PRV community makes final plea for school

By Danielle Wallingsford Kirkland

 

“It was early 1935 and all over Paint Rock Valley people were rock hunting. Large ones, small ones, they were piled into wagons, washtubs, coal scuttles and hauled into Princeton. Paint Rock Valley was literally building a high school, rock by rock.” – History of Paint Rock Valley by Mary Sue Toney as it appeared in THE DAILY SENTINEL April 29, 1979. 

The word “community” is one that is often heard at Paint Rock Valley High School. It’s been that way since the school began during the height of the depression when citizens of each small community in the valley gathered and hauled rocks from the fields for its construction. Though it stands in Princeton, the school was named Paint Rock Valley High School to honor the people of the communities who had contributed to the building of the school.

Now, 82 years after the first class was held inside those field stone walls, the school is facing its biggest trial. Today at 1 p.m., the Jackson County Board of Education will vote on whether or not its doors will close for good at the end of this school year. But the close knit community came out in droves to the school’s auditorium Tuesday night in hopes that the board will allow the school to remain open.

Loretta Harris has lived just a few feet away from the school since her birth in 1937.

“I could hear the bell ring from where I lived,” Harris said.

Harris, whose mother was a school teacher at PRVHS, grew up hearing the stories of students bringing down rocks from the hills to help build the school. She attended the meeting Tuesday night to support the school she has always called home.

“It’s always been a wonderful place,” she said.

 Not only did Harris, as well as her sisters, children and several grandchildren, graduate from the school, but Harris herself went on to serve as the school’s secretary for 20 years.

“This is my community,” Harris said.”I’m still very connected to the school. I love it, and it’s just a part of me.”

Harris said she does not want to see the school close. And though it is small in numbers, it is just as good as any other school as far as Harris is concerned.

“I feel (the students) get as good an education here as anywhere else in Jackson County,” Harris said. “We have a lot of seniors who receive scholarships and they always look forward to that.”

 Superintendent Kevin Dukes addressed the crowd at the meeting, and gave them a presentation about the factors that contributed to his recommendation that the school be closed.

“It’s not a good situation,” Dukes said. “It’s tough on the community and it’s tough on the people making the decisions.”

Several of the school faculty members and community supporters gave presentations as well, many making a case for the board to allow them to remain open at least one more year.

Teacher Stacey Miller presented the board with the plan to move the school forward with place based learning, explaining how teachers could use Paint Rock Valley itself as a classroom.

“Place based education is an approach to education that takes students out into the community to learn and grow as human beings,” Miller said. “It gives them the opportunity to learn subject matter in a deep and lasting way.”

Another PRVHS teacher, Danielle Potts, explained how a teacher from A&M University will help the school fund its place based education program with grant money.

“He said, ‘Do not worry about funds for place based learning. If they will keep you open, we can have it funded by August,’” Potts said. “We are really confident that if you give us a chance, we can pull this off.”

Community member and parent Stacy Prince addressed the board members about the numbers they have presented in recent weeks regarding per student costs of keeping the school open.  Prince said that at a board meeting on March 16, CSFO Jeff Middleton said Paint Rock Valley High School spends $432,148 more than any other school in the county to educate its students.

Prince said she feels that number is much smaller when other factors are considered.

“Should Paint Rock Valley close, 22 of our students will not be going into the Jackson County School system,” Prince said. “They will be homeschooling, going to Tennessee, Madison City, Madison County and Scottsboro City, according to their parents.”

Prince explained that the county would lose $184,360 if those students leave the system. She also said she believes the system will lose two units, accounting for $161,000 in salaries, should the school close.

“We believe the actual number of savings if Paint Rock Valley closes is $87,000,”Prince said. “We are asking you, the board, to invest the money you would lose in funding, should the school close. We will do the rest. We do not want to be a burden on the Jackson County School system. That’s not our goal.”

Prince added that after a fundraiser to be held this weekend, it is projected that the school will have earned nearly $20,000 on its own.

“That’s a large portion of $86,000,”Prince said.

Shadrack McGill, former state senator, said he graduated from Paint Rock Valley in 1994 and just last year built a new home in the valley so his children could attend the school there.

“We enrolled our children in Paint Rock Valley School here just to find there is a threat of closing the school down,” McGill said.

McGill expressed disappointment, saying he felt little has been done by the board and administration to keep the school open.

“Ever since I was in 4^th grade I remember hearing they are going to close the school down,” McGill said. “It’s like we have never had a board that supported us here in Paint Rock Valley.”

McGill, who said he has called state school board members as well as legislators and the former governor to discuss the school in the past few weeks, said he had several suggestions on how to increase enrollment numbers and build the school back up.

“I’d look at rezoning,” McGill said. “We are allowing a school bus from Woodville to cross over dangerous railroad tracks to pick up students that would otherwise be going here when Woodville is busting at the seams with students.”

Mike Sisk, current Jackson County Commissioner and lifelong resident of Paint Rock Valley, said he did not feel that PRVHS students should be transferred to an environment that would be unfamiliar to them.

“Until you have been a teacher here, or have had a child in school here I do not think you can understand what I am truly saying,” Sisk said. “Our kids here don’t slip through the cracks. They get the attention they need. It’s a nourishing environment.”

Sisk too expressed disappointment in the Jackson County Board of Education concerning the state of the school.

“We have had nine principals in the past 15 years,” Sisk said. “It’s hard to set goals when you’re transferring over and over. The school has been built by this community. It has never been taken care of by the board of education.”

Sisk stated instances of the community gathering to clean the school halls, varnish floors and repair bathrooms.  He said once the lunchroom manager paid to have the lunchroom painted out of her own pocket.

“I just want the board to realize this is our community,” Sisk said. “This is what we want to keep together.”

When the meeting ended, Board Member Cecil Gant said the presentations confirmed his decision.

“I will not vote to close this school,” Gant said.

Dukes said he understood why people were upset.

“Who wouldn’t fight for their community?” Dukes said. “We have got to come to a conclusion. If it closes, we move forward. If it doesn’t close, let’s move forward. But let’s drop the talk. It’s the only fair thing to them, to get the peace of knowing one way or another.”

And the community will know one way or another today when the board takes a roll call vote at 1 p.m. at the Jackson County Board of Education central office.

*This story originally appeared in The Daily Sentinel.