A unique part of being superintendent in a small, rural school system located on one k-12 campus is that I get to see my students, look in their young eyes, see their faces, and hear them talk about school.
I see teachers work hard because they realize that, in Quitman County, they are the difference between a child’s success or failure — a life of being able to accomplish one’s dreams and hopes, or walking the streets in a town without a stoplight, hunting for a job where there are none.
Most every teacher in a rural town plays a larger-than-life part in a student’s future. Many teachers choose to come back home or move to a small town in hopes of giving these students motivation to fully appreciate teaching and learning, graduate from high school and move forward in life.
A rural school in way too many students' lives does play the role of in loco parentis. In these buildings, the teachers, janitors, secretaries, lunch room workers, paraprofessionals, and bus drivers help them gain knowledge and understanding of the value of an education, acquire social skills and aspire to succeed, and in many, many cases they do.
Just as the state has had economic woes, these woes affect the local systems. It is hard in a rural system — honestly, it is hard in any system — that has lost an industry, the building shuttered, jobs being lost and income gone. Properties have been reassessed, many have lost value. Thereforelocal property taxes to schools have diminished, yet expenses continue to rise.
Although the state has made strides toward economic recovery, much of this recovery has not been in rural communities. Despite these setbacks, through all of the tax issues in our communities, cutbacks on funding for many mandates and necessities, and programs that have been initiated (more work, no help), you find an attitude of “we will succeed.” It’s prevalent in our state, in our communities and, most importantly, in our schools.
What I feel needs the most understanding of differences between small, rural and large systems is that size and funding does not allow us to offer AP or honors’ classes for the students who strive just as hard to get to college as a student from a large school that has these classes.
For the student who wants to learn a skill or just to learn for a fun elective, we do not have automotive, construction, health care, culinary arts or other career, technical and agricultural education classes in high school. These are classes that truly teach a lifelong skill and provide opportunity to work. We cannot offer music, art or any other electives for middle or high school students that may challenge the student, provide intellectual stimulation or uncover a hidden talent. We cannot offer ROTC, which is a wonderful and powerful tool for giving a student a place to belong, a path toward the military if they choose, and good discipline.
And Quitman County middle and high school are not even provided funding for teaching slots for the four basic academic classes required for graduation. But we, as with so many other rural schools, will never use this as an excuse to fail. Rather, it’s a reason to succeed, to prosper and create a caring, dedicated educational environment of which we are very proud.
It is unfortunate that we do not have a rating formula that measures work ethic, heart, soul, and caring attitude of a teacher, a student, or a community. I know that so many rural schools, and I’m sure large schools do too, give tremendous effort to changing a child’s life, giving them opportunity, providing them hope and a quality education and a chance for a good life.
