NAACP Coalition opposes school board’s Vision 20/20 proposal
JACKSON, Tenn. — Representatives young and old gathered this morning to submit a united plea.
People from Beech Bluff, West Middle School, Nova Elementary, Malesus Elementary, and JCM joined together with the NAACP to raise their voices against the Jackson-Madison county school board’s Vision 20-20 proposal. “The Vision 20/20 plan does not take into consideration the extended time that our children will be bused or the negative impact that school closings will have on the community,” James Johnson said.
Representatives from each school spoke out against the plan saying this possible decision is like many of the other decisions the school board has made in the past. “The system has notoriously made careless decisions concerning building construction and building maintenance, the decision to spend millions of dollars to add space to some schools and close others is another case of careless decision making,” Johnson said.
NAACP Vice President Byron Elam said some of the decisions the city is making are tragic. “Simultaneously building prisons and closing schools defies any reasonable or logical set of actions aimed at cutting costs,” Elam said. “The Jackson-Madison county school system should be working to better utilize current facilities instead of wasting money that could be used to include curriculum,” Johnson said.
The next Vision 20/20 meeting is this Monday.
