More than 250 Tremont parents and students packed the area around the Itawamba County Superintendent of Education’s office Monday night.

The grounds were a sea of blue and gold as supporters gathered before the regularly scheduled school board meeting to host a brief rally and prayer session.

Jerry Kuykendall, former principal of Tremont High School, gathered the group around him and encouraged them to continue supporting their school by banding together. Following a prayer, the group headed to the board room where only a small fraction were able to get inside.

Kerry Peden, PTO representative, was spokesperson for the group and asked board members to address questions posed to them some four weeks ago.

“I’m sorry we don’t have a plan to give you yet,” answered Eddie Hood, board chairman. “We will have to have changes, but we are trying our best to do what is best for everyone involved. We simply are not in the position to answer any hard questions right now.”

Peden then asked to read a Tremont PTO statement during which he thanked the board for allowing him to voice their concern for Tremont school.

“We understand that proposals will be presented that include absorbing Tremont High School with IAHS or even grades seven through 12 being moved to Fulton,” Peden read from the statement. “As you might expect, we oppose these actions for many reasons, but we will present a few to you tonight.”

Those reasons stated were as follows:

1. We face a temporary budget shortfall, but these solutions, if followed through with, cannot be easily reversed. Why try to solve a temporary budget problem with such a permanent solution?

2. Studies reveal that school size has an even greater impact on performance than classroom size. This is especially true in depressed socioeconomic regions. Forty-eight of 49 case studies found that where even marginal poverty exists achievement drastically decreases with consolidation of schools. One indicator of the presence of these conditions is participation in the free and reduced lunch program. The schools being considered for consolidation have a greater than 65 percent participation in these programs. Therefore, a choice to consolidate is a choice to lower student achievement.

3. An Indiana University Economics Department study of data on school closings from 1991 to 2006 found that school closures appear to exacerbate cost issues, rather than generate cost savings. In districts with already low costs (which is true for Itawamba School District), increases in size yield cost penalties, not cost savings. However, districts with conditionally high costs (not true for Itawamba School District) do experience cost savings by becoming larger. Therefore, based on this study, choosing to close and consolidate is a choice to increase district cost.

4. This school district and in particular Tremont school have more than an 80-year history of success. We feel it defies logic that the success of 80 years can be totally erased by a one year hardship.

5. We believe that since this school district is successfully operated with one of the lowest cost to the taxpayers of any district in the state that we would be doing harm to our district by changing something that is working. And we believe our diversity now gives us just the tools we need to survive this economic downturn.

Peden also asked board members if they had checked into the situation of 34 students crossing into Franklin County to attend school. He estimated the loss in ADA funds to be $170,000. Teresa McNeece, superintendent of education, said she is seeking guidance from the state department on this matter.

Several other parents in the audience contributed their comments during the meeting:

“I know you can’t please everybody, and I know there are some 3,800 students involved. We want all of them to get a good quality education regardless of personal feelings,” said Dempsey Rowland, pastor of Ozark Baptist Church. “I wonder how much increased class sizes will affect our students’ performance on state tests. How will a 1/20 student/teacher ratio compete with a 1/36?”

Rowland offered to seek assistance from his congregations as well as others if need be.

Vicki Crider, parent at Itawamba Attendance Center, also addressed the board.

“We want our students to be able to compete with those from other districts and throughout the nation,” she said. “In order to do that, we must come together. Everyone of us have to join together for the common cause, which is a quality education for every student.”

“When I came to Tremont 26 years ago, I soon learned that the school was an important part of the community,” said Tremont parent Todd Farrar. “They quickly got me involved, and I have been involved ever since. People of Tremont should be considered stockholders because anything you see in our school has been touched by some part of the PTO. We have great leadership at our school, and our school morale is high. Just give us a little more time and don’t take our school away.”