Mississippi Today

In the wake of deadly tornadoes, schools react to power outages and building damage

Published

2 years ago

March 27, 2023

In the wake of deadly tornadoes, schools react to power outages and building damage

by Julia James, Mississippi Today
March 27, 2023

Four school districts are closed Monday as a result of the deadly tornadoes that made their way across the state over the weekend and killed 21 people, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

The districts are:

South Delta School District
Amory School District
Carroll County School District
Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District

Brian Jones, superintendent of the Amory School District, described the situation as “very, very overwhelming.” He said schools will be closed all week in the district and the goal is to have students back by next Monday. Amory High School was the only school building to sustain damage in one part of the campus, allowing it to be used for instruction once schools reopen.

Jones said the district’s school buses had all the windows blown out by the storm, which they are working to repair, adding that they have been in communication with other districts about borrowing school buses. He also said the athletic facilities are gone and students will not be playing any sports for the remainder of the year while the district works to rebuild.

“The community has rallied around itself with everybody trying to help everybody,” Jones said.

No buildings were damaged in the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District, according to Superintendent Teresa Jackson, but the district and much of the surrounding community are currently without power.

Jackson said the estimate from Entergy was that power would be restored by 10 p.m. Tuesday night, but said she considers this optimistic. She added she is concerned about food access since the one grocery store in Winona is running on generators and most other stores are without power.

“We want to get our schools open as soon as possible so that we can serve breakfast and lunch, have mental health resources, and just get back into a routine,” Jackson said. “Kids need routine.”

Jackson said they hope to be back in school before the end of the week. She also expressed her appreciation for the fellow superintendents, state leaders, and local companies who have checked on them and offered assistance.

“When there are tragic events like this, the state of Mississippi really wraps their arms around those people,” she said. “That is why I love Mississippi so much, because we take care of each other, we care about each other, and we’re going to reach out and say ‘How can we help?’”

A spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Education said it has been in continued contact with all affected districts, and is working with federal, state and local agencies to administer support services. State Superintendent Robert Taylor visited the communities most severely affected on Monday.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said the New Albany School District and Humphreys County School District, also in the path of the tornadoes, were operational on Monday, which the New Albany Superintendent Lance Evans confirmed to Mississippi Today. Evans added that the damage to facilities in his district was extremely minimal compared to other districts.

Superintendents of the South Delta School District and the Carroll County School District could not be reached for comment. According to the Mississippi Department of Education, school buildings in South Delta sustained roof damage but are not destroyed and Carroll County school buildings were undamaged but are currently without power.

Hank Bounds, the former state superintendent of education during Hurricane Katrina, said for the most severely affected districts, reopening schools is secondary to ensuring their students and staff are safe and cared for. Bounds said he has offered his assistance through state leaders to districts trying to figure out their disaster recovery plans, but has not been in contact with any yet.

“My guess is they are doing nothing but thinking about the welfare of their people right now, as they should be,” he said.

No colleges or universities in the state appear to have sustained damages.

On Saturday evening, Mississippi Valley State University in Leflore County posted a message from its president, Jerryl Briggs, on social media. The campus “avoided a severe blow,” Briggs wrote, but the families of students, faculty and staff were affected. To support those community members, the university was organizing a community service event.

“Our hearts ached as we watched the news coverage and have since heard of the reports of those who lost their lives, property, and so much more,” Briggs wrote.

Molly Minta contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Up Next

How to help Mississippi tornado victims

Don't Miss

Senate, in 11th hour, tries to revive ballot initiative measure it previously killed

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1906

Published

3 hours ago

January 22, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-22 07:00:00

Jan. 22, 1906

Willa Beatrice Brown served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Credit: Wikipedia

Pioneer aviator and civil rights activist Willa Beatrice Brown was born in Glasgow, Kentucky.

While working in Chicago, she learned how to fly and became the first Black female to earn a commercial pilot’s license. A journalist said that when she entered the newsroom, “she made such a stunning appearance that all the typewriters suddenly went silent. … She had a confident bearing and there was an undercurrent of determination in her husky voice as she announced, not asked, that she wanted to see me.”

In 1939, she married her former flight instructor, Cornelius Coffey, and they co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics, the first Black-owned private flight training academy in the U.S.

She succeeded in convincing the U.S. Army Air Corps to let them train Black pilots. Hundreds of men and women trained under them, including nearly 200 future Tuskegee Airmen.

In 1942, she became the first Black officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. After World War II ended, she became the first Black woman to run for Congress. Although she lost, she remained politically active and worked in Chicago, teaching business and aeronautics.

After she retired, she served on an advisory board to the Federal Aviation Administration. She died in 1992. A historical marker in her hometown now recognizes her as the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license in the U.S., and Women in Aviation International named her one of the 100 most influential women in aviation and space.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Stories Videos

Mississippi Stories: Michael May of Lazy Acres

Published

19 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – rlake – 2025-01-21 14:51:00

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey takes a trip to Lazy Acres. In 1980, Lazy Acres Christmas tree farm was founded in Chunky, Mississippi by Raburn and Shirley May. Twenty-one years later, Michael and Cathy May purchased Lazy Acres. Today, the farm has grown into a multi seasonal business offering a Bunny Patch at Easter, Pumpkin Patch in the fall, Christmas trees and an spectacular Christmas light show. It’s also a masterclass in family business entrepreneurship and agricultural tourism.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1921

Published

1 day ago

January 21, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-21 07:00:00

Jan. 21, 1921

George Washington Carver Credit: Wikipedia

George Washington Carver became one of the first Black experts to testify before Congress.

His unlikely road to Washington began after his birth in Missouri, just before the Civil War ended. When he was a week old, he and his mother and his sister were kidnapped by night raiders. The slaveholder hired a man to track them down, but the only one the man could locate was George, and the slaveholder exchanged a race horse for George’s safe return. George and his brother were raised by the slaveholder and his wife.

The couple taught them to read and write. George wound up attending a school for Black children 10 miles away and later tried to attend Highland University in Kansas, only to get turned away because of the color of his skin. Then he attended Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, before becoming the first Black student at what is now Iowa State University, where he received a Master’s of Science degree and became the first Black faculty member.

Booker T. Washington then invited Carver to head the Tuskegee Institute’s Agriculture Department, where he found new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and other crops.

In the past, segregation would have barred Carver’s testimony before Congress, but white peanut farmers, desperate to convince lawmakers about the need for a tariff on peanuts because of cheap Chinese imports, believed Carver could captivate them — and captivate he did, detailing how the nut could be transformed into candy, milk, livestock feed, even ink.

“I have just begun with the peanut,” he told lawmakers.

Impressed, they passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922.

In addition to this work, Carver promoted racial harmony. From 1923 to 1933, he traveled to white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Time magazine referred to him as a “Black Leonardo,” and he died in 1943.

That same year, the George Washington Carver Monument complex, the first national park honoring a Black American, was founded in Joplin, Missouri.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.