MSMS is an elite public school where every graduate goes on to college after completing two years of a rigorous high school curriculum, with each class taught at an honors, AP or dual credit level. Students who have applied and been accepted come from all over Mississippi and live on our campus. For the past 37 years, we have been housed in buildings that, while historic, are in desperate need of significant updates or replacements. I won’t go into all the details, but heat and air conditioning barely work in our residential halls and our main academic building has not had a functioning HVAC unit for over a year.

In response to this need for a large infusion of funds to build new facilities, the State Board of Education (SBE) requested proposals from both the Mississippi University for Women (MUW) and Mississippi State University (MSU) to host MSMS on their campuses.

In brief, MUW’s proposal offered to continue hosting MSMS, but also outlined additional funds necessary to properly accommodate the school. They made it clear that without additional funding from the state legislature, no new services or improvements could be offered.

MSU’s proposal also did not offer any additional funds but suggested that a new campus for MSMS could be built on their land in conjunction with a new high school for the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District (SOCSD). The MSU proposal included shared facilities such as a cafeteria, library, arena, administrative space, and arts/theatre. Notably, some of the funds that would come directly from the state legislature (MSMS’s only source of funding as we don’t have a local district) would help pay for SOCSD facilities (though they do have a local school district and the ability to raise taxes and issue bonds).

We are able to achieve our unique learning environment at MSMS because our students have chosen to separate themselves from the norm of public high schools. While we absolutely support a range of sports activities – such as swimming, tennis, golf, track, and even wrestling—plus many extracurricular clubs, academics have been and will always remain our primary focus.

Merging MSMS with another public high school would take away important aspects of our unique mission. Students choose to attend MSMS because we offer an experience that goes beyond that of a traditional high school.

However, the SBE just voted to recommend to the Mississippi Legislature that they move forward with the MSU proposal. This would require an outlay of $85 million in a legislative session with less than 2 weeks in session. In the meeting where this was decided, a comment was made that suggested that this whole process was initiated by “a legislator” who requested it.

To say the residents of MSMS are stressed is an understatement. The students are highly motivated to mobilize and express their dissatisfaction with this decision and teachers are polishing resumes and exploring the idea of retirement. To say the least, maintaining focus in the classroom is a challenge for all.

What has been missing in this process is a true focus on the needs of MSMS. We need new residential buildings yesterday and a new academic space will be needed in the near future that will also bring all academic spaces under one roof instead of three buildings around campus. On the MUW campus, the price tag is much less initially ($40M for the residential buildings), but the mood in the legislature seems to be to close MUW, which is probably why their proposal was rejected.

There are many details I have left out, but I think these are the most important ones. Anyone who wants to help MSMS needs to help us maintain our independence and build new, livable residential buildings for our high-achieving students – some of the best in the state. In the entirety of our history, MSMS has never occupied a space built new from the ground up designed for our living, learning community. After 37 years of success – as the stories of our alumnae/i will attest – MSMS has proven that we can fulfill our mission. Our best are worth investing in.

Lori LeVar Pierce has taught French, German, Latin and Linguistics at MSMS for 15 years. Her views are her own and not an official response from MSMS. She has three children. One graduated from MSMS and two graduated from Starkville High School.