At the Hilton Jackson on Monday, Presley answered questions from a crowd of dozens of parents, students and educators about issues facing Mississippi public schools and students -- and spoke about his plans to address them should he be elected come November.
The town hall was hosted by the Mississippi Association of Educators, who endorsed the current Public Service Commissioner in June. At the event, Presley honed in on re-centering schools as community-based institutions, especially when addressing social or economic disparities.
“I think we have to look at this more than just a place where a kid learns to read, write and pass tests. Schools are more than that in today's modern world. It is a responsibility of the community to help pull that together -- look at this community based approach to hunger. Look at the community based approach to homelessness. Look at the community based approach to children who have needs that are not getting met at home,” said Presley.
“We cannot let those kids fall through the cracks. So I think community based schooling is a way in which we have to fix this. We start off with funding. But then secondly, we look at a way in which we correct some of these socio-economic problems by working with our school districts.”
Presley was joined on stage by MAE President Erica Jones, a K-2 educator herself who urged the crowd and state legislators to address the social impacts of COVID-19 pandemic as an ongoing issue faced by educators and students, rather than one of the past.
“We are not out of the woods yet when we talk about the pandemic and to have that impacted trauma in our educators and students in our classrooms,” said Jones. “We are so busy trying to get back in the stride of things that we don't take enough time to assess and see what's impacting our students and educators. We must be a support system to them, especially if we want to see improvement in our public schools.
A poll conducted this year by Sienna College and Mississippi Today found 97% of respondents support fully funding the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
