As Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science Executive Director Donnie Cook awaits survey results from stakeholders about potentially relocating the school, there seems to be no appetite for the move among legislators and community leaders.
State Representatives Andy Boyd and Dana McLean, State Sen and Chuck Younger, all of whom represent Columbus or Lowndes County in the legislature, all told The Dispatch they would not support any effort to move MSMS from the Mississippi University for Women campus, despite recent efforts from Cook to “explore” moving it to property adjacent to Mississippi State University in Starkville.
“Cook’s job is not to decide where MSMS is. His job is to run the school to the best of his ability,” Younger said. “He’s a good guy. I like him, but I think he kind of overstepped his bounds maybe. We try to get more funding for them and MUW, and that’s all we can do.”
Since legislation in 1987 established the residential high school’s location at MUW, it would take legislative action to move it.
Mayor Keith Gaskin, former executive director for the MSMS Foundation, also told The Dispatch the school should stay in Columbus.
Still, Cook — after initially denying it to The Dispatch — confirmed he has discussed relocation with MSU officials. He sent out a survey earlier this year to take MSMS employees’ temperature on a move, garnering mixed results. On Tuesday, he sent out another survey to alumni, current employees, students and parents regarding their vision for “MSMS 2.0,” which included questions about curriculum and relocation.
MUW President Nora Miller told The Dispatch on Wednesday hosting MSMS is a point of pride for the university and she wants it to remain where it is.
“It was important to this community that MSMS be created and housed here,” Miller said. “Lowndes County (through the supervisors) invested in buildings, and the community is proud of hosting MSMS students. … They’re active in the community like Tales of the Crypt and Eighth of May. They take part in the preservation of Columbus. Because of their research, we’re getting two new historical markers on this campus (honoring the women who integrated the campus and the university’s ‘Founding Mothers’).”
In a letter to The Dispatch, she advocates for MSMS to remain on MUW’s campus stating the students are not prepared for a college campus touting tens of thousands of students.
MSU’s student population exceeds 22,000, while MUW’s is roughly 2,700.
MSMS houses about 240 students from across the state.
Boyd, McLean, and Younger all said Cook had not contacted them to discuss relocation prior to The Dispatch’s first article on the subject published April 8, and Mississippi Department of Education Chief of Communications Jean Cook told The Dispatch in an email there has been no discussion on the state level regarding moving MSMS.
MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter previously confirmed university leaders took part in discussions with Cook about “exploring the possibilities of additional cooperation with (MSMS)” but with the understanding no changes would be made at MSMS without legislative approval. Salter confirmed on Friday MSU’s stance has not changed.
The contract between MUW, MSMS
A little more than a year after the Mississippi Legislature created the school, the first students walked on campus in September 1988.
In addition to the law setting the school at MUW, it establishes the State Board of Education as its governing body to authorize its budgets and expenditures. An email from MDE also confirmed the state board approves any certified hires at MSMS.
Cook, who became executive director in June 2022, is the chief administrative officer at MSMS.
MSMS has exclusive use to six buildings on campus, two of which are residence halls, Miller said. MSMS and MUW share space in the cafeteria, library, recreation center, student health center and other facilities for various events.
MSMS pays MUW roughly $300,000 annually for police, routine maintenance, accounting and human resource services, Miller said.
Cook said one of the reasons he began asking questions about relocation is because the Student Government Association approached him in the fall with a resolution asking him to look into a potential move closer to MSU. He shared the resolution with The Dispatch in an email last week.
The resolution said facilities including dorms and classroom buildings have been deteriorating citing “elevators failing, pipes bursting and flooding the resident halls and mold contaminating the air vents.”
The students in SGA, some of whom participate in research opportunities at MSU, said instead of building new facilities on land Miller has identified for MSMS, “money would be spent more effectively on improving the lives of MSMS students if we were to move to MSU’s campus.”
But Miller said MSMS is responsible for any renovations or major building upkeep, though MUW has offered the school land on the south side of campus — where MSMS students currently practice soccer — for MSMS to build new facilities.
“If they didn’t occupy certain buildings, we would have to either repurpose them or close them down,” Miller said. “… I know they are not happy with the facilities, particularly the residence halls. We have two residence halls that are exactly the same. We don’t really have the funds to (upgrade) our own. I’ve encouraged Donnie Cook (and other directors) to seek funding for facilities, but they have to report to the board of education. We (report to the Institutes of Higher Learning).
“We try to do what we can, but anything major, they’re going to need to come up with the funding for it,” she added.
Smaller is better
While they are against relocating MSMS, both McLean and Younger said they would support bills that would allow MSMS more money to build new facilities on the land offered by MUW or to renovate the current dormitories.
McLean’s daughter attended school at MSMS and graduated in 2017. She said she believes MSMS students benefit from the smaller school setting.
“Just considering the age of students leaving home for the very first time, I could not imagine allowing my 16-year-old daughter to be dropped off at, or close to, a campus of a major university like MSU,” McLean said. “One of the reasons I was in favor of my daughter going to school at MSMS was because of the setting there. Columbus and MUW have a very intimate setting, and I think it’s perfect for students who are leaving home for the very first time. The student body at MSU is almost the same size as the population of Columbus.”
Gaskin said the school is a part of the fabric of Columbus in the same way as MUW and Columbus Air Force Base.
“I do think there’s always more we can do, and (the city of Columbus and MUW) can work to be better partners,” Gaskin said. “I have been on every campus in the state of Mississippi, probably more than once, and there’s no better ideal location for MSMS than The W. I think that the legislature and government at the time, when they were writing that legislation, they were very wise in that decision, and that still stands today. I love the idea of partnering more with MSU in ways to be beneficial to students in the ways we would with all the universities.”
Younger said there are options for MSMS from the legislative perspective that do not involve relocating the school from MUW’s campus.
“I think that … Donnie Cook is trying to make MSMS the best it can be for his staff and students,” Younger said. “He may have spoken out of turn, but I’ve also done that before and will do it again. We need to get our community, industries, businesses and people involved to back MSMS.”
The Dispatch reached out to Rep. Kabir Karriem for comment, but he did respond by press time.
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