Editor, Sun-Sentinel:
We often see news stories about the dangers of violence in our schools; our students even practice drills on what to do when such events arise. But what do we do when the danger is the school itself? This is an issue that many parents of school-aged children in the East Tallahatchie School District are faced with.
In recent weeks, photographs of the condition of the various campuses around the district have surfaced on social media. They show broken and unusable toileting facilities, standing water in the sinks where children are expected to wash their hands, mold in and around the toileting areas, lack of access to toilet paper and hand-drying materials, in addition to stained, broken or missing ceiling tiles with buckets on the ground where water rains down.
The condition of the buildings in those photos rivals those shared on social media of the penitentiary at Parchman.
There is no denying that our district is in trouble — so why, when community members and merchants reach out to offer help in the way of donations of time and materials, are those offers declined?
We are failing the future leaders of our community! We are allowing those in a position of power to mismanage our tax dollars while the school building crumbles around the students.
Something has to change! We are better than this!
Please help our students by participating in school board meetings and contacting the Mississippi Department of Education. As taxpayers in the East Tallahatchie School District, we have a right to know why the school has been allowed to deteriorate to this condition.
Brandy Darby
Teasdale
Editor’s note: East Tallahatchie School District Superintendent Dr. Darron Edwards recently released the following statement to The Sun-Sentinel after the newspaper contacted him for comment about photos posted on Facebook and concerns expressed on social media and elsewhere by some members of the public who had seen the photos. His statement, dated March 10, 2020, is not a response to anything that has been submitted for publication in The Sun-Sentinel.
“The infrastructure issues that were brought to my attention ... are ‘expeditiously’ being addressed. These are not ‘new’ infrastructure issues that just mysteriously developed. We have been repairing and addressing infrastructure issues district wide all year. Of course, we have not resolved all of the problems. These issues are ongoing problems due to weather conditions, storms, as well as old and obsolete structures. Other issues are due simply to negligence over time. Lastly I find it very ‘ironic’ that these infrastructure issues have not been highlighted by the newspaper prior to my tenure. Again, some of these issues were problems prior to my arrival to the East Tallahatchie School District. Nevertheless, we will address all issues expeditiously.”
