Just the Facts

Welcome to The Public School Warrior, where we will generally talk about K-12 public education in the Meridian Public School District in Meridian, Mississippi. The MPSD is a school district that is supported by the hard-earned tax dollars of those of us who live here. So,  if you live here and pay taxes, consider this blog to be a sort of “Market Report” that will give you factual information on the returns you are getting.

Here, we will talk about the facts that you probably won’t find anywhere else, such as the fact that our public schools are leading the way in educating our children. “What?”, you ask. “But I thought private schools were leading the way.”

Not according to Science Daily . Here’s Fact #1.

We will also talk about the fact that this school district — while the good exceedingly outweighs the bad — is just like any other organization in that it is not perfect. We will discuss ways that you, me, and the other Joe Taxpayers of Meridian can work together with students and staff to make a more perfect school district.

If none of this interests you…..wait, let me rephrase that: If you don’t really want to know the facts, if you don’t care how your tax dollars are being spent, or, if you just don’t really care about the present and/or future of our kids and ourselves, you should stop reading now. However, I do believe in the transformational power of the Holy Spirit, and, therefore, you are welcome to return at any time.

If you are interested in the truth, please subscribe to this blog. If you are interested in the well-being of this entire community, subscribe to this blog.

I will close this inaugural edition with someone else’s words. They sum up the mission of The Public School Warrior — and the mission of all professed people of faith — quite accurately. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for much, much more(we have a lot of…you guessed it…facts to cover).

The most important office is that of citizen. It is the office that transmits all political authority.

Only through the collective judgment of private citizens, acting through their elected agents, are the public decisions made that affect the ultimate quality of our lives. Unfortunately too few of us take that office of citizen seriously enough. Too few of us choose to exercise the power that goes with that office. Too many of us do not bother to vote or to participate in the process of deciding vital public policy — of what kind of schools we shall have, of the quality of the environment in which we live, or the future of our most treasured institutions.

Therein lies the potential for our greatest peril….The gravest danger may lie in letting ourselves be overwhelmed by fear or suspicion or apathy or cynicism; by putting our petty, self-serving personal interests ahead of community building; by making the question, “What’s in it for me?” our principal concern; in short by forgetting about the contract that we have with each other.

….If we become a society riven by race and class where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, we shall pay a huge penalty in the quality of our lives and the stability of our country in the future.

A democratic society cannot leave these problems to be solved by blind chance or individual impulse. We must work at it together. We must have a shared vision that recognizes our mutual obligation. It is a vision that must be transmitted to others.

All of us must work at helping create more knowledgeable and informed public opinion that will be able to stand up to the demagogues and political hucksters….That is how you pay your dues for the privilege of living in a free society.

— Governor William Winter, 2003

PSW