The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1948-01-23
Parents Protest
Pupils Shift From
Beach 10 South

A petition protesting the shift
ing of 81 children from the Beach
to the South Elementary school
in order to make possible the re-
turn of the Beach school to a nor
NAL day schedule was denied by
the Board of Trustees of the Pas
cagoula Rural Separate school dis
trict which met in special session
Thursday Afternoon to consider the
request. The petition vas signed
by a group of parents of pupils
involved in the shift.
In a letter to the Chronicle
Star-Advertiser, parents based
their protest on the fact that the
children are being changed in
the middle of the school year and
that in some instances children
who live as close as a half a
block of the Beach school are be-
ing changed to South school, a
distance of about IL blocks.
Deny Petition
In denying the petition the
school board issued the following
etatement:
1.-The petition has been receiv-
ed and duly considered. 1t has
be necessary to shift the lines
of individual school districts with
in the Pascagoula Rural Separate
School District ten times or more
in the past six years to accommo-
date the increasing school popula-
ton. 1t now becomes necessary to
make the first shift on account of
DECREASING population. Fur
Their decrease in school enrolment
is very eminent and more shifts
may be expected. We deeply re-
greet the necessity of making shifts
at any time, but it Is far better
to make the change at the begin
ming of the second semester, ever
though it be in the middle of the
school year, than in the middle
Of a semester.
This change will afford all day
to 200 additional child
rem and cause only 81 children
To change schools. 1t is the policy
Of the Board to place all schools
on an all-day basis as soon as
possible. The changes made above
were made on a geographical ba-
sis with the sincere welfare of the
entire school population in mind.
sIn view of these facts the petit
ton is denied"
Protest Mid Term Shift
Parents of children shifted de-
clared that they do not feel it is
right for their children to be pull
ed away from school in the middle
of the term" and that they are due
the same privilege and consider
alton as the other children who
are left at the school,"
"Although we have paid our
tax here and helped pay for the
piano and other things needed at
the Beach school,, they declared,
''our children have ben cast out
of the school for the good of the
200 left here. They have to change
schools and teachers and other
wise just ruin their schooling for
this year. We feel that it will cause
them to fail in every way and we
feel that we are not having a fair
deal in any sense of the word"
In a separate answer to the pro-
test, Thomas r. Wells, city super
intendent of schools, explained the
selection of pupils to be transfer
red from the Beach to the South
school was influenced by only one
factor-availability to the South
Elementary school, first in dis
lance and second in ease and SAT-
ETY. of transportation.
MI. Wells pointed out that the
area of the Beach school district
was reduced by one block clear
across the Maritime project to
Market street and as far down
Market street as was necessary
to secure a large enough number
of students to make the normal
day possible.
THE reason for selecting stu
dents on Market street was due
to the fact that it was the only
street in the entire area which
supplied sidewalks directly to the
South Elementary school," he said
in a written statement. The max
imum distance involved for any
one child is approximately three
fourths of a mile. Many children
who continue to attend the Beach
school have a greater distance
than that to walk. Hundreds of
children at the South Elementary
school (about 700 in number, who
will all attend the school on a
halliday basis) have this distance
or greater to walk. More than 400
students at the Central Elemen-
tary school will continue to at
tend on a double session basis
and many of them walk much fur
Their than thr~ee-fourths of a mile