Over the past few weeks, I have watched and listened to all of the comments about the Newton Municipal School District bond issue that is coming up for a vote in two weeks. It had really disappointed me what I have seen.
I’ve seen a lot of people try to intimidate the school board and other public servants. People have questioned board members personally. It’s one thing to question whether a person lives in the school district. It’s another to question the education of a school board member who has way more than a high-school diploma. That’s a line that should never be crossed.
Threats have been made against the school district staff. Superintendent Dr. Glenda Nickson said this Monday night during their regular meeting:
“Our staff was literally threatened. People came here and said, if you don’t stop this, someone’s going to die. If you don’t stop this, people are going to be hurt emotionally and physically. Just stop what you’re doing,” she said.
Any threats like that are unacceptable. It’s one thing if you want to question how the extra tax will affect business and industry. It’s another thing to blame the school board for turning Newton into a ghost town and trying to run off La-Z-Boy and Weir ESCO.
ESCO said they were against the vote, but they never said they were getting ready to shut down the plant if the tax passed. Tax is one of hundreds of other factors that go into their bottom line. Workforce is by far one of the largest investments, and Mississippi workers have the lowest median income in the U.S. If ESCO plans to move, and I sure hope they don’t any time soon, that decision was made by company executives some time ago and is just working its way down.
And speaking of La-Z-Boy, the decision to move all of its manufacturing away from Newton was made long before the pandemic started though it was only announced during the pandemic. We got a brief reprieve when they had to bring back workers to catch up to market demand, but once they got caught up, the closure finally happened. And that was long before any taxes were talked about.
The town hall meetings gave people a chance to ask questions and make comments. However, they many times became personal attacks of the school board. Some ideas were discussed, but those ideas will take a long time to come to fruition.
In my opinion, I think they should be considered as backup plans at this time just because of the simple fact that the election is here. We have less than two weeks before election day at Newton High School. The time for discussion about alternatives has passed. We have a plan that’s on the table.
And as much as I appreciate what Mayor Antonio Hoye and others have tried to do to offer alternatives, it’s time for them to step back. This is not a city issue. This is an issue for the whole school district, which is larger than just the city.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the school board who gets to make a decision on this plan. It is the voters. All the school district can do is present the plan to voters, but it is up to voters to approve this plan.
The decision is simple. Vote for the bond issue or against it. That’s it.
There’s nothing else to be said at this point. The plan is out there. People have already voted in this election.
Today, the school board is having a special called meeting to decide if they want to make changes to the election, but the problem is this. You can’t make changes without restarting the whole process. If you rescind the election, you tell those voters who have already voted that their votes don’t count. At this point, all you can do is let it ride, and let the chips fall where they may.
This is what democracy is. The people decide the fate of this bond issue. And we have to trust that the process of democracy works.
We livestreamed the counting of the last bond issue vote, and I think you can see that the poll workers did their job and counted the votes the way they should. They managed the election the way it should be managed. There were no issues.
It is going to be as fair of a process as it possibly can be.
One way to ensure that this will be a fair process is to stop with the intimidation tactics and threats. If you want to debate whether the bond is a good or bad thing, that’s fine, but don’t make this personal.
So question is simple: What do you voters of the Newton Municipal School District want? Make your decisions in the voting booth.
Brent can be reached at bmaze@newtoncountyappeal.com.
