Sometimes you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.
“I think this is a clear message to us back at home that we’ve got to have some conversation about how we support (Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science),” District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said Wednesday morning. “I think sometimes we take things for granted.”
Brooks was one of a group of local leaders at a joint press conference at the Lowndes County Administrative Building to voice opposition to a bill that would relocate MSMS to Mississippi State University.
Mayor Keith Gaskin, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco represented the city of Columbus, while President and District 2 Supervisor Trip Hairston, District 1 Supervisor Matt Furnari, Brooks, Sheriff Eddie Hawkins and Chancery Clerk Cindy Goode showed the flag for Lowndes County. MSMS Foundation President John Davis and MUW President Nora Miller rounded out the crowd.
The show of solidarity was sparked by Senate Bill 2715, sponsored by District 43 Sen. Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, which directs the State Board of Education to develop a plan to relocate the residential high school from MUW to MSU by the 2026-2027 school year. The bill calls for state Department of Education to present a relocation plan during the 2025 regular legislative session.
The school has been located at MUW since opening in 1988.
Brooks called the bill and the way it was introduced “crazy.”
“It’s just the politics of it,” Brooks said. “I would think out of senatorial courtesy that somebody would have gone to (District 17 Sen. Chuck Younger, R-Lowndes County) or someone in our delegation and said they have some concerns,” Brooks said. “… These are really valuable institutions.”
Hairston said he didn’t know why DeBar authored the bill, but he assumes it is because of the school’s aging facilities.
“Shame on the Department of Education for not providing adequate facilities or capital investment into MSMS,” Hairston said. “I do not think a campus the size of (MSU) is an appropriate place for a 16-, 17-, 18-year-old child.”
Gaskin — who directed the MSMS Foundation before becoming mayor — agreed.
“(MSMS) has one of the best faculties in the nation, and it doesn’t require a campus like (MSU) to recruit that faculty,” Gaskin said. “We’re close enough to MSU there’s already a partnership there, and (students) can go there if it’s necessary.”
Both Hairston and Gaskin said they had attempted to contact DeBar, but had not heard back from him.
Gaskin also questioned the need for the research-heavy environment at MSU, the highest-rated research university in the state.
“The teaching (students) are receiving at MSMS does not require the stuff at MSU that some people think would be more appealing,” Gaskin said. “… A lot of these STEM schools around the country … don’t rely on high-tech research institutions to do what they’re doing.”
Davis spoke to the school’s less obvious non-STEM offerings, especially those in the area of local history.
“Faculty there have brought attention to the African American community and its history in Columbus and Lowndes County and the greater Golden Triangle that would not have come about in Starkville,” Davis said. “An aspect of the school a lot of people don’t realize is that it’s an all-encompassing enrichment of these young people’s minds.”
In a joint press release issued after the press conference, Hairston and Gaskin encouraged citizens to contact legislators to voice their opposition.
“We urge our local citizens … to contact the chairman of the Education Committee, Sen. Dennis DeBar, [email protected] and the Appropriations Committee (chairman) Sen. Briggs Hopson, [email protected], to voice their opposition,” the press release said. “… For more information about this action, please contact Lowndes County Administrator Jay Fisher at [email protected] or call (662) 329-5896.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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