Gulfport leaders want to give Harrison Co. students a new online learning option
Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes and several city council members have written a letter sharply critical of Harrison County’s virtual learning plans, asking that the city’s school district waive tuition for residents zoned to county schools.
Hewes and the council members asked Gulfport School District Superintendent Glen East to allow Gulfport residents to participate in the district’s virtual learning program for free, rather than requiring them to pay the standard $1,500 fee for transfers.
“They have published broad guidelines but no concrete plans or demonstrations of how virtual instruction would work other than to say that each individual school will determine how to instruct their students,” the Gulfport officials wrote, referring to Harrison County School District.
The letter was addressed to East and signed by Hewes and council members Ella Holmes-Hines, Myles Sharp, R. Lee Flowers and Cara Pucheu. Mississippi law generally requires students to attend their zoned public school, but allows transfers to other districts for a tuition fee, subject to approval by school boards.
The original reopening plan for Harrison County schools required students to attend in-person unless they had a documented medical concern. Those students would be placed on the district’s long-standing homebound plan.
After an outcry from parents and advocacy from state legislators Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport, and Sen. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi, the school board voted to make virtual learning an option for all students.
But to participate, students must have internet at home and their own device to use for an entire school day. That has left some Harrison County families scrambling to figure out how to buy a laptop or tablet for multiple kids.
Gulfport is offering devices and hotspots for families that need those resources to participate in virtual learning.
Harrison County’s schools have started publicizing their plans for virtual learning on their websites and Facebook pages. In the July 28 letter, the Gulfport officials said it’s too little, too late, and that Gulfport schools are more prepared to instruct students virtually.
Since schools closed in March, they wrote, “Gulfport Schools has developed a robust plan and has executed the implementation of synchronous and asynchronous instruction methods.”
Harrison County School District School Board President Rena Wiggins pushed back at the letter on Facebook on Wednesday.
“Nothing like using a pandemic to fuel a political agenda and a money grab,” she wrote.
The Gulfport School District has a board meeting on Monday evening and will consider the proposal then, councilman Flowers told the Sun Herald.
“We’re getting bombarded by parents who are very concerned about sending their kid to school,” Flowers said.
After looking into both districts’ plans, he concluded Gulfport’s is more detailed and the district has a headstart on providing virtual instruction, and doing so for all families, not just those who can afford it on their own.
Flowers said some of his constituents can’t afford high-speed internet for virtual learning. Under Harrison County’s plan, they’ll be forced to send their kids to school.
“You’re gonna make all the have-nots have to go to school to get the same level of education, due to the fact that Harrison County has literally waited til the last moment to prepare the folks that will give this instruction,” he said.
