A Colorado-based consultant issued their recommendations on school district consolidation to Governor Haley Barbour yesterday. In the report, 18 districts are recommended for consolidation, including the Starkville and Oktibbeha County systems. Read the full story here.

The Starkville School board voted 5-0 to pass the amended dress code that requires uniforms.

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — As Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey stood at the microphone Thursday night in the Greensboro Center auditorium, Starkville High School students Robert Ingram, Allison Price and Jennifer Hunt walked down the side aisle, turned and faced the crowd in front of them and held up large, homemade signs.

One of the signs simply read “No Uniforms;” another said “To protect, you must understand, and you understand nothing;” yet another featured a drawing of a swastika and other language in opposition to the school district’s proposal to require all students to where uniforms beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.

Ingram, Price and Hunt were just three of the more than 200 people who piled into the Greensboro Center Thursday night to offer opinions on the proposed uniform policy. A majority of those in attendance were opposed to the policy, which would require students to wear khakis, collared shirts and other dress apparel instead of the students’ typical wardrobe.

Many in opposition cited the loss of personal freedom and creativity, while others were opposed because they would have to buy new clothes for their children in tight financial times. Those opposed to uniform policy also cited a 2009 survey, in which only 15.9 percent of the 744 Starkville School District students who responded were in favor of uniforms, along with only 44.3 percent of the 517 parents who took part, in favor.

Starkville attorney Rob Roberson, who has three children in Starkville schools was opposed to the uniform policy and the way the school board has handled the issue.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

BY BONNIE COBLENTZ

Parents will have an opportunity to share their opinions on school uniforms at a 6 p.m. public forum Thursday at the Greensboro Center.

In January, the school board voted 3-2 to require all students to wear uniforms and charged school district administration with writing the policy and guidelines. At their next board meeting which was held last week, the school board voted, again 3-2, to table the policy until they heard from parents.

To date, Pickett Wilson and Eddie Myles have voted for uniforms and against tabling the issue. Bill Weeks and Keith Coble have voted against uniforms and for tabling the policy. Board president Walter Taylor cast the deciding vote both times.

The issue has raised quite a stir in the community, with the most vocal and organized lined up against uniforms.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — As fifth-graders Kelsey Jones, James Travis and Matt Hutchinson sat together Monday morning in Nancy Sistrunk’s class at Ward-Stewart Elementary School, all three had smiles on their faces.

The group had just completed an experiment to see how high rubber balls with different chemical structures and properties would bounce; then they stretched pieces of plastic, with Jones and Travis rising to their feet and pulling hard until the material broke; finally, they were given little glass jars containing three different types of liquid — oil, water and Karo syrup — and dropped in it items like broken toothpicks, cut-up pieces of a straw and metal BBs to compare their densities with the densities of the liquids. The items floated in the liquids with similar densities.

It was a class full of experiments, which taught students about polymers, the macromolecules that make up things in everyday life, from the students’ desks to their jackets to rubber on the soles of their shoes.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Those traditional yellow school buses might soon be decorated with advertising, if some Mississippi lawmakers get their way.

Supporters say allowing commercial messages on buses is a way to help school districts increase their local revenues when budgets are tight, while opponents say young children shouldn’t be exposed to ads in a setting without parental supervision.

The House voted 94-21 last week to pass a bill that would let districts sell advertising space inside and outside school buses, starting July 1. There would be restrictions: No ads for alcohol, tobacco or junk food or for political or religious causes.

The bill is being sent to the other end of the Capitol for more debate, and one Senate Education Committee member said he has some concerns.

Sen. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, who has two children in public schools, said advertising is already prevalent on schools’ football and baseball fields, but no one is forced to go to those places. Many children who ride buses to and from school have no other choice.

“In a way, I would want to insulate them from groups that would want to target them as consumers in a place that is totally without parental supervision,” Yancey said.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

BONNIE COBLENTZ

Starkville school officials addressed the issue of the public’s ability to participate in meetings at their Tuesday night meeting where they also took off the agenda an amended policy that would have instituted a uniform for teachers.

All board members were present for the meeting, which was attended by capacity seating in the board room and an overflow of at least 20 people listening in from the hallway outside the room.

The meeting began with Superintendent Judy Couey removing from the agenda the item asking the board to adopt the amendment to the dress code policy. No action on employee dress codes was taken.

The amendment originally proposed called for K-5 teachers to wear “outerwear consisting of black vests, black smocks, or black jackets with the School/Starkville logo. Teachers that [sic] do not wish to wear the identifying outerwear may wear black, white or gray shirt/blouse with identifying school/district logo.”

For teachers in grades 6-12, Millsaps Career and Vocational Center and the Quad County Alternative School, the dress code was the same with the exception of black, white or gold shirts with the school or district logo.

Lisa Spencer, president of the Starkville Association of Educators, was on the agenda to speak to the board, and when her turn arrived, she told them that she had come to address the teacher uniform. The board asked her to proceed with her comments even though the item had been removed from the agenda.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

BONNIE COBLENTZ

Starkville school board members voted to table the issue of uniforms Tuesday night after hearing from representatives of a roomful of community members who came opposed to the issue.

The board heard from Anastasia Elder, a parent, and Kelly Oliveri, a high school student, who gave reasons why they objected to school uniforms. They also heard from Sue Snow, a retired educator, who spoke of her positive experience with school uniforms and gave her arguments for them.

The 25 seats in the Starkville School District’s board room were full, and more than 20 more people crowded the hallway outside to listen. A school resource officer stood guard in the door to not let any more people in the room than could be seated.

At one point when the conversation level rose in the hall, he shut the door, closing the public’s access to the public meeting. Voices could be heard outside protesting that they couldn’t hear what was going on. A few minutes later the door opened and remained open to the mostly silent attendees in the hallway.

Later in the meeting, board member Bill Weeks noted that closing the door was not a good idea.

“We were probably in violation of the Mississippi Open Meeting’s Law when Officer Shumaker closed the door,” Weeks said. “We should have made accommodations for the crowd” and not left them in the hall, he said to applause.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

BONNIE COBLENTZ

Starkville school officials heard reports from five principals in their meeting Tuesday night, the first round of annual reports from administrators.

Elizabeth Mosley, Lynn Shea, Diane Baker, Timothy Bourne and Joseph Stone addressed the board. These are principals of Sudduth Elementary, Overstreet Elementary, Ward-Stewart Elementary, Henderson Intermediate and Armstrong Middle schools, respectively.

The major themes of all five presentations were more parental involvement, improved test scores, greater school involvement in the community, improved reading performance and dropout prevention. Conspicuously absent in this tight budget year were requests for additional spending.

Mosley said the K-2 school could use a school resource officer or police officer to help direct traffic in the mornings and afternoons as carpool and bus traffic are at peak. The school has nearly 1,100 students. Mosley said they hope to be in the school’s new wing by Feb. 15 or shortly after that.

She reported that the playground will not be complete by the time they move into the new building, but the new walking track around the playground is almost complete already.

Board member Keith Coble asked her about the iSTEEP test, and Mosley said she likes it.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.