MSSportsGuy

With Bama going back to 6 classes (different circumstances but...) maybe that will make the association and their members realize 7A is spreading around the schools too much for miniscule enrollment differences once the top layer is taken care of. Five classes are probably enough for a state our size.

And yes 7A needs to go away. More consolidation will eventually force their hands hopefully

Blake Levine has reported 1A Thrasher in Prentiss County isn't playing next season due to lack of numbers. That's near my hometown area and their numbers and record have never been good but hate to see another loss in the 1A ranks. Hopefully it's temporary but these things tend not to come back once they are gone. There really should be some consolidation between Thrasher and Jumpertown.

I will go a step further and say we could cut the number of counties in half. Three million is our total population and isn't exactly growing. Cut the number of counties, legislators, school districts, community colleges and IHLs in half and you are talking about serious savings.

I looked at the AHSAA site and saw their numbers. The gap between the biggest 6A and smallest is about 1000 students. I wonder if their association was worried about decreasing excitement with such a large enrollment difference.

I will be curious how this plays out. To me the association has been way, way, way too rigid about keeping an equal number of teams in divisions/regions or not letting a school play up or down a class if there is a minimal enrollment difference but would improve the travel conditions for the kids and attendees. Football once a week is one thing, but other sports often play during the week and it's a burden to send teams hours and hours away from home several times a season just for the sake of playing a game.

Fighting consolidations rarely works. School boards see the financial side of things the public does not.

The current configuration is: Walnut K12 on one campus Chalybeate K-8 on a campus, students attend Walnut for 9-12 Falkner Elementary K5 on a campus Falkner High 6-12 on a campus less than a mile away Planned configuration (per my source) Falkner Elementary k-5 remains North Tippah High (walnut campus) all grades 6-12 Chalybeate Elementary K-5 to add those from Walnut Current Falkner High no longer in use Falkner and Walnut are 8 miles apart on Highway 15 so not a bad distance yet this has been very contentious and I suspect Ripley and Pine Grove will get some current FHS students in protest

Ashland. Benton County is very small population wise. The challenge there is they have two very different student bodies demographics wise and would incite a civil war at the suggestion of consolidation, from both sides. There are always bills and studies that can tell us the same thing: there are too many school districts in a state our size. There have been some district consolidations in a few counties that were forced legislatively. The problem is it requires the political will to do it. You can mention district consolidations all day long, but when people hear the C word, they immediately think their school will disappear. No superintendent or school board will voluntarily give up their roles. The average Mississippian hears district consolidation and the pitchforks go up. Unless there is the will to mandate them legislatively it won't happen.

That's easy to say but tougher to do. West Lowndes for example is 20 miles from New Hope and Caledonia (the other schools in the Lowndes District). It's only 10 miles from Columbus High School but it's a City vs County district difference there. It is almost 30 miles from Shaw to Rosedale and West Bolivar high as both are in the same district. It's 12 miles from Shaw to Cleveland but again, separate districts. McAdams in only about 10 miles to Kosciusko but since it's part of Attala School and the city is separate, Ethel would be 16 miles away. In the case of Thrasher and Jumpertown they are only about 10 miles apart. but would one of the facilities be able to accommodate their current students and also the new students? A new facility would be ideal but money is probably an issue. I'd wager Ripley and Collins could absorb Blue Mountain and Mount Olive easily without major renovations or additions but right now there appears to be no will to change anything. District consolidation should take place in many of these counties and facilitate school consolidation but there doesn't seem to be any real appetite for it outside of a few comments.

A list of these 1A schools and their totals in 3 grades underscores the need for several on this list to consolidate in some shape or form. Bigger isn't always better and from growing up in Northeast Mississippi, I am sensitive and also sympathetic to possible changes but it's not financially feasible to keep staffing schools that are in poor physical condition with shrinking numbers. At some point parents and grandparents have to accept their old school may not exist anymore.

What's weird to me is Strayhorn continued to play as a 1A after Coldwater closed. The MHSAA didn't even put another school in that region, there were only 3 football teams for those two years. Wonder why Leake is being moved up?

The problem most people have is giving money to private schools. When you consider half the vouchers were designated for those already in private school, it looks like more of a giveaway program. The senators who killed the bill listened to their voters and some in the house did not.

It makes sense for sure, but I don't see the districts combining unless forced by legislation. Attala County would be wise to follow what Starkville did with Oktibbeha County Schools and merge them all into one high school. The county is poor and likely isn't able to have many resources when compared with the city. While no doubt both are probably fine with the situation, it would likely be best for the kids for a single district and high school. McAdams and Ethel have very different demographics so just merging them together would not likely go over well but could happen of course.

The increase in consolidations was one of the reasons I gave years ago for why we don't need 7 classes and perhaps not even 6. There will continue to be other closures and mergers. At the very least 1A football should go to 4 regions again.