Jackson Jambalaya

I believe it was nick saban who said "if you want to make everyone happy don't be a leader, go sell ice cream".

Dr. Greene is providing real LEADERSHIP

Dr. Greene is doing good work, and I appreciate him. He leads openly and honestly. Plus, he, in his words, "ain't afraid to do the unpopular."

Maybe His Honor, Mayor Chicklet, or his sister's committee, could start a committee to look at the radical idea of turning the empty building into neighborhood Prisons. He could probably get federal money at least to form the committees. Noting better than a good prison committee.

As Hillary would say, "It takes a neighborhood to prison a child."

JPS and the City of Jackson:

A black hole where money goes in and failure comes out.

So what’s the deal?

Are there fewer students living in Jackson?
Have fewer students decided they don’t need a primary or secondary education and have chosen to attend trade schools instead?
Are more parents choosing to homeschool their kids?
Have they decided that being a lifelong welfare recipient is “good enough”?

I would like to see the student / teacher ratio with “staff” excluded. Bloated administration does not help students learn, it just costs taxpayers.

I support the decision to close these poorly attended schools, especially since they are almost surely deteriorating due to inadequate maintenance anyway. Now the JPS budget must be reduced commensurate with the decrease in students and buildings.

District wide cheating scandal, fastest shrinking city under his leadership and schools are being closed.....and people are saying Superintendent is a a great leader....Mississippi smh

More free housing and buildings to light on fire for vagrants/addicts/low-lifes & Chowke's dope boys.

Point and a question.

Point: Who noticed that the word students is replaced with the word scholars? This is more than a bit presumptive?

Question: Will the schools be demolished or will the schools simply become congregating centers for homeless and gangs?

The post says "even with the charter school the 2022 budget would be only 22% less than it was in 2007."

Adjust the numbers for inflation and the 2022 budget is down substantially more.

To further prove the point, look at the increased enrollments at other public schools in the suburbs surrounding Jackson since 2007. Those folks that lived in Jackson and could afford to get out have gotten out, and they are sending their kids to those other schools (Ridgeland, Terry, Clinton, Gluckstadt, Madison, Pearl, Brandon, NW Rankin, etc.). Blaming JPS shrinking enrollment on Charter Schools is a very poor excuse.

It will be interesting to see the effects of the continued decline and dilapidation of Jackson on the suburbs' future growth. As Jackson's population continues to tank and the people who were able to escape have done so, from where will the suburbs' growth come? At what point should the suburbs expect their growth rates to plateau and then decline?

At this point, we all know what has to be done with the existing structures. They have to be demolished. The student population will never come back and the overall condition of the schools are at most not worth saving. There is no need to be sentimental if any of the readers attended these schools. They are a burden and money still has to be spent, although not much even after the doors are locked. Tear them down. It’s the right thing to do.

@2:22 keep kidding yourself

When will Jackson go full-Detroit and have Devil’s Night where acts of arson on abandoned buildings go unreported and unpunished because it is basically a public service?

3:00 There are very few families left in the city of Jackson... those who have families will grow their children in the suburbs... who will live and grow their families in the suburbs (etc.) That was how it was done in J-town in the 50s, 60s, and 70s...

Seems that the opposition to this plan is about "community education..." Forget the costs to operate smaller schools with a smaller tax base. Sounds like it becomes another Chokwe utopian idea... image over realities.

I attended Chastain Middle in the 70s, and the place was old then. I can't image how worn out the place is now 50 years later.

It's time to start shrinking the overhead. Close the unneeded schools and do more with what you have.

Golden opportunity for Socrates Garrett Enterprises to pick up some more demolition business.

Will the laid off principals and other overhead now have "no show" jobs?

I know I’m beating a drum but wouldn’t all of the remaining students fit in the Metrocenter? It makes sense. One building, keep maintenance workers where you can keep your eyes on them because that is a huge issue in JPS. None of the existing schools have had “proper maintenance” performed on them. When you have an investment that was made in the past such as these structures, you either keep them up, consolidate or dismantle them. This should be a serious topic of conversation because the buildings were constructed in the 1950’s up to the 1990’s. Bailey is being renovated but due to it being a cast in place concrete structure built during the 1930’s but it is worth preserving. The others I can’t say much for.

The city of Jackson could eff up a one car parade.

JPS jumped at the chance to close all the schools in 2020 due to a virus that posed virtually zero risk to anyone under the age of 18 and didn't open back up until second semester in January 2022. To no one's surprise a bunch of those kids just dropped out, never to be seen again until they show up in juvenile court.

To be honest, though, it's not like they would've learned a lot more and become decent, self-supporting citizens with just a few more years of JPS "education." The ridiculous COVID over-reaction may have ended up doing us all a big favor by closing schools that were dysfunctional and a waste of money to start with.

What will become of all the baby-sitte...I mean teachers at these targeted schools? PERS is about to see an increase in activity.

If you don't know, the unoccupied Drew High School building was torched over the past weekend. The perps are in custody. Just what Jackson needs to add to its footprint. More boarded up structures, windows busted out and homes to the homeless.

@2:00 PM

Most of them are illegally crossing into Madison county and their superintendent is openly allowing it.

I have fond memories of Emma Green Elementary during 1968/1969.

The sights,sounds and smells of that school's cafeteria remain with me fifty-five years later.

It was all good back then.

(I actually thought that Forrest Avenue elementary school was closed years ago).

@12:20 As much as I'm a Nick Saban fan, I believe he was quoting Microsoft's Steve Jobs.
However, that is a great & accurate quote.

Now consolidate school districts across the state.

@9:36 Steve Jobs was Apple. Microsoft was Bill Gates.

KF you have seriously got to enable a “like” button. There are great comments here. I would like to say to the the 8:33 comment is correct about it being “it was all good back then”. Well you and I and everyone else on this blog know why it was good and that’s because it was a different group of people who were running the show. Teachers taught and students learned and I would bet my life on it that the curriculum being taught in today’s schools especially in the urban areas would more than likely shock you.

The progressive left is running many public school districts. They are indoctrinating your kids with progressive, racist, Marxist, and revisionist history propaganda.

That is why home schooling and private schools exist.

My city taxes are paying for kids in Jackson to live with their aunties in Madison and attend Madison Central. Go Jaguars!

@ 7:08 - Can you back that comment up with a link?

@ 10:49 - You obviously don't live in Madison County, or Hinds for that matter.

Previous administrations in Madison County cracked down on district jumpers. The current administration allows it. Go to the student parking lot at Ridgeland and Madison Central and count the Hinds County tags. Germantown has Madison County plates but they are all in Canton.

There's a group that doesn't care because a lot of illegal students are great athletes.

There's a group of bleeding hearts that doesn't care because they feel sorry for these underprivileged Jackson kids.

Then there is a group that likes the $10k in funding per student that comes with them.

As an insurance agent who used to have to go into these schools to do open enrollment for employee benefits, I can tell you many of the buildings were so run down that the ceiling was peeling off. The bathrooms had no doors or toilet paper. The schools looked as if they had not been updated in over 50 years. Teachers could only make a certain number of photocopies for students and many did not have textbooks. I remember teachers and faculty telling me they did not have time to enroll in their benefit plans because, in many cases, there was only 1 copy machine for the entire school and they had to prepare for their next class, with copies of pages from 1 textbook! At Wingfield High School, I watched two students get physically assaulted in front of the breakroom I was setup in. Jim Hill was on lockdown as I approached their campus for enrollment. After that, I refused to handle the high schools. Jackson Public Schools never invested in their teachers or students. Those who managed to persevere, graduate, and succeed despite these environments are to be commended. But, as the wealthy fled the city and formed private schools, this left JPS with little to work with as more families were below the poverty level to begin with. JPS also pays their superintendent, along with Rankin County, an astronomical amount of money for little return. This is a top heavy construct that needs to be revisited sooner than later.

As a girl who used to own a lot of residential rental units (until it became clear that the government was going to make it impossible for all landlords but megacorporations and active participants in organized crime (who're effectively exempt from the anti-discrimination laws which cripple most landlords)), I'd like to point-out that SCHOOL BUILDINGS ARE IDEAL FOR APARTMENT CONVERSIONS.

Such buildings are mostly-masonry. This makes them relatively soundproof, fireproof, and bulletproof. Mostly, they're wheelchair-accessible. And their grounds are already fenced.

Ceilings are high, and windows are rot-proof metal. Essentially, they'd offer loft living, but without the need for climbing stairs.

Just minimize heat gain, by reroofing with white single-ply membrane, and they'd be pretty great.

(not that there's a snowball's chance in Hell, of this ever actually happening in Jackson)