OPINION
While Mississippi is often viewed as one of the most conservative states in the country, some of the state’s school districts continue to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives above educating students.
These districts would rather promote their preferred political ideology than prepare students for the real world.
The most egregious example of this is Jackson Public Schools (JPS).
A majority of students in the school district have failed to reach a proficient level in reading and mathematics, according to U.S. News and World Report using 2020-2021 school-year data.
Only 9% of elementary students and 14% of middle-school students in the district were proficient in math. Reading proficiency scores were not much better. Only 20% of elementary students and 22% of middle-school students were proficient in reading.
One look at what JPS prioritizes reveals why students may be struggling so much.
Parents Defending Education (PDE) submitted a public records request to the district seeking emails discussing LGBTQ topics from counselors and administrators in March 2023 and did not receive the documents until June 2024.
In the documents received from the request, district counselors appeared to keep the gender identity of students hidden from their parents.
In one email from 2021, a high school student told a counselor that "I am non-binary" and "now go by they/them pronouns."
This student then explained that "I haven’t told my mother,” and "please don’t tell my mom yet." While the counselor explained that she must use the student’s legal name, PDE received no email of her pushing back against keeping the vital information from the child’s parents.
An email exchange from the district later that year between a teacher and counselor revealed a similar situation. A teacher explained to a counselor that a bullied student "doesn’t want us to tell her mom that she is LGBT."
PDE received no further communication of any intent to tell this information to the student’s mother despite the student having serious issues at school.
The district’s apparent decision to keep parents in the dark regarding serious issues about their children is concerning. But that is just the tip of the iceberg at JPS.
PDE received an email exchange from 2022 showing a partnership between JPS and the Fund II Foundation that would send students to a summer camp.
The Fund II Foundation is an organization specifically created to provide grants to public charities based on racial identity.
Students who could participate in the summer camp were restricted to specific groups, such as students between the ages of 14 and 17 years old who "identify as members of underrepresented and/or underserved communities, especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer)."
The camp focused more on the identity of students than providing all students with a fair and equal opportunity to participate.
JPS further provided PDE with email exchanges from 2021 between Superintendent Errick Greene and representatives from the Human Rights Campaign, notorious for pushing schools to implement LGBTQ ideology into curricula.
The HRC’s state director for Mississippi wanted to speak with the superintendent about legislation in "Mississippi and around the country targeting transgender students."
The two eventually attended a Zoom meeting together.
The HRC representative provided Greene with the organization’s "Welcoming Schools" program that gives schools the blueprint to transform students into LGBTQ activists.
In another email exchange, Greene explained that the HRC offered "their support of our district in general, and to specifically offer support/guidance in understanding the needs of our scholars (especially those identifying as members of the LGBTQ community)."
The district’s superintendent should have never accepted an invitation to a meeting with a blatantly partisan organization known for targeting children.
The Mississippi Department of Education has seen a stark improvement in the state’s education ranking over the past decade with notable improvements in reading literacy.
The state has worked hard to ensure that children receive a better education in recent years. But students in Jackson do not appear to be receiving that same push. They deserve better from their district.
If the people who run Jackson Public Schools cared as much about their students, as they do promoting DEI, their students would see just as much success and improvement as other students in the state.
District administrators should prioritize the success and legitimate safety of their students above all else. At the current rate, JPS will fall further and further behind as the majority of Mississippi’s schools continue to improve.
Casey Ryan is a writer and investigative reporter at Parents Defending Education.
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