice as much to educate a student at East Flora Middle School than it does at Madison Middle School.
The report calculated instructional, transportation and various other expenses coming up with a per-student expense at each school.
It showed East Flora Middle School, the district's smallest, is the most expensive school to operate at almost $10,000 per child.
Other middle schools, like Madison and Germantown Middle, average around $5,700 per student.
The district's overall average is $7,400 per student while the state's average is just over $9,000.
Read More: MCJ
Monday, September 20, 2010
Madison Co. residents without water get relief
One week without water. That's what nearly 500 households and businesses in west Madison County are dealing with.
Four hundred eighty-four West Madison Utility District customers have had little to no water pressure since last Sunday. They are all located in the Kearney Park area just north of Flora.
Utility Commissioner Nathaniel Johnson tells WLBT an old well collapsed and was shut down.
Sunday night a resident living near the area has running water and decided to share it.
"Friends of mine came by and said Erik we don't have any water to even flush out toilets. The little water that we have we have to wait until tomorrow to flush our toilets so I said no. It's time for me to do something so I went out, got a couple guys and girls together and we decided to do this and we decided we was not going to stop until we get the job completed," Erik Battle said.
Battle went door to door, helping his neighbors. The county is supplying bottled water to drink and residents have been instructed to boil any water available from the tap.
Flora Mayor Leslie Childress is working with the West Madison Utility District to hook up an emergency water line to the town's well.
No word on when water will begin flowing normally.
WLBT
Related Post: Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.
Related Post: Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage
Four hundred eighty-four West Madison Utility District customers have had little to no water pressure since last Sunday. They are all located in the Kearney Park area just north of Flora.
Utility Commissioner Nathaniel Johnson tells WLBT an old well collapsed and was shut down.
Sunday night a resident living near the area has running water and decided to share it.
"Friends of mine came by and said Erik we don't have any water to even flush out toilets. The little water that we have we have to wait until tomorrow to flush our toilets so I said no. It's time for me to do something so I went out, got a couple guys and girls together and we decided to do this and we decided we was not going to stop until we get the job completed," Erik Battle said.
Battle went door to door, helping his neighbors. The county is supplying bottled water to drink and residents have been instructed to boil any water available from the tap.
Flora Mayor Leslie Childress is working with the West Madison Utility District to hook up an emergency water line to the town's well.
No word on when water will begin flowing normally.
WLBT
Related Post: Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.
Related Post: Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage
Monday, August 30, 2010
Madison County Foundation hosts event for Congressman Thompson, Madison County Business League hosts event for Congressman Harper
Congressional representatives shared their goals for the local economy and national issues last week in separate addresses to Madison County business groups.
Second District Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, addressed the Madison County Foundation, while 3rd District Rep. Gregg Harper, a Republican, spoke to the Madison County Business League.
Thompson challenged his group to consider the northern part of the county for economic development projects.
"I challenge the Madison County Foundation to look at an airport in the northern area," said Thompson, spotlighting Flora as a place ripe for growth.
Thompson, who represents the northern end of the county, said that area is essential for the county's growth and an airport would spark other development in the rural area.
Flora Mayor Leslie Childress said town leaders have been working closely with Thompson on projects. "They are premature to talk about, but we hope to have some things announced this fall," he said.
Thompson also encouraged the group to continue making education a priority.
Mississippi cannot continue to spend more on prisoners than on students, he said. The state's "best and brightest" come with a price tag, he said.
Thompson and Harper both discussed national issues in their speeches.
Thompson said he continues to support President Obama's health care plan, which will bring better service to those in need.
"When you look at the Second District, every county is medically underserved, including Madison County," he said.
Harper said the health care bill is an example of a "federal government overreach. It needs to be repealed or replaced.
"I don't think we can repeal the bill without a Republican president," he said, adding that a Republican-controlled House, which could occur after November elections, could have oversight through funding.
On the budget issue, Harper said the House, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi's guidance, failed to produce a budget before this upcoming session.
"Spending is completely out of control, and the best they can say is, 'It's Bush's fault,' " Harper said.
"I understand putting the blame on the previous administration. But two years later, you own it," he said.
"When the president says by 2013 we will cut deficit spending in half, it sounds good - but not when you run it through the roof," Harper said.
CL
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
MC Journal: Barbour saws to Yazoo with Flora mayor
As Flora Mayor Les Childress and dozens of other volunteers used chain saws and tractors to clear debris off U.S. 49 to Yazoo City following Saturday's deadly tornado, he turned around to see Gov. Haley R. Barbour pitching in.
Childress and many other Flora residents were some of the first on the scene Saturday, literally cutting their way through downed trees to reach victims of an EF-4 tornado that cut through central Mississippi and claimed 10 lives.
State officials are estimating nearly 700 homes were damaged and 49 people were injured during the storms. Two others died in Alabama.
The hardest hit areas included Yazoo and Choctaw counties. This week Barbour asked President Barack Obama to declare both counties major disaster areas to open up aid for residents and business owners.
On Saturday, Barbour, a Yazoo City native, was on the front lines clearing debris from U.S 49 and directing traffic to give workers enough room to clear the roadway.
"It really hit home for him," Childress said. "You could tell he was really trying to get there (Yazoo City)."
Childress said they were all shocked at the amount of devastation before them, but the mayor said he was even more amazed at the almost instantaneous outpouring of support from the community.
"I went up there Saturday around 1 p.m. right after it happened and there were already folks from Flora there," he said. "Every citizen that lived in the surrounding area was there working to try and help out their neighbors.
"Flora has a lot of ties to Yazoo County," he added. "They're family."
Read more at the Madison County Journal
Childress and many other Flora residents were some of the first on the scene Saturday, literally cutting their way through downed trees to reach victims of an EF-4 tornado that cut through central Mississippi and claimed 10 lives.
State officials are estimating nearly 700 homes were damaged and 49 people were injured during the storms. Two others died in Alabama.
The hardest hit areas included Yazoo and Choctaw counties. This week Barbour asked President Barack Obama to declare both counties major disaster areas to open up aid for residents and business owners.
On Saturday, Barbour, a Yazoo City native, was on the front lines clearing debris from U.S 49 and directing traffic to give workers enough room to clear the roadway.
"It really hit home for him," Childress said. "You could tell he was really trying to get there (Yazoo City)."
Childress said they were all shocked at the amount of devastation before them, but the mayor said he was even more amazed at the almost instantaneous outpouring of support from the community.
"I went up there Saturday around 1 p.m. right after it happened and there were already folks from Flora there," he said. "Every citizen that lived in the surrounding area was there working to try and help out their neighbors.
"Flora has a lot of ties to Yazoo County," he added. "They're family."
Read more at the Madison County Journal
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