WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Hundreds of Walthall County students left in limbo

Hundreds of Walthall County students left in limbo

TYLERTOWN, MS (WLBT) - About 300 Walthall County students are heading into an uncertain school year.  They don't even know what school they'll be attending.

Up until now, the students have been granted transfers each year from the Tylertown schools to the Salem Attendance Center.  Tylertown schools have a high black population and the K-12 Salem school is mostly white.

On Wednesday, more than one hundred students and parents gathered outside Superintendent Danny McCallum's office to speak out about the school board's recent decision to revert back to the school lines drawn in 1970, designed to desegregate the schools.  As our cameras rolled, McCallum announced that the U. S. Justice Department had decided to allow the district to delay the change for the coming school year.

On Monday, the school board will vote on whether to allow the transfers for the school year.

"They've bought class rings, letter jackets, the football kids, they won't get to play football this year because they're gonna be transferred to another school," says Salem teacher Angela Boyd. 

"Parents love their children.  They want the best for their children.  But this is the law," says Clennel Brown, President of the Walthall County NAACP. 

In a July 14th letter addressed to the school board's attorney, the Justice Department requests that the school district enter into a consent decree to modify their practices.