A July letter addressed to supervisors from Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Lewis Holloway says the county’s decision to split the use of the former Oktibbeha County School District’s administrative home between the new district and emergency management “does not meet the intent” of law approved by legislators.
The future use of the county education building became a sticking point between the two entities after supervisors halved the building before July 1’s state-mandated merger of OCSD and Starkville School District.
Before the merger, OCSD’s administration, which served about 800 students, occupied the entire building, and the county provided payments for its utility bills. Now, supervisors have relegated the SOCSD, which educates more than 5,000 students, to the bottom half of the building.
The top floor will become home to the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency.
State lawmakers this year passed specific legislation mandating the board of supervisors provides offices, furnishings and utilities to the consolidated school district.
Holloway, in his letter, said the board’s move to halve the building fails to meet Miss. Code 37-7-104.3, the corresponding statute.
“The SOCSD now has 5,300 students, over six times larger than (OCSD). As I stated at your Oct. 6, 2014, meeting, the district needs more board of supervisors support, not less,” he wrote.
To remedy the situation, the letter — as with Holloway’s 2014 request — asks the county to at least fund the rental of a 7,449-square-foot facility plus monthly phone and utility costs or build or purchase a comparable building and again foot its monthly bills.
In previous school board meetings, Holloway hinted the district could pursue legal means as a resolution to the issue.
The board took no action on the matter Monday and offered few comments on the issue.
Supervisors previously thought they had reached a mutually beneficial arrangement before seeing Holloway slam the board’s decision in media reports; however, facing re-election bids — today is primary day — a majority of supervisors previously said they and Holloway need to work together to avoid escalating the situation.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard, who has met with Holloway in the past months, previously suggested diverting perpetual rent contributions toward the construction of a new school facility.
In late July, he also suggested the county could purchase Cadence Bank’s Main Street property, the same building Starkville officials almost purchased for police usage, and turn it over to the district for a new headquarters.
Aldermen declined to purchase the bank in March after reports showed the city would have to spend $2.55 million to acquire the property and at least $800,000 to renovate it for police usage.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.