If Given the Chance

If given the chance more students in Monroe, LA can be successful. However, the Monroe City Schools System (MCS) is failing the areas of Monroe that need the most support – the city's southside community and schools. In the most recent school board meeting, the MSC school board elected to extend the superintendent's contract for another year with a 5-2 vote, despite failed leadership under Superintendent Brett Virdine's administration. Was pressure applied to board members Saulsberry and Greer, who voted with the majority to keep Virdine for another year?

The Monroe City Schools' most significant needs are in southside schools, yet promises and excuses are the norm. Where are the psychologists, counseling professionals, and resources when students witness and live in extreme poverty situations? Is MCS's leader oblivious to the young black dropouts crying for help and direction towards innovative training for career classes in barber/ beauty, culinary, plumbing, welding, and other industrial arts training?

Southside schools are still the same as they were thirty years ago, with the same excuses blaming the wrong folks. MCS school board, we need leadership, not excuses! The children are our future. All of them - not just a select few - deserve actual equitable change for opportunities to succeed. The blood is on your hands!

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