![\"\"](\"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/148\/2019\/11\/IMG_0844.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visiting Northside High School in Shelby, Mississippi today, it\u2019s hard to see why there would be any anger about the consolidation of what was formerly Broadstreet High School with John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in neighboring Mound Bayou. Sure, the decision resulted in JFK\u2019s closing, but JFK had only 300 students, and Broadstreet had less than 200. Since Broadstreet had a bigger facility, consolidation seemed like a logical solution for a school district struggling with a declining population, a limited teacher pool, poor academic performance (though JFK often tested at higher levels), and a lack of state funding.<\/p>\n
Up until consolidation in 2017, the schools had been long-time rivals, duking it out in football, track, and basketball and each claiming to have better test scores. But any resentment seems to have faded quickly. The men\u2019s track team won a state championship in its first year and the women\u2019s track team came up a close second. This year, the football team has gone 10-0, scoring over 300 points and allowing only 20. It\u2019s led many to call the newly formed Northside Gators a \u201csuperteam\u201d.<\/p>\n
We had the chance to talk to the football coach, Tavaris Johnson. He\u2019s well known in Mississippi, where football, particularly high school football, is king. Before coming to Northside last year, Johnson turned around a previously failing academic school, making sure his players were an example on the field and in the classroom. Talking to him, you can see why they would listen. He\u2019s a compelling character, about 6\u20191\u201d, with a deep gravely voice, and a weathered but firm and serious face. When he speaks, he speaks directly to you and you listen. His players did. At that last school, within a few years, they won 3 state championships in a row and went from an academic rating of F to B. It\u2019s a seductive story. An inspiring leader using sports to turn a failing community and team around. It\u2019s one we\u2019ve been fed since we were young. But it\u2019s not the whole story.<\/p>\n
Later that day, we met up with two kids who\u2019d attended JFK but left the school district when they heard it would close, choosing to attend schools in neighboring Cleveland rather than go to Northside. Callum and Kiera, both seniors, met us outside what used to be JFK. Though the grounds were clean, it looked deserted, with just a few cars in the large parking lot originally intended to accommodate the cars of students, teachers, faculty, and school buses. The JFK signs had all been stripped from the building, except for a stone one too heavy to be removed, dedicated by the class of \u201992.<\/p>\n
As we walked around the school, Callum and Kiera pointed out vacant classrooms, especially English which had been their favorite. They\u2019re both on the smaller side, Callum standing at around 5\u20197\u201d and Keira a bit shorter. When we asked them what they did at school and if they played any sports, they told us that they were mostly academic.<\/p>\n
As we turned a corner, they slowed. A bus had just arrived, dropping off the football players from Mound Bayou after practice. As the players got off the bus and started to head home, I recognized Coach Johnson walking over to a car that was pulling into the lot. Beside him stood two younger men, both fit and a bit taller than him. When I said hello, he introduced me to his two sons, one who is a player and one who had just become his assistant coach. When I asked his sons whether they cared about the closing of the high school, they looked around dismissively and said no. \u201cIt\u2019s just Northside now, you know. It doesn\u2019t really matter. We gotta move forward.\u201d I nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n
When I turned back to meet Callum and Kiera, who were waiting for me, I felt uneasy. I\u2019d just dismissed them to go talk to Coach and his sons. It was an awkward juxtaposition, a clich\u00e9. The football players vs. the academics. As we continued our walk and arrived at the front of the school, where students would\u2019ve arrived every day, Callum pointed out what I was missing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the academics that mostly left.\u201d He explained that it was the academics who cared most about the spirit and history of Mound Bayou, a town founded by ex-slaves and sustained by education as a means of self-sufficiency for over 100 years. With the loss of JFK, they lost that heart, that history, without many even noticing. They\u2019d fallen into the same trap I had. Looking at the \u201csuperteam,\u201d seeing the potential for change, seeing it in the well packaged, easily digestible image: the coach with a winning history, striving for a state championship with his two sons. But in a place where most businesses seem to be on their way out as the population ages and more people leave for greater opportunities elsewhere, that same story doesn\u2019t seem like enough. People like Callum and Kiera recognize that. It\u2019s the uniqueness — the history of the town — that is it\u2019s hope. But with the high school gone, that hope may be fading too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Visiting Northside High School in Shelby, Mississippi today, it\u2019s hard to see why there would be any anger about the consolidation of what was formerly Broadstreet High School with John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in neighboring Mound Bayou. Sure, the decision resulted in JFK\u2019s closing, but JFK had only 300 students, and Broadstreet had … Continue reading Northside’s Superteam<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/audio-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}