Leflore County High School received a generous donation from Wal-Mart as part of a segment about schools in need on NBC’s “Today” Thursday morning.
The segment, part of the program’s “Getting to the Heart of Christmas” series, kicked off with the melancholy “Happy Xmas” by John Lennon and the sad facts about school districts in need. By the end of the segment, the show switched to the positive, with an eruption of applause and excitement from the children who received digital cameras, calculators, books and school supplies.
“You couldn’t tell if they were nervous or excited,” said Julius Lucas, assistant principal of Leflore County High.
Leflore County High and two other schools elsewhere received the donations and were featured on the show.
In addition to the individual gifts for the students, the school received exercise equipment, 25 computers, several printers and other educational supplies. Each teacher also received a $250 Wal-Mart gift card.
The students did not know they would receive the donations until they were given live on the air.
“The hardest part was keeping it a secret,” said Lucas, who had known a week before. ”They were elated. It took a while to calm them down.”
Franshetta Hibbler, an 11th-grader at Leflore, spoke on the program about the issues students in smaller school districts face.
“Because it’s a small community, people don’t expect much from us,” Hibbler said on the show. “But you have to look inside yourself to know you can be better.”
The program featured some good news about Leflore as well, citing a 40 percent increase in graduation from the last year. It also highlighted the school’s goal to have every 11th-grade student take a college entrance exam.
Alexander said community involvement would be the key to student success.
“You can not separate a school from the community,” he said. “It’s about everybody working working together in concert.”
Lucas said the gifts would not only provide the students with necessary items but also inspire them.
“It gives the kids a motivation,” Lucas said. “It lets them know that somebody cares about them and wants them to be successful.”
Alexander said he wants the community to be inspired as well.
“I want to see that the community needs to be involved in these kids’ lives,” Alexander said. “This is not a rarity in the Delta. These kids need to be a part of the whole community.”
He said though Leflore was listed as a failing school by state standards this year, he thinks of it as one that has “not met standards yet.”
“We need to make sure that state standards are satisfied, and that means that every student is satisfied,” Alexander said.
He also said he would like to emphasize the work that much of the community has contributed.
The cafeteria workers and janitors were not included in the gift-giving on the show, but Alexander said Kirkland Mathematics Consulting stepped up to offer gifts to each of them as well.
The Itta Bena Police Department has also adopted 10 children and provided them with school uniforms.
