A rose to organizers, volunteers and performers for putting together the Tennessee Williams Tribute this week. It’s the 23rd year of events celebrating America’s greatest playwright who was born in Columbus in 1911, the city’s most famous resident. The event began Thursday, but there’s still plenty to enjoy. On Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, there will be a production of Williams’ 1979 play, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur at the Rosenzweig Arts Center, which will also host a noon poetry slam and a cocktail party prior to Saturday evening’s showing. While even casual followers are familiar with plays such as The Glass Menagerie (1944), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959) and the unforgettable characters that populated them, there are many more Williams plays that are far less familiar. In that sense, plays such as A Lovely Saturday for Creve Coeur is a new production from a legendary playwright. We applaud the Tennessee Williams Tribute committee for its efforts to bring these plays new life.
A rose to New Hope High School for its efforts to incentivize perfect attendance as a tool to reduce chronic absenteeism. In previous generations, students who had perfect attendance were recognized with a certificate, photos in the yearbook and recognition at end-of-school-year programs. At New Hope, the rewards are more enticing. Last year, it was a field trip to Tupelo for ice-skating. At the end of this school year, the reward will be a trip to Meridian for a day at Hype Adventures, a 93,000-square foot facility that has trampolines, climbing walls, a rope course, a jump tower, batting cages, speed racing karts and more.
In 2023, New Hope High’s chronic absentee rate (defined as missing 10% or more – 18 days – of a school year) was 30.89%, almost six percentage points higher than the state average. When 3 in 10 students are absent that often, it makes the learning process more difficult not only for those students, but for teachers and other students as well. We applaud New Hope officials for its efforts to encourage attendance through these kinds of incentives.
A rose to the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District for implementing a program at Partnership Middle School and Armstrong Junior High School designed to address serious issues promptly before those situations escalate. The digital application StopIt allows students to anonymously report issues like bullying, harassment, fighting, safety concerns, mental health issues or other problems students encounter that could impact the learning environment. Reports are delivered to building-level administrators who can address concerns immediately. Students at both schools participated in activities and training in how to use the StopIt application, which is available through their school-issued Chromebook device. Students and families may also download the StopIt mobile app for use at home. There is no way to shield children from ugly incidents they may encounter during the course of the school day, but providing a means of addressing them quickly and mitigating the damage they produce is of great importance.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.