Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Lewis Holloway isn’t giving up full use of the county education building without a fight.
The district will push back against supervisors’ decision to relegate SOCSD to the building’s first floor while the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency moves in and operates its second floor, he said.
Holloway rationalized his displeasure with the supervisors’ decision plainly: If the former Oktibbeha County School District, which served about 800 students, was allowed to use the entire building, why shouldn’t SOCSD, with its 5,000-plus enrollment, get the same deal or be provided additional administrative space?
“This does not (meet) the fair test. It just doesn’t feel right,” he said, noting conversations with legal counsel about the county’s apparent failure to provide equal support to the consolidated school district. “Being a bigger (school district), (the county) should be supplying more space, not less.”
The district could seek financial restitution from the county for the portion of the building it was pushed out of, Holloway said, but no action was taken on the matter.
Officials said they will continue to consult with counsel about how to proceed with negotiations.
Under the current board order, SOCSD can utilize the nine offices located on the building’s bottom floor. Holloway said special education programs may be able to move in, but the district cannot move its core administrative functions into the Main Street property because of spatial limitations.
Even if the district could use the entire building, those issues would still split key functions between the county education building and its current administrative home at the Greensboro Center.
The entire Main Street building, Holloway said, has 14 offices, while there are 39 personnel slots are housed within the Greensboro Center.
“We’d make it work if we had whole building. Special (education) could work since it is a stand-alone (function),” Holloway said. “The building is not very well arranged, and there is just a lot of dead space. It’s just very difficult when you mix up government agencies.”
School board members pitched a variety of ideas – asking if certain administrative positions could move to Overstreet School or if the Greensboro Center could handle E-911 functions – but all were nixed because of numerous limitations.
“We want to get along, and I think there are several (supervisors) that are well intended,” school board member Keith Coble said. “I don’t want us to have part of our staff running back and forth between (the Greensboro Center and the county education building). We’re just going to waste time. It’s going to be less productive than it is now. There’s reason for us to all work together.”
Although supervisors decided the education building’s short-term future last month in a split 3-2 vote, the county’s own spatial issues could force new construction in the future.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard told fellow board members it made more sense for the county to invest projected rent and utility costs – expenses the Legislature mandated the county pay for school consolidation – into a new facility instead of renting commercial property for the district.
New construction, he said, could free up the county education building for other county uses. Supervisors previously suggested rotating Oktibbeha’s administration into its Main Street property, thereby freeing up additional space at the circuit court annex.
In other business, former Starkville School District Board of Trustees President Eddie Myles was sworn in and began serving in Eric Heiselt’s vacated seat. Heiselt tendered a letter of resignation at the end of June.
The board also unanimously named Myles school board president.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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