Members of the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board and other community leaders exchanged ideas during a school board work session Wednesday for working together to prevent violent crimes on school campuses.
Those present included members of the Greenwood City Council and the Leflore County Board of Supervisors as well as law enforcement officers.
“We know that we have a problem, a criminal problem, and it’s taking our young children, sucking them up,” said Reginald Moore, president of the Board of Supervisors.
There have been 14 homicides in Leflore County this year, all but two of which involved guns. Ten homicides have occurred since May.
Moore said the county is working on installing surveillance cameras to monitor crime, similar to what Greenwood officials have implemented in the city.
School board member Jackie Cooper-Lewis asked whether law enforcement officers could be present where students are picked up and dropped off by school buses to ensure safety.
Moore responded that both the Leflore County Sheriff’s Department and the Greenwood Police Department are understaffed, meaning it may be difficult to assign officers to patrol those areas during the mornings and afternoons. He suggested that officers make regular visits to school campuses to introduce themselves to students and build a rapport with them.
Kelvin Pulley, the attorney for the school board, later said that an agreement could be drafted between the county, the city of Greenwood and the school district to determine whether law enforcement officers could be on patrol during the time students are picked up and dropped off.
Dr. Kalanya Moore, another member of the school board and the wife of Reginald Moore, asked Anjuan Brown, the school district’s security and safety coordinator, whether he had looked at any studies on the effectiveness of community-oriented programs designed to curb violence.
Brown responded that he has done so but also emphasized that because school district safety protocols have been followed, there have been no shootings on school premises.
Kalanya Moore acknowledged that was good news but said that the district must continue to be proactive. She also suggested to school board President Samantha Milton that it reconvene to discuss safety again.
“The numbers are increasing, and a lot of times those incidents in the community sometimes start in our schools, and they seep out or in,” Kalanya Moore said. “It’s getting to be like a COVID-19, a pandemic in our community.”
Several community leaders, including the Rev. Dr. Calvin Collins, pastor of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and Ronnie Stevenson, president of the Greenwood City Council, said the community must rally together to curb violence.
Stevenson said that county and Greenwood leaders and the school district must continually get together “to fight, fight, fight” against violence. He also suggested that churches throughout Leflore County, which he described as the county’s most “precious asset,” “come out of their walls and act after they pray.”
In other business:
- Will Perkins, president of Greenwood Little Theatre, and Pam Powers, a member of the theater’s board, discussed with the school board a possible partnership between the theater group, the school district and Mississippi Valley State University.
Since the pandemic began last year, GLT has not been able to produce any plays or musicals for the public. In addition, Perkins said, the theater’s venue at 707 Sycamore Ave. is “facing daunting construction issues,” meaning that the theater group is looking at other potential venues.
One possible site, he said, is the auditorium at Davis Elementary School.
Powers said that a partnership between GLT, MVSU and the school district would bring about numerous opportunities. For example, the school district could provide performance venues for MVSU’s Music Department, and GLT could offer workshops and plays in which students and parents could participate.
School board members were receptive to the idea, and Milton said the board would be happy to discuss the details of a potential partnership further with GLT.
- Durrell Design Group, a Jackson-based architectural firm, offered its services should the school board go forward with construction projects funded by bond funds.
Greg Durrell, the owner of the architect firm, said that 95% of his firm’s projects focus on school construction. They have included the building of new schools in Jackson and in Germantown, Tennessee. He said he and his team are familiar with bond issues and “would love the opportunity to work with you on any upcoming projects.”
- Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
