Over the past several years, Natchezians have witnessed many changes in our public education system. At this point, it’s safe that majority of these changes have not been beneficial to the students or stakeholders within our community.

The Mississippi Development Authority reveals that public education directly affects the lack of employment opportunities in communities such as Natchez. If we continue to fail to properly educate our future generations, this will ultimately cause developers not to be desirous of taking the huge risk of investing financially by relocating their business in Adams County. It’s a chain reaction that is unwavering and detrimental to the future of our community.

The irrational decisions and senseless acts authorized by the Natchez-Adams School Board Trustees have left the citizens in the Natchez community with very little confidence in educational leadership within our school district as well as minimal faith in several school board members’ abilities to lead and make decisions that are truly in the best interest of the boys and girls of Adams County.

The Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustees doesn’t need another expensive program, consultant firm or apathetic leader with no vested interest in our students’ futures and/or the future of our community as a whole. We have suffered long enough, and the person we need to help spearhead fiscally sound, research-based educational transformation is Dr. Joey Mitchell

Dr. Mitchell is a lifelong resident of the Natchez-Adams community. He is a 2001 graduate of Natchez High School with a vested interested in public education proven by his passion and record of success.

Dr. Mitchell’s educational background includes a master of science in secondary education, educational specialist, and doctorate in professional counseling degrees. In order to fulfill his degree requirements; he has conducted research on the educational specialist and doctorate levels in education. He holds many accolades, which include the Mississippi Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2015 Outstanding Professional Award, being a member of the Mississippi Department of Education Administrator of the Year Selection Committee and several educator endorsements. In addition, he’s a career educator with experience in both the secondary and higher education. He is extremely intelligent, passionate about education and genuinely concerned about the future of Adams County.

Currently, Dr. Mitchell’s serves as the director of career services and adjunct professor in higher education. His daily experiences include innovation of student-centered program, teaching graduate level students, hosting teacher recruitment fairs, curriculum development, articulation of data and managing budgets. These are skills that our board of trustees needs in order to move forward in the positive direction. The skillset Dr. Mitchell brings to the table extends far beyond your average practitioner in education.

It’s essentially important that the candidate selected by the Adams County Board of Supervisors possesses practical knowledge and understanding of the theory associated with the field. The value of education has been misinterpreted in our community. Based on the past examples set by the board, it seems as if we no longer understand that education itself is a career field. In addition, practices have shown that we believe any and everybody can be a board member. I understand the value of selecting someone who has a theoretical and practical knowledge in the field as a board member.

I am humbly requesting for concerned citizens of Natchez-Adams County to please contact your current supervisor and ask that they support the placement of Dr. Joey Mitchell on the Natchez-Adams School Board Trustees. Our parents, teachers, children and all stakeholders cannot afford to continue to suffer any further.

 

Javarrea Jones is the founder of Aftershock Youth Outreach and a junior at Alcorn State University