The leadership of the Natchez-Adams School Board has been a subject of debate for literally decades.

The factions that want school board members to be elected versus appointed have squabbled almost annually for as long as most of us can remember.

The debate usually falls along these two lines of thought. Those who support having the board elected say it’s only fair since the school board can raise property taxes and thus they need to be directly accountable to voters.

Supporters of the existing system of appointing board members suggest their option provides that at least some thought to qualifications is considered by the appointing elected officials — city aldermen and county supervisors.

That seems logical in theory, but unfortunately, often the decisions on school board eligibility and ultimate appointments tend to be as political in nature at times as an actual election would be.

Thus the debate has raged for years.

This year, something seemed different.

County supervisors and Natchez aldermen came together and publicly supported a measure to change how school board members are selected.

Local Sen. Bob Dearing proposed the legislation and it flew through the Senate with great support. Senators passed the measure 46-6, sending it to the House of Representatives.

With such local support, it was a shoo-in, correct?

Not so fast.

Politics outweigh logic every time.

Something curious must have happened on the way to the House.

What happened may not have been explained in that famous Saturday morning School House Rock video that explained how bills became law, “I’m just a bill …”

The measure never left the House Education Committee.

It’s long been a practice that committees are the killing fields of locally focused bills that will be considered controversial in some way.

Clearly, something is amiss here. A local bill, with seemingly full supported of local elected officials goes down in flames, and no one is talking about what happened.

Something smells rotten here.

Local Rep. Angela Cockerham is on the education committee, but has remained silent on the matter, not returning phone calls.

Dearing posted a note on social media on Feb. 21 posting that the bill was headed to the House education committee saying, “Representative Angela Cockerham will handle our bill in committee.”

That could either be wishful thinking on Dearing’s part or an indication he had spoken to her about the matter.

Was she aware of the matter and working for the citizens of Adams County and the two boards of elected officials that had all asked for the change or was she listening to other voices?

Did Cockerham lobby the committee chairman to let the matter come to a vote?

Clearly she didn’t fight for the matter or she would have been quick to respond to inquiries from constituents and explain what happened.

Perhaps someone local, someone with some political clout, maybe an a member of the existing school board, called Cockerham or even the committee chairman and suggested the bill should be buried.

The result is the same — the will of the people was ignored, again, all in the name of either political apathy or outright spite.

Whether or not a person believes converting school board members to be elected will result in a higher caliber of school board member is irrelevant.

What matters is that many, many local residents have begged for the change and both boards — city and county — asked for help from the legislators.

Dearing did his part, but the House delegation let this fall off the radar — either intentionally or through neglect.

Either way, unfortunately, the status quo continues, despite a growing desire for change from people who believe Natchez-Adams Schools can and will be better.
Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.