I read with interest John Botes’ letter to the editor lamenting the consolidation and closures of the elementary schools in the city of Columbus. His primary point was that the plan would mean kids who grow up in Columbus will have to attend five schools by graduation. He was concerned about the lack of stability it might create.
Actually, it’s more schools than he thinks. Elementary school students will attend four elementary schools for grade K-1 through grade 6, followed by middle school and high school. The only people I ever knew to attend so many schools were military kids whose parents were moved around every couple of years.
I’m not sure how much of a detriment the new grade-scale school system will be. On the balance, the good is likely to outweigh the bad because resources can be less widely distributed with two fewer schools to support. Enrollment projections do not suggest there is much of a chance for over-crowded classrooms as a result of the consolidation.
What I do think may be lost, based strictly on my own experience, is the sense of comradery that comes with attending school with the same kids at the same place for several years or more.
It’s probably little more than nostalgia on the part of someone who grew up in a far different era than today.
I grew up in Tupelo and started my education in first grade (only about half the kids my age attended kindergarten) at Lawhon Elementary School, the only school in what is known as East Tupelo. That was 1965.
The school started as a K-12 school at the turn of the century. I remember seeing the class portraits of high school seniors from the 1920s on the wall of the school office. What was noticeable was that the number of students in those senior class portraits never numbered more than 20 or so.
At some point, the two high schools in town consolidated and Lawhon was the school east side kids went to through ninth grade.
In 1970, as a part of integration, all ninth-graders attended Carver, the former Black high school, so the time I came along, Lawhon was home to K-through 8th grade.
Even so, Lawon retained much of the identity of its origins. We had our own sports teams – football, basketball, baseball and track-and-field – cheerleaders, band, mascot (The Eagles),and colors (blue and white). We also proudly claimed the city’s most famous resident, Elvis Presley, who attended Lawhon from 1941 until 1946 before he and his family moved to Memphis.
While the elementary school kids on the city’s more populous (and prosperous) west side were divided among Thomas Street, Joyner, Pierce Street, Rankin and Green Street (the latter being where Black went to school before integration), all of us east side kids went to the same school. We formed deep and lasting bonds.
For us, crossing the railroad tracks that divided east and west Tupelo was mainly done by necessity since most of the city’s retail operations were located on the west side of town.
Even so, east Tupelo was mostly self-contained. It had two grocery stores, a bank, a drug store, a barbershop, several gas stations and even a roller-skate park.
We also had our own city park, built with money donated by Elvis Presley himself. Elvis Presley Park had a recreation center, a baseball field, a swimming pool, playground equipment and even a small pond.
So, by the time my classmates and I went to Carver for ninth grade, it was almost like going off to college – a new and exciting prospect. Being only a fraction of the overall student population, we were “the new kids in town.” The bonds among Lawhon kids remained even as new friendships at Carver and the high school were formed. We had each other’s back when the situation called for it.
I don’t know how much bonding Columbus kids do in the current elementary school system that serves K through 6th grade. It probably isn’t anything like my school experience which featured all those extracurriculars that help kids bond over shared interests.
But maybe something is lost, even so.
While I don’t think the new grade-span elementary school will negatively affect learning, I do sort of feel sorry for kids who didn’t have all the years and experiences that remain fondly fixed in my memory more than 50 years later.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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