Lauderdale County School District

Editor’s note: This letter was sent to The Star as an open letter to several area school leaders. It’s being published here is an abbreviated version.

When my family moved to Meridian four years ago, I was taken aback by the school choices available for my 7th grade daughter. We were amazed at the wide disparity in both academic rating and diversity between the city and county schools.

In the end, my daughter spent two years at Lamar and two years at Meridian High School. She had great experiences at both schools and made many friends.

But the unevenness in academic quality in our community is not fair to the students who happen to live in the lower ranked school areas. And furthermore, it is not appropriate for any school to be less diverse than the community it serves.

Therefore, I am writing to suggest a transformational solution to these issues that is based on the community we moved from in south Florida. Broward County School district is one of the largest in the nation. We could learn from their example.

Here are my recommendations:

1: Consolidate Meridian and Lauderdale County schools into a single district.

2: Allow students and parents to choose freely at high school level.

3: Establish high-interest magnet programs in strategically located schools.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but I have seen it work in my own children’s lives. You may think that students would flock from the lower ranked schools to the higher ranked ones. This is a good thing. But that movement is balanced by the students moving from those schools towards the magnet schools.

For it to work, the magnet programs must be attractive and placed in the more marginal schools. The influx of highly motivated magnet students improves the academic level of those schools immediately. And the movement of students in both directions increases diversity in all the schools.

In Broward County, my son was willing to travel 25 miles to participate in a nationally recognized robotics program at Dillard High School. That school also served as a fine arts magnet and had exceptional performing arts groups. In that district – which again is one of the largest in the US — there were over two dozen magnet programs available.

There is no reason that Meridian/Lauderdale County couldn’t have five or six strategically located magnet areas.

I know these are bold suggestions and that change does not come easily. However, our children deserve the best schools that we can offer them.

Dr. Dan Barnard

Meridian