BigCat101 Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 There has been a lot of talk about Magee and Mendenhall combining, I just heard yesterday from Coach Dillion the AD that that East and West Marion were going to Consolidate. I believe this will be a 4a and be very competitive in 4A. The only thing Im excited about is that Columbia will probably get a bunch of players from this. I believe that Marion County has some of the best athletes in the state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 2 hours ago, BigCat101 said: There has been a lot of talk about Magee and Mendenhall combining, I just heard yesterday from Coach Dillion the AD that that East and West Marion were going to Consolidate. I believe this will be a 4a and be very competitive in 4A. The only thing Im excited about is that Columbia will probably get a bunch of players from this. I believe that Marion County has some of the best athletes in the state. Large 4A Small 5A under 7A class system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s1nglewing Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 8 hours ago, BigCat101 said: There has been a lot of talk about Magee and Mendenhall combining, I just heard yesterday from Coach Dillion the AD that that East and West Marion were going to Consolidate. I believe this will be a 4a and be very competitive in 4A. The only thing Im excited about is that Columbia will probably get a bunch of players from this. I believe that Marion County has some of the best athletes in the state. I think between 600-700 9-12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 59 minutes ago, s1nglewing said: I think between 600-700 9-12. East 2021= 204, 2022 = 212 West 21 = 360, 2022 = 391 Total = 564, 603 4A under 7 class plan 4A under 6 class plan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 One reason I said for being opposed to another class is that consolidation has already closed many small schools across the state and that trend will continue. I have no idea if Marion County will consolidate or not but I suspect that if it happens, their enrollment will wind up being lower than that of the two schools right now because some people will go to Columbia High or Academy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrvoodoo Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 On 2/18/2022 at 11:17 AM, MSSportsGuy said: One reason I said for being opposed to another class is that consolidation has already closed many small schools across the state and that trend will continue. I have no idea if Marion County will consolidate or not but I suspect that if it happens, their enrollment will wind up being lower than that of the two schools right now because some people will go to Columbia High or Academy. I've heard rumblings of a possible Lowndes County consolidation, but I can't see how they'd manage that. Both Caledonia and New Hope are really good sized schools with Caledonia steadily growing. I could see a potential New Hope/West Lowndes consolidation though. Columbus wouldn't be involved in this as they're in a completely separate district. Note - this is just rumblings, not anything solid yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Lowndes County would be tough given the layout of the county. West Lowndes is pretty small with Caledonia and New Hope both being decent sized. Kids from the west and south sides of the county would have quite a trip to New Hope if WL were to close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrvoodoo Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 agree completely - I don't see any logical location that isn't a logistic nightmare for families Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Honestly an administrative consolidation between Columbus City Schools and Lowndes County could be more helpful. I am one of the people who believes there are too many school districts with high paid administrators and duplicate positions in areas that really aren't very large. I won't go so far as to say every single county only needs one district but in Columbus-Lowndes it is feasible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrvoodoo Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 agreed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs4 Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 On 2/25/2022 at 12:46 PM, MSSportsGuy said: Honestly an administrative consolidation between Columbus City Schools and Lowndes County could be more helpful. I am one of the people who believes there are too many school districts with high paid administrators and duplicate positions in areas that really aren't very large. I won't go so far as to say every single county only needs one district but in Columbus-Lowndes it is feasible. THIS is spot on. No need to have more than one administrative office per county for schools. The current system is Completely Ridiculous. In Meridian you have two bloated central offices (Meridian and Lauderdale County). The duplication of positions and all the unnecessary slots in both offices is mind boggling. All the while, the classrooms suffer from not having all the resources that are needed. I would venture to say that just in Lauderdale County alone, if there was only one central office, you could put $2-3 million dollars more into the classrooms, building maintenance etc. each year. Very inefficient system in place currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 3 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said: THIS is spot on. No need to have more than one administrative office per county for schools. The current system is Completely Ridiculous. In Meridian you have two bloated central offices (Meridian and Lauderdale County). The duplication of positions and all the unnecessary slots in both offices is mind boggling. All the while, the classrooms suffer from not having all the resources that are needed. I would venture to say that just in Lauderdale County alone, if there was only one central office, you could put $2-3 million dollars more into the classrooms, building maintenance etc. each year. Very inefficient system in place currently. What it really is about more often than not is just turf battles. This is often about power but more often about race or socioeconomics. There are several places in the state that would benefit from just having one school system and board for a county. Again, I won't say that there should only be one district per county but I believe in most small areas where there are two or three districts it is really just about "we've always done it this way", people don't want to perceive they are losing power or influence. It won't always save a ton of money but most places in the state are shrinking, not growing, so it makes sense to have combined leadership when there are fewer people to manage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FBdude Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 41 minutes ago, MSSportsGuy said: What it really is about more often than not is just turf battles. This is often about power but more often about race or socioeconomics. There are several places in the state that would benefit from just having one school system and board for a county. Again, I won't say that there should only be one district per county but I believe in most small areas where there are two or three districts it is really just about "we've always done it this way", people don't want to perceive they are losing power or influence. It won't always save a ton of money but most places in the state are shrinking, not growing, so it makes sense to have combined leadership when there are fewer people to manage. Lauderdale is one of Mississippi’s top 10 largest counties by pop. I get them having more than one district. Clarke, Newton, Scott, Neshoba, and Jasper all have multiple districts. Lot of money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK_on_the_Coast Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 41 minutes ago, FBdude said: Lauderdale is one of Mississippi’s top 10 largest counties by pop. I get them having more than one district. Clarke, Newton, Scott, Neshoba, and Jasper all have multiple districts. Lot of money. I live in Jackson County and it's the same situation. St Martin / Vancleave / East Central are all JCSD Pascagoula / Gautier are PGSD Ocean Springs is Independent SD Moss Point is Independent SD Resurrection of course is different (private) but is run by Catholic Diocese of Biloxi Jackson County could have 2 school districts rather than 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 2 hours ago, FBdude said: Lauderdale is one of Mississippi’s top 10 largest counties by pop. I get them having more than one district. Clarke, Newton, Scott, Neshoba, and Jasper all have multiple districts. Lot of money. Base it on population but the smaller counties need to consolidate district offices and in some cases schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestPride4 Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Why would Columbia get more players from this? The only people that have a problem with West/East consolidating are non progressing people. One budget/one school equals better facilities and better programs for our kids. Look at all the schools that have consolidated. Seems to be working for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s1nglewing Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 7 minutes ago, WestPride4 said: Why would Columbia get more players from this? The only people that have a problem with West/East consolidating are non progressing people. One budget/one school equals better facilities and better programs for our kids. Look at all the schools that have consolidated. Seems to be working for them. Wouldn't most, if not all, of East Marion's kids end up attending Columbia? The schools are less than three miles apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 5 hours ago, WestPride4 said: Why would Columbia get more players from this? The only people that have a problem with West/East consolidating are non progressing people. One budget/one school equals better facilities and better programs for our kids. Look at all the schools that have consolidated. Seems to be working for them. They will probably send K-8 to East or West and then 9-12 to the other school until a new single school can be built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BALLER76 Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 I heard from several folks in the area that 62% of Columbia's enrollment is from the EM district. If taken to court, those kids would have to return to EM making the new school much larger than planned and dropping Columbia back to the 2A-3A classification. Marion county supposedly making some big moves soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 5 hours ago, BALLER76 said: I heard from several folks in the area that 62% of Columbia's enrollment is from the EM district. If taken to court, those kids would have to return to EM making the new school much larger than planned and dropping Columbia back to the 2A-3A classification. Marion county supposedly making some big moves soon That explains East going 1A in 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted May 26, 2022 Share Posted May 26, 2022 Bond Vote Failed Consolidating in jeopardy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pancho Posted May 26, 2022 Share Posted May 26, 2022 ouch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSportsGuy Posted May 26, 2022 Share Posted May 26, 2022 The bond was defeated pretty soundly just like the one in Simpson County. I am not that familiar with the area but I wonder if the board will proceed with consolidation now or just try again at a later time. I know Columbia is in a different school district. It seems to me like this would be a county where having just one superintendent for a combined district would make sense. None of those schools are particularly big and there would be savings without duplicate administration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunky6617 Posted May 27, 2022 Share Posted May 27, 2022 Columbia actually wants east and west Marion to consolidate with them. I don’t think east and west want to merge with Columbia. But honestly it would make sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Bert Posted May 27, 2022 Share Posted May 27, 2022 I agree only 1 Superintendent needed in the county. Draw up the school zones evenly as possible even if certain students on the east side of Columbia go to East Marion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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