Photo by Morgan Smith

Eight MSMS students serving on the State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council met with State Superintendent Lance Evans to share the student body’s opinion regarding the recent universities’ relocation proposals.

Editor’s note: Michelle Yang is a co-editor-in-chief of The Vision.

Eight MSMS students serving on the State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council met with Mississippi Department of Education officials and discussed the school’s values with State Superintendent Lance Evans on April 8 after the department tasked local universities with developing proposals to house the school.

Junior Israel Cecil said the opportunity to present MSMS’s values to the state superintendent, as well as voice the opinions of the current student body, went a long way toward opening this ongoing conversation between MSMS and policymakers in Jackson.  

“It is starting to show a message that we are passionate about our school. [The student body] hasn’t been heard, and it’s a good time for us to be heard. We were heard on Tuesday [April 8],” Cecil said. 

The intent of the presentation, senior Michelle Yang said, was not to emphasize where MSMS should be housed in the future but to highlight the concerns of the student body. 

“The point of the meeting was not for us to assert any kind of opinion about where we want to relocate. We wanted to inform MDE of the current situation with the school and hear from their perspective,” Yang said. 

Earlier this year, MDE requested that Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women submit a long-term plan to house MSMS. A Mississippi Board of Education subcommittee ranked MSU’s proposal over MUW’s and sent the results to the state Legislature for future consideration. In a schoolwide survey gathering MSMS students’ feedback on the relocation, 59 out of 63 students said they preferred MUW’s proposal and wished to stay in Columbus. At the time of the survey, the MSMS student body was made up of about 232 students.

A forum was held on April 3 for MSMS students to voice their concerns about both proposals, and anonymous quotes from this forum were brought up in the April 8 presentation. 

The slideshow presentation focused on highlighting MSMS’s four pillars: scholarship, creativity, community and service. The presentation also included slides emphasizing the importance of preserving the school’s autonomy and identity. While Executive Director Ginger Tedder attended the presentation, she did not participate in the discussion or the luncheon. 

Those students traveling to Jackson said the luncheon following the presentation served as a chance for Evans to discuss the school in a more relaxed setting. Cecil said Evans showed support for MSMS at the luncheon.

“Dr. Evans is very friendly. He sat next to the rest of [the students], and we were all in agreement with each other. We want our school to be the best that it can be, and he’s an advocate for us,” Cecil said. 

The importance of continued conversation between MSMS students and Jackson policymakers was emphasized by the students. Senior Teagan Lotwala, who traveled to Jackson for the meeting, said some level of disconnect exists between MSMS and state-level decision makers.

“When you talk to the higher-ups and you tell them something, they will say something along the lines of, ‘Oh, wow, I don’t know that’ or ‘You know a lot more about this than I do,’” Lotwala said. “It shouldn’t be that way, because they are making the decisions [about MSMS]. We are hoping to inform them about MSMS and try to get the school more involved in the decision-making.”