Lawsuits Still Pending in Winona/Montgomery County School Consolidation

WINONA, Miss. (WCBI) – Consolidating school districts is often a tense process, but in Winona and Montgomery County things are getting heated.

With two lawsuits in Federal Court and another in state court, the new administration’s attention is being divided, but school still goes on.

The three lawsuits filed by the Montgomery County Board of Education claimed the new consolidation with Winona is unconstitutional.

“We have three fronts at the present time that’s pending,” said WMCSD Board Attorney, Lane Greenlee.

The new consolidated school board says these are unnecessary and keeping them from doing their job.

“The downside is paperwork,” Greenlee said. “The DOJ has requested a whole raft of paperwork from Dr. Jackson (The Superintendent) and her staff, and filing those requests takes up her time.”

“Some of the requests that have been made, currently, are a tremendous amount of work,” said Dr. Teresa Jackson.  “You know, when you’re asking about how many kids ride on each bus and what race and how long the bus routes are, those are things that it takes a little time for us to figure out.”

There were also concerns towards staffing, if Montgomery County teachers would be given a chance to teach in the new district.

Jackson puts those concerns to rest.

“Of the about 60 positions that we hired, about a third of those came from the former Montgomery County School District” the Superintendent confirmed.

Other concerns regarded bus routes; kids weren’t getting home until 7 o’clock at night.

Jackson admits bus routes were switched up at the beginning of the school year.

“Students were very confused,” she said, mainly talking about the elementary school kids. “They wanted to go with their bus drivers, and the routes were changed. So we worked all night that night, into the wee hours of the morning.”

The final decision was to put routes back the way they were.

It was the right call.

“Yesterday, the last kid was home by five o’clock,” Jackson said.

If lawsuits go in favor of Montgomery County, Greenlee doesn’t think it will end up being what’s best for county students.

“The Winona School District will continue right along, but I don’t know what would happen with the county school district,” he said. “It would be very very difficult for them to start over, perhaps impossible.”

The board is simply asking for time to show new members of the school district that this is a better opportunity for learning in Montgomery County.

Jackson said, “We’re going to create something really outstanding here and hope everybody will come be a part of that.”

One major concern from the county is the fact that the current school board is comprised on ONLY Winona School representatives, but Jackson says there will be a new board made for this district.

Two of the five spots will be filled by Montgomery County residents.

As for when these lawsuits will be given a decision, Greenlee says that’s all in the hands of the court system.

Categories: Featured, Local News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *