Superintendent Dr. Earl Joe Nelson is not in favor of letting students who live within the lines of the Clarksdale Municipal School District attend Coahoma Early College High School.
Clarksdale wants to keep Average Daily Attendance dollars at the city’s schools and they also want to keep those college-bound students to help improve city school scores on state accountability tests.
The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) in an April 15 letter to Dr. Valmadge Towner, superintendent of Coahoma Early College High School (CECHS) said funding will now move from the state through local school district and CECHS must obtain a Memorandum of Understanding from those districts, specifically Clarksdale Municipal School District and Coahoma County School District, both releasing students to CECHS and then sending the dollars from the state to CECHS.
If not enough students are released, it is a possibility CECHS will be shut down prior to the 2021-22 school year.
Nelson explained he was not for releasing students at the CMSD board meeting Thursday because the district receives $5,250 per student. There were 27 CECHS students this past year that lived inside the lines of the CMSD.
Nelson said he met with Towner and spoke with him on the phone prior to the board meeting.
“My position is on this I can’t afford to give students away, but I also can’t afford to give money away,” Nelson said.
Nelson said the district is taking a hard look at shrinking funding because of population loss and a declining property tax base and payroll cuts and reduced staffing are the next step.
“This will take funding to another school,” said Nelson. “(Trustees) have to make a decision to vote on this. Based on where we are right now, not knowing where our funding is, I don’t think it’s a wise decision to move forward with this agreement.
“Send our best students, in some cases, to them,” he added. “The money for each student will go with them, but the test scores will come back to us. They’re not accountable for the scores. We are. So they get the money. We get the scores.
Nelson said the community needs to unite and Clarksdale students should attend Clarksdale schools.
“They live in the city of Clarksdale, so they are considered Clarksdale students,” he explained. “So the funding that we would have had in our district went to (CECHS). In other words, it’s funding that we didn’t receive because those students were there. Those students come to Clarksdale next year, that’s funding we will receive.”
Board member Joan Morris agreed with Nelson.
“And so they are taught by people that we have not hired, right?” Morris said. “And whatever their score is reflects on us. I do not like that.”
Nelson said CECHS would choose which students it enrolls. There would not be a number cap of how many students it could take from the CMSD.
“We don’t have a consideration in this,” Nelson said. “They select the students and if they want 100 of our kids based on what they could get, they could take 100 kids.”
Board president Delores Harris pointed out the CMSD has already lost some of its funding to Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School.
“We’re paying a chunk of money to the charter school because the money follows the kids,” Harris said. “In this case, it’s the same.”
“The only difference is, it’s worse, because we’re held accountable for the scores,” added board member Zedric Clayton.
The board did not vote on the matter since the CMSD will not be releasing students to CECHS.
“If this matter is going to be approved, then it would be through a motion,” said board attorney Carlos Palmer. “If it’s not going to be approved, then it would die for a lack of a motion or a lack of a second. You wouldn’t move to disapprove.”
Nelson said ninth through 12th graders who live in the CMSD would have to go to Clarksdale High School unless they attended a private school.
This was not the first time Nelson addressed the board about funds he did not want the district to lose.
Nelson mentioned at a meeting several months ago that some areas of Coahoma County were annexed into the city of Clarksdale. He said children living in those annexed areas should have been attending school in the CMSD. Instead, he said the students were in the Coahoma County School District.
Nelson reflected on that Thursday night.
“I’ve been in Sunflower Apartments and we have a Clarksdale bus running there and we have a Coahoma County bus,” Nelson said. “So I asked the manager there why do we have two buses? He explained, well, some kids go to Coahoma County. Some kids go to Clarksdale.”
The CMSD must provide funding to Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School every year. The funding is for every student who lives in the CMSD and attends Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School.
Nelson said the CCSD was receiving funding for those same students who attend Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School. However, the CMSD was footing the bill for the students to attend Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School.
“What we recognized is when we paid the amount for the charter school, we had 50 additional kids that they didn’t come to school in Clarksdale, but we’re paying for them,” Nelson said. “We did our research and they were in Coahoma County (School District). When we did further research because I was very upset, called MDE, I was told by the statue we would have a write the check by a certain day. And so I wrote the check, but who do I need to talk to? Because those 50 kids, the County received the money for them, but I just paid for those kids to go to charter school. I just didn’t think that was fair to our school.”
“No, that wasn’t,” said board member LaFiesta Roland in agreement.
“We found out we have 300 kids that are in the annexed area that go to Coahoma County,” Nelson continued.
Nelson said those 300 students would give the CMSD approximately $1.5 million. He added the extra money would help make staffing decisions.
“We have got to get those kids back in Clarksdale,” Nelson said.
“We can’t afford to give kids away. We can’t afford to give money away.
“I talked to a former superintendent here that said there was a gentleman’s agreement. I said we don’t do gentleman’s agreement in this business. It’s got to be something in writing.”
Nelson said he wrote CCSD superintendent Dr. Ilean Richards saying he would recruit those 300 kids for next year.
He acknowledged, in other places, people affidavits forge a residence, but he plans to make sure kids who live in the city of Clarksdale are in the CMSD.
“Where I came from, affidavits were done every 30 days and you check and see if those people are still at those addresses,” Nelson said. “I have the right in this district to ask for those affidavits. They have to be produced.”
